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| Over a decade ago, when Sandia National Laboratories realized the need for advanced display facilities to help scientists understand the results of national security significant computer simulations, they called upon David S. Logsted for help. To this end, David designed and managed the construction of several cutting-edge scientific visualization facilities, utilizing 3D-stereo and high-resolution display systems to provide a better window into the simulation data. Previously, data inspection involved scrolling around extremely high-resolution images using the tiny porthole of a standard computer monitor—this was like attempting to absorb the splendor of the Grand Canyon by peering through a straw! David created facilities which provide Sandia scientists with a view of both the big picture and the small details, providing much greater insight into the simulation data. |
A Few Advanced Audiovisual Facilities at Sandia National Laboratories
Designed and deployed by David S. Logsted
Note: These examples represent some of David’s work at Sandia National Laboratories
- MESA Weapons Integration Facility VIEWS Corridor– High-Resolution (8.3 MegaPixel) Stereo Scientific Visualization Facility
- MESA Microlab Design & Education Center– A Suite of Micro-Device Design, Education and Conferencing Facilities
- JCEL Vislab — Ultra High-Resolution (31.5 MegaPixel) Scientific Visualization Facility
- JCEL Advanced Conference Room — Quad-Screen Advanced Conference Room
- 880/B9 Conference Room — Advanced Visualization Conference Room
- 880 VIEWS Corridor — Extreme Ultra-High-Resolution (62.9 MegaPixel) Immersive Scientific Visualization Facility
Note: Images of Sandia facilities within the links above have been reviewed and approved by Sandia for unlimited release. Approval/SAND numbers available upon request.
Acronyms:
JCEL is an acronym for Joint Computational Engineering Laboratory. The ~$30M facility was built in 2003, among other reasons, for the purpose of colocating engineers and scientists of similar disciplines to achieve engineering efficiency.
MESA is an acronym for Microsystems and Engineering Science Applications. The $516M MESA Project was the largest infrastructure investment in Sandia’s history. This complex enables Sandia National Labs to execute its enduring mission of assuring safety, security, and reliability of nuclear weapons and to fulfill a prominent role in the nation’s science and engineering enterprise for national security.
WIF stands for Weapons Integration Facility
VIEWS stands for Visual Interactive Environment for Weapons Simulation. Corridor is a term adopted by Sandia in the late 1990s to represent a pathway through which large volumes of data are funnelled from computation (large-scale compute clusters) to the eye/mind of the scientist and engineer. Thus a “VIEWS Corridor” is meant to describe a viewing environment wherein scientists and engineers may interract with their computational data in a very seemless, fluent way. The term was originally meant to be applied to all scientific visualization facilities, but it was only applied to the First VIEWS Corridor (2000) and the MESA WIF VIEWS Corridor (2008). The JCEL Vislab and the MESA Microlab facilities do not have the “VIEWS Corridor” moniker, although they are visualization facilities.
A Few Other Projects:
UNLV Geographic Information Systems (GIS) CoreLab
This is the first of two visualization facility projects by Compass AudioVisual, LLC for UNLV in Las Vegas, NV. The GIS CoreLab was completed in Spring 2012; the second & larger project, a visualization facility for the NSCEE Supercomputing System, is in process as of fall 2012.
The GIS CoreLab primary features include:
Videowall (Flat Panel Array) – comprised of 12 ultra-narrow bezel 46in flat panels in a 4-wide by 3-high configuration
Christie Digital 3D Active Stereo projector
Videoconferencing
Crestron automated system control
The purpose of the GIS CoreLab visualization facility is to provide the infrastructure and visualization tools necessary to allow multidisciplinary expertise to thrive, providing researchers, decision makers, and policy makers with turn-key solutions to everyday visualization needs. The multi-display and communication technologies integrated into this facility serve the university and community at large, promoting a collaborative research environment to serve needs across both research and governmental institutions.
(x)tree Project at the International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA) 2012
The words of the artist herself (Agnes Chavez), from her website, describe the the (x)tree project:
“This piece, currently on view at the Albuquerque Museum ISEA2012 Machine Wilderness exhibit, evolved from my desire to explore data visualization and video mapping technologies to create an immersive contemplative space around the theme of trees.”
- Agnes Chavez
Agnes Chavez, a featured artist at the ISEA 2012 show, approached me early in 2012 for assistance with the design and implementation of the projection system for her artwork. It was a pleasure working with her in preparation for the Sept-Dec 2012 show, to help bring her artistic vision to reality at the Albuquerque Museum. The result is a 2×1 array of images, comprised of two 20ft wide by 12ft tall images, projected onto two walls, forming the corner of the exhibit space. A video showing the (x)tree exhibit is available at Agnes’ website: http://www.agneschavez.com/xtreeproject
David has provided engineering and/or consulting services
for the following entities*:
- 1-Touch Interactive, LLC
- Advanced Micro Devices
- Agnes Chavez (ISEA 2012 Featured Artist & Education Program Director)
- Amtech Systems
- Apache Digital Inc.
- Euroclydon Industries
- Living Stones Productions
- Lockheed Martin (Corporate)
- MicroTechnologies, LLC
- Mixed-Media Productions
- Modular Control, Inc.
- Numerous churches (audiovisual system design, sound mixing, technical training)
- Pathfinder HTA
- Project Time & Cost (PT&C) at LANL
- Retis Technologies
- Sandia National Laboratories
- State of New Mexico
- Silicon Valley Group (at Intel)
- University of Nevada Las Vegas
- University of New Mexico
- * Note: Not all through Compass AudioVisual, LLC