Winnipeg-based electronics integrator Advance Pro recently developed a portable video wall system for Farmer's Edge,which provides hardware,software and agronomy systems for precision farming,so it could bring large-scale digital signage along to trade shows.

Farmer's Edge,whose headquarters (HQ) are also Winnipeg, attends many agricultural industry shows across Canada and the U.S.The management team wanted a dynamic,interactive way to showcase the company's technologies to attendees through its exhibits at these shows. The company's booths also had to be modular in design,so they could be accommodated in different sizes of exhibit spaces.

For the project, Advance Pro used three of Milestone AV Technologies' Chief LVM2X2 video wall carts to mount 12 NEC liquid crystal displays (LCDs).With this configuration,Farmer's Edge could showcase one,three or 12 different videos at once.And while the whole system could be transported from show to show,the modular design would allow for a choice of one,two or three carts to be set up,depending on the size of the booth.

A dedicated digital signage media player was integrated for each cart, capable of stretching images across four screens. When the three media players entered the same room, however, they could synchronize with each other to display unified images. The system could even be run by mobile phone.

“I was impressed with how well it worked,” says Gil Gauthier, certified technology design specialist for Advance Pro. “When you slide the carts side-by-side, they make for a really neat effect.”

The project took 30 days from the first client meeting to the system’s trade show debut.

“It was a fairly large convention, but Farmer’s Edge had the only interactive video wall,” says Gauthier. “Their booth was just packed. They were blown away!”

When the carts are not travelling to trade shows, they are used at Farmer’s Edge HQ for training purposes.