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CAVE™ "The CAVE goes digital!" Traditionally, Virtual Reality equipment, such as the CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment), use projectors based on cathode ray tubes (CRT's). These tubes work by using an analog signal to deflect an electron beam towards the intended phosphor dots. By contrast, SARA's new CAVE uses D-ILA, a projection technology by JVC. The signal that goes into the projectors is digital, making cable length much less important. With analog signals, long cables can lead to signal degradation. Cables that are used for digital signals can be very long because they don't suffer from such degradation. The images inside the CAVE are stereoscopic, meaning that on each of the screens two images are projected simultaneously - one for the left eye and one for the right. "Beacon", a new technology from Fakespace Systems, ensures that each of these images are separated back to the intended eye. For this purpose a CAVE user wears goggles. Infrared emitters, that are positions around the CAVE, provide the synchronization of the stereoscopic images. Furthermore, our CAVE is much larger than usual so far. The floor area is not 3x3, but 4x4 meter. The three walls of the CAVE are 4x3 meter (width x height). The projector resolution has also increased, so that the total number of dots per inch on the projection surface has remained stable. To save floor space we have placed mirrors between the projectors and the screens. These are not the standard “bathroom” mirrors, but so-called foil mirrors, consisting of a plastic foil coated with an ultra-thin layer of reflecting material. This prevents annoying double reflections. With the new CAVE, SARA has acquired the most modern CAVE in Europe, and the first of its kind in the world. A schematic of the CAVE environment is shown below.

A medical application being used in the CAVE™. Projection stack with Beacon.

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