February 21, 2017

App created by Wichita State turns mobile device into animation display

By Lainie Mazzullo

 
  • A new app, called People Pixel, creates an animation display on smartphones and tablets held by fans at an arena.
  • Participants launch the app, enter their seat information and hold out their phone to display images and animations.
  • The app was developed at Wichita State.

Shocker fans can light up Charles Koch Arena during tonight's (Tuesday, Feb. 21) men's basketball game, courtesy of a new app developed at Wichita State.

The app, called People Pixel, creates an animation display on smartphones and tablets held by fans in an arena or stadium. Participants launch the app, enter their seat information and hold out their phone to display images and animations.

It's an electronic version of when fans hold up coordinated signs, sometimes called a card trick, at an event.

The app was tested in the student section during the game Saturday, Feb. 18. 

James Steck, aerospace engineering professor, and Kenton Hansen, software director for Ennovar, developed the app in collaboration with the National Institute for Aviation Research and Reginald McIntyre at Shocker Athletics.

With the app, Hansen says, there will be the ability to get the whole arena blinking in alternating Shocker colors, do row and section "waves" and include graphic image animation.

The long-term goal is to make the concept ready for commercialization to other arenas, including concerts and sporting events such as the first- and second-round games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship next year at Intrust Bank Arena.