BY SANDRA GUY SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Picture a wall of big-screen digital TV sets that create one giant image, nearly as picture-perfect as real life.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed such a 100-million-pixel display screen, measuring 17 feet wide and 8 feet tall, to help scientists work together more effectively to solve problems.

The setup, called LambdaVision, uses software that graduate students created, and it enables scientists to transfer their research from their supercomputers and laptops onto the big screen.

"We believe that in the future, high-resolution screens will be so cheap, we'll be able to wallpaper our meeting rooms with them," said Jason Leigh, one of three directors at the university's Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the West Side campus.

"In the past, such displays have been mainly used to show one big picture," said Luc Renambot, chief designer of the system's software and an assistant professor in the lab.

The LambdaVision setup enables scientists to show graphics from their PCs, laptops, high-definition video and other sources onto different sections of the big wall. It generates the resolution scientists need to study things like models of the Earth's layers.

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