As a quick reminder, holography is a technique for displaying three dimensional objects, in essence it is the equivalent of a three dimensional picture or movie. It is not something you can touch but rather a bunch of light that simply looks like an object. In science fiction, this technology is often used to portray a super detailed map of an area or "live stream" someones appearance and have conversations with people far away, in a similar way to skype. The level of detail in sci fi varies but often these holograms can simply be conjured by a single projector onto any surface, or moved easily, ie. they do not rely on a special screen to be functional.
In real life, we are beginning to see these technologies pop up as companies are finding small tricks to create holograms. Although none of these companies can create holograms with level of detail or mobility of science fictions, they are showing promising signs.
http://www.avconcepts.com/holographic-projection/
For example, this company uses super reflective mylar and 45-degree angles along with a static screen to create the images. This set up allows an image to be created that appears to have depth, in essence a hologram. But this technology has its limits, up close it would not look nearly as good. Also, the tech requires a rather complicated/specific set up to function. Its something that could be set up in multiple locations, but not moved quickly. Specifically, this company advertises the ability to set up 3-D tele-presences so you could have a meeting with someone who was not there, or having a person interaction on stage with someone outside of the area. Although this technology is developing it still doesn't come close the standard set by sci fi.
Another problem faced by these developing technologies is the amount of data required to store the holographic image. It is QUITE difficult to "record" or calculate the many diffraction patterns for various objects. It gets even more complicated when you start having the objects move in the image. Light Blue Optics (http://lightblueoptics.com/videos/holographic-laser-projection-technology/), another company getting into the holographic projection business has found a small trickery to deal with this. Instead of having a computer figure out exactly what the image needs to look like, and what diffraction pattern needs to be returned, it makes a few rough estimates of the image. Then it plays these estimates back in quick succession. This causes your brain to interpolate what the object is supposed to look like and put the work on your brain. This makes it easy to display more complicated images, another step in a positive direction for the development of holographic projection.
In conclusion, holographic projection is not that crazy a technology. While there are some technical limitations at the current time, its not impossible for them to be overcome (http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/holographic-environment1.htm). For example, one of the biggest problems is the computing power needed to calculate what data needs to be sent to the display. But computer processors are always getting faster and more efficient (Moore's Law[not Nick, one of the co-founders of IBM] states that the number of transistors on processors doubles about every 18 months). Another thing faster computers will aid is the smoothness of images, right now, its hard for the computers to create images fast enough. This makes the image look jerky, like playing a video game where the frames per second is way too low. Another technology that needs to be developed in order to aid holographic projections is new displays. Although there are technologies being developed to display virtual reality scenes, or three-dimensional displays, its not quite enough yet. For example, Oculus Rift, is a a video game console in beta-testing that immerses the user in a 3-D environment (http://www.oculusvr.com/). Its not quite perfect, but it works. Companies are also rolling out 3-D TV's, in essence these also create holograms. This technology is pretty "meh" some still require stereoscopic technologies (the two different colored glasses) to make the image appear real.
For example, this company uses super reflective mylar and 45-degree angles along with a static screen to create the images. This set up allows an image to be created that appears to have depth, in essence a hologram. But this technology has its limits, up close it would not look nearly as good. Also, the tech requires a rather complicated/specific set up to function. Its something that could be set up in multiple locations, but not moved quickly. Specifically, this company advertises the ability to set up 3-D tele-presences so you could have a meeting with someone who was not there, or having a person interaction on stage with someone outside of the area. Although this technology is developing it still doesn't come close the standard set by sci fi.
Another problem faced by these developing technologies is the amount of data required to store the holographic image. It is QUITE difficult to "record" or calculate the many diffraction patterns for various objects. It gets even more complicated when you start having the objects move in the image. Light Blue Optics (http://lightblueoptics.com/videos/holographic-laser-projection-technology/), another company getting into the holographic projection business has found a small trickery to deal with this. Instead of having a computer figure out exactly what the image needs to look like, and what diffraction pattern needs to be returned, it makes a few rough estimates of the image. Then it plays these estimates back in quick succession. This causes your brain to interpolate what the object is supposed to look like and put the work on your brain. This makes it easy to display more complicated images, another step in a positive direction for the development of holographic projection.
In conclusion, holographic projection is not that crazy a technology. While there are some technical limitations at the current time, its not impossible for them to be overcome (http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/holographic-environment1.htm). For example, one of the biggest problems is the computing power needed to calculate what data needs to be sent to the display. But computer processors are always getting faster and more efficient (Moore's Law[not Nick, one of the co-founders of IBM] states that the number of transistors on processors doubles about every 18 months). Another thing faster computers will aid is the smoothness of images, right now, its hard for the computers to create images fast enough. This makes the image look jerky, like playing a video game where the frames per second is way too low. Another technology that needs to be developed in order to aid holographic projections is new displays. Although there are technologies being developed to display virtual reality scenes, or three-dimensional displays, its not quite enough yet. For example, Oculus Rift, is a a video game console in beta-testing that immerses the user in a 3-D environment (http://www.oculusvr.com/). Its not quite perfect, but it works. Companies are also rolling out 3-D TV's, in essence these also create holograms. This technology is pretty "meh" some still require stereoscopic technologies (the two different colored glasses) to make the image appear real.
In regard to how we did this work as a group it was relatively simple. Most conversing was done over Facebook chat, sending links back and forth, having small discussions. There were drafts with bulleted points about what to say written in google docs, but I (Rohan) ended up just putting everything into sentences to make things flow better. Things sound nicer when there is one voice making it all tied together.
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