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Sydney's World-First "E-Paper" Street Signs

posted by takyon on Tuesday July 28 2015, @04:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the hackable-signage-in-direct-sunlight dept.

crutchy (IRC) writes:

New Sydney road signs use low-power 'E-Ink' technology and can be remotely updated:

The NSW Government has tapped the same technology you use to read books on your Kindle to create low-energy street signs that can be remotely altered.

The electronic paper road signs, which have been installed across Sydney, are the result of a partnership between Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and Slovenian technology firm Visionect.

[...] An RMS spokesperson told The Register that 15 of the new signs 'were successfully trialled in the management of traffic on George Street in the Sydney CBD and a second rollout has since been completed in the Moore Park area.'

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  • (Score: 2) by hankwang on Tuesday July 28 2015, @05:58AM

    by hankwang (100) on Tuesday July 28 2015, @05:58AM (#214723) Homepage

    From TFA: "easily readable in bright light, and a light in the new road signs is automatically switched on when it gets dark. The signs are solar-powered, but only require electricity for brief windows, when the signs are wirelessly updated by RMS staff."

    The first and the second sentence seem to contradict each other. In any case, wouldn't it be possible to apply retroreflective sheeting (similar to regular street signs) on top of the e-paper? Or is the distance between the surface and the e-paper white layer too big for that?

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by hankwang on Tuesday July 28 2015, @07:10AM

    by hankwang (100) on Tuesday July 28 2015, @07:10AM (#214737) Homepage

    Reply to self: it seems that retroreflective sheeting is not a transparent film that you stick onto a painted surface to make it retroreflective. Rather, the film has its own color; either the traffic sign consists of different layers of sheeting cut to shape, transparent ink is printed on top, or black opaque lettering is applied on top.

    Still, retroteflective e-paper could have a market, if you figure out how to do it. Self-illuminating displays are hard to get right, i.e. bright enough and with enough contrast under all ambient light conditions. I know roadside and above-road LED displays that are dazzlingly bright in the dark. My phone rarely gets the auto-brightness right either, despite a user-defined lux/brightness curve.