Case Studies

The Welcome Boards, large displays that welcome people arriving in Japan on international flights, have been replaced with new 98-inch 4K UHD LCD displays

Kansai International Airport opened in 1994 as Japan's first round-the-clock international airport. Since then it has been utilized by countless tourists from overseas who come to visit internationally prominent and popular tourist destinations such as Kyoto and Nara as well as Himeji Castle, Koyasan (Mt. Koya), and elsewhere.

With the aim of making customers the top priority at all times and achieving "an airport that's user-friendly and fun to visit" and "an airport that pleases its users," the New Kansai International Airport Company, Ltd. installed Welcome Boards in the international arrivals area as a service to users in 2007. These displays fulfilled their function of welcoming arrivals, but eight years after installation it was time to upgrade the equipment, and a decision was made to replace the plasma displays with 98-inch 4K UHD LCD displays.

Large-screen displays with outstanding image playback performance, able to display the same HD video content as their predecessors even more crisply and beautifully

Many different systems were considered as possibilities when replacement was being discussed, but it was determined that achieving the best possible picture with stand-alone large-screen displays was the top priority, and the current 98-inch 4K imaging LCD displays (the largest possible size of their class) were selected.
A demonstration using the actual equipment was staged for the client, who had a highly positive response not only to the ultra-high resolution 4K imaging using the next-generation image processing technology Detail Clarity Processor 3, but also the fact that the HD content already in use could be displayed more beautifully with image correction and increased clarity. Also noting the fact that it is appropriate to have displays made by a Japanese manufacturer welcoming visitors at the "gateway to Japan," two Panasonic TH-98LQ70 displays were installed.

The displays deliver diverse content including welcome messages, tourist information, and personal messages welcoming arrivals.

The displays employed as Welcome Boards have DVI connections to a computer that serves as a content playback controller. Fully digital image processing keeps picture degradation to an absolute minimum.
Currently the Welcome Boards display the following diverse content:

• A Welcome Message shown in a wide variety of languages
• Tourist Information Content: Seasonal scenery, spectacular images of sightseeing spots, traditional culture, festive events, and food primarily in the Kansai region
• Welcome Messaging Board: Personal welcome messages that can be posted for passengers arriving for large-scale meetings and events, etc. (messages accepted for passengers traveling as a group only)
• Transit information such as the time of the last train into the city, location information, emergency information, etc.

A control computer in the Centralized System Management Center in the New Kansai International Airport Company Building adjacent to Terminal 1 is used to schedule the content display and edit personal welcome messages and emergency information. This computer controls and manages the content-playback computer over an in-airport network.