32x16 RGB LED Matrix Ping Pong Ball - Plasma Wall

This is our latest project. A 32x16 RGB LED matrix with Ping Pong Balls as diffusors. The matrix is build modular in sections of 8x8 LEDs so it's enlargeable without limitations. However, for the moment we spend more than enough time in soldering and wiring :-)

The main challenge for this project was to control 1536 individual LED's (512xRGB) with one single ATMEGA 328. Not enough we also claimed to have PWM one each individual LED separately.

What we achieved is a system that is capable to drive 512 RGB-LED with 216 colors each and a frame rate of 20fps. Furthermore the µC has still capabilities to manage realtime data transfer from a host PC via UART.

The matrix has two modes: First is just receiving data from a PC (via Processing) and displaying it. In second mode the µC it-self calculates a plasma algorithm realtime without any connection to the PC. The mode can be chosen by a simple switch on the back side of the wall not shown in the clip.

Within the next days we will do a complete documentation on our project page including all schematics, wiring and source code.

http://www.solderlab.de/index.php/led...

So long,

Pepe

PS: Unfortunately it turned out that the frame rate of my camera is about equal to that of the matrix. Thus you see some flickering / sticking in the clip that is not existent in real. Human eye is easier to cheat than a CMOS chip :-)