NAB Labs Futures Park is a special section of the NAB Show convention floor in Las Vegas that is reserved for presentation of media-related research and development projects from around the world. Exhibits in the Futures Park represent the current edge-of-the-art media technologies. They are selected by NAB Labs from governmental, academic and commercial media research facilities for their relevance and interest to broadcasters.
Exhibitors who appeared at the 2015 NAB Labs Futures Park include the following organizations (listed alphabetically, with brief descriptions of the work they will present and their country of origin):
Advanced Media Workflow Association – The AMWA provides leadership and technical expertise to help end users and suppliers to improve their business by supporting improved workflows, by using industry standard file formats tailored for specific applications and by advocating adoption.(USA)
Astrapi Corporation - Astrapi presented a non-periodic, spiral-based signal modulation that is a patented, transformative innovation at the core of telecommunications. It provides new ways to combat noise and interference and improves spectral efficiency, providing a mathematical basis that allows Moore’s law to be applied directly to telecommunications performance. (USA)
DAVID Project - Four partner organizations in the DAVID Project, a European Commission-funded project for long-term preservation of A/V content, showed their progress in detection, restoration and avoidance of future deterioration. (Austria, Germany, UK)
Electronics and Technology Research Institute - ETRI presented demonstrations of an advanced multimedia system designed to cover a wide range of ATSC 3.0 service environment needs from RF transmission to platform and applications, including Layer Division Multiplexing (LDM) transmission, Advanced Digital Signage and Fixed + Mobile UHD Hybrid 3DTV. (S. Korea)
Framework for Interoperable Media Services – FIMS is a joint effort of AMWA and the EBU, producing agile, service-based architectures that are adaptive to rapidly changing A/V production needs. Presentations and demonstrations by users and vendors were made throughout the show. (USA/Switzerland)
goHDR/University of Warwick – goHDR/University of Warwick presented two step-changes in HDR video. First, a professional HDR video broadcast pipeline from an ARRI Alexa through the real-time HDR manipulation of Vicomtech’s Tebas system to a Sim2 HDR display; and second, with AMD, a 3D real time Spherical harmonics lighting computation based on real-time HDR capture. (UK)
NHK – NHK demonstrated 8K Super Hi-Vision in a special presentation theatre featuring a 350-inch screen and 22.2-channel sound, and showing new content – including highlights from the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. A highly portable 8K camcorder, a multiplexing scheme called MMT, a full 8K/120Hz production system, and a loudness meter for 22.2-channel audio were also shown, along with a showcase of the ever-evolving lineup of 8K displays. (Japan)
NAB Labs - NAB Labs presented a series of on-screen scenarios for new services potentially enabled by a next-generation television broadcast system. The use cases include targeted advertising, localized emergency alerting and viewer-response interactivity.
NPR Labs – NPR Labs showed results of their current studies in compatibility of Single-Sideband Stereo with legacy FM stereo receivers, the effects of various MDCL modes on AM HD Radio reception and best practices for resolving LTE interference. Other projects displayed include designing loudness tools for public radio producers, a hybrid FM synchronous booster system and expanding upon recent RDS emergency alerting work. (USA)
Rochester Institute of Technology – One of the world’s leading academic institutes on imaging technology, RIT presented and demonstrated current research being conducted by seniors in the Motion Picture Science and Imaging Science departments. (USA)
Swissaudec (ECMA-407) - Swissaudec, in co-operation with McGill University and EPF Lausanne, displayed a full plug-and-play ECMA-407 (Scalable Sparse Spatial Sound System)-based UHD TV broadcasting chain with a 2D to 3D audio up-mix system. (Canada/Switzerland)
SymbolShifters - SymbolShifters showed their patented method for connecting traditional television broadcast to the digital universe of computers, tablets and mobile phones. The technology briefly embeds a scanable code, such as a QR, in the video stream and data linked to the icon is automatically harvested and stored locally for later retrieval by the consumer. (USA)
Vision III Imaging - v3® showed their parallax visualization (PV) R&D efforts. On display were examples of their PV Forensic Video Toolset, v3 Game Code, v3 PV Computer Animation Toolset and examples of their parallax scanning stereoscopic v3D™ computer animation and live-action imagery. (USA)
If you are interested in exhibiting at the 2016 NAB Labs Futures Park (April 18-21, 2016), please contact Katy Armstrong at for information regarding the application process. .
