README.md

Insanely bright modular LED display

*** IN DEVELOPMENT ***

Project is currently in development and may not compile with latest compiler.

Why

Current LED matrix displays are underwhelming: low brightness, low dynamic range, and washed‑out visuals in real venues. Hyperion flips that on its head with ridiculous luminance, high refresh, and a visual language that holds up in fog, dark, and daylight spill.

Highlights

• Blinding brightness: designed to punch through haze and stage lighting
• High refresh: > 500 Hz target for artifact‑free motion and strobes
• Chunky pixels: 4 LEDs per pixel, 15 mm pitch for bold geometry
• Modular: building full 420 × 420 mm panels (limited by JLC assembly)
• Controls: video stream input (WIP) + DMX for audio‑sync (planned)

Status

• We’ve built an initial coupon: 60 × 60 mm, peak measured draw ~ 42 W
• Driver: Macroblock MBI5043 current sink
• Power rails: LED 5–17 V, logic 5 V / 3.3 V (RP2040 control)

Pixel geometry

• Pitch: 15 mm → ~66 px/m in each axis → ~4,444 px/m²
• LEDs per pixel: 4 (RGBW cluster) → ~17,776 LEDs/m²
• Look: deliberately low‑density, high‑punch “big voxel” aesthetic

How bright is it? A back‑of‑the‑napkin estimate

• Coupon area A = 60 mm × 60 mm = 0.0036 m²
• Peak power P ≈ 42 W
• If LED efficacy η ≈ 60–100 lm/W (RGBW mix, conservative):
  • Luminous exitance M ≈ P·η/A ≈ 0.94–1.17 × 10⁶ lm/m²
  • Luminance L ≈ M/π ≈ 220k–370k nits
• Compared to MacBook Pro (XDR): typical SDR ~500 nits; HDR sustained ~1,000 nits; peak ~1,600 nits. Hyperion coupon (est.): ~140×–700× brighter per unit area.
  • Peak power assumes ~1% duty cycle for bright strobe effects or fractional‑panel use; not continuous.

Note: 42 W on 0.0036 m² implies ~11.7 kW/m² at full blast. Scaled to a 3 × 2 m panel: ~70–75 kW peak. This is a thermal and power‑distribution thought experiment, not a duty‑cycle recommendation.

Light as an underexplored rave medium

Light isn’t just illumination; it’s a volumetric instrument. Hyperion treats photons like sound—sculpted in space, time, and intensity—to cut through haze and occupy the room, not just the wall.

• Spatial volume: beams and voxels that read in fog, from meters away
• Temporal punch: sub‑ms strobes and decay envelopes, not just fades
• Materiality: bold pixels and high luminance over fine‑pitch “screens”
• Emergence: interference, moiré, and wavefronts that breathe with the music

Roadmap

• Assemble first 420 × 420 mm panels
• Ingest video streams (software pipeline WIP)
• DMX input for lighting desk sync and audio‑reactive modes
• Thermal, PSU, and duty‑cycle constraints for safe operation
• Thermal/power R&D: explore bulk energy storage (caps/supercaps) for strobe transients and peak handling
• Distributed temperature sensing across panels (NTC grid or digital sensors) for thermal maps and throttling

License

MIT