Hamilton, Ontario-based Liquid Fiber Displays (www.liquidfiberdisplays.com) has combined woven optical fibres with LCD and LED to create a digital sign technology that will mean brighter, sharper images and lower costs for marketers. The company was spun out of research conducted at McMaster University’s Faculty of Engineering. A 13′ X 70′ prototype is installed at the school’s student centre.

The optical fibers replace over 90% of the blue, green and red LEDs required by conventional displays using four-inch-square light modules, stacked in panels of four and joined together. LEDs, says the company, account for about 70-80% of the cost of manufacturing digital signs.

The company says the new video-capable digital signs are ideally suited for any indoor public space, such as airports, shopping malls, convention centres, sports facilities and schools.

McMaster professor of engineering Adrian Kitai developed the tech and owns Liquid Fiber Displays with two graduate students, Nimesh Bahl and Cristian Nunez. Kitai says it has ‘higher resolution capability than any other LED screen on the market, high brightness, higher reliability, lower power consumption and can reduce costs by up to four times compared to conventional LED displays.’

Nunez says the company is ‘looking for the right partnerships’ to take the tech into the marketplace – the right media company or marketers looking to gain attention for their client products and services.