DS for Escalators

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Escalator users normally spend one to three minutes on the moving stairs, during which they like to be entertained - let’s face it, there’s not much else to do, save going up and down and sneering at your fellow commuters’ dress sense. But the time spent in front of individual posters on the sidewalls amounts to just a few seconds; far too short a time to appreciate advertising content in any real sense. To provide efficient advertising alongside escalators and moving walkways, Esprit Digital now presents an e-Signage system where images are ‘passed on’ from screen to screen, allowing viewers to see a kind of short film for the time they are on the escalators or the stairs.
 
The system consists of several special screens developed by Esprit Digital for escalator applications. At the core of the screens are e-signage LCD panels made by Sharp, which come in various sizes from 23” to 65”. The e-Signage TFT LCD panels by Sharp are designed for a continuous operating output of 50,000 hours at an ambient temperature of between 0°C and 50°C. Contrast ratios of up to 2,000:1 and a viewing angle of 176° in all directions create an optimum image representation of the panels.
 
The panels are contained in special housings, in accordance with the IP65 standard, which protect the display from vandalism. A powerful computer featuring a 1.66 GHz processor and 1GB Solid State Flash memory have also been integrated to control the monitor unit and to provide the image content in digital video format. The ‘ImageFlow’ software developed by Esprit Digital synchronises the video loops on the individual displays with the escalator speed, so viewers see an advert running across the various monitors in time to their ascent or descent. The mainframe computer serves to update the content of the connected screens, regardless of the number of monitors used. Several hundreds of monitors can be controlled via the system.
 
The e-Signage escalator technology has already been tested in live applications. The first project was installed in 2005 at the Tottenham Court Road Underground Station along a 40 metre escalator shaft featuring sixty-six 23” screens. The system has proven hugely reliable since its start-up three years ago, it has been offering a reliability rate of 99.97% and won the Campaign Outdoor Innovation of the Year Award in 2005. Since then, e-Signage escalator applications with a total of about 1,750 screens have been installed in London Underground shafts. Transport contractors in Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, Shanghai and Hong Kong have already shown interest in digital escalator advertising.
 
Esprit Digital was founded in 2003 by James Brenner and Peter Livesey, who has more than 25 years’ practical experience of display technology. With about 15 employees and an annual turnover of 8-10 million euros, the London-based company ranks among the leading suppliers of complete e-Signage solutions for indoor and outdoor areas. There are no limits to the possible applications of the screens, which range in size from 23” to 82”. Flagship installations include London Underground stations, (Embankment, Baker Street, Euston, Charing Cross, Bond Street, Green Park, Bank, Paddington, Knightsbridge, Leicester Square, Liverpool Street and Waterloo).