Last Updated on September 18, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner
Shows What Digital Signage Can Become — Case Study
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has a new digital landmark, and it is a good example of how the definition of “digital signage” continues to expand.
The ATLAS Sphere sits in the Domestic Terminal Atrium, replacing the clock tower that occupied the space for three decades. The 4.5-meter LED sphere is accompanied by three supporting displays and operates around the clock. The project was built by Capital Signs and is powered by Acquire Digital’s new StudioDX platform.
This isn’t simply a big LED display. It is an interactive, programmable digital environment designed to combine information, entertainment, advertising and eventually personalized passenger interactions.
12.5 Million Pixels — And More Than a Video Screen
ATLAS incorporates more than 12.5 million LED pixels, an immersive 360-degree audio system and interactive sensors. The installation consists of four separate display surfaces: the sphere itself plus three supporting LED screens. Acquire Digital describes it as the first digital sphere installed in a U.S. airport.
The interesting part is what happens behind all those pixels.
StudioDX handles high-resolution, multi-zone content and allows airport operators to schedule and preview programming. The system can change content based on the time of day, special events and passenger volume.
That moves ATLAS beyond the conventional digital-signage model of scheduling a playlist and sending it to a screen.
StudioDX Handles the Complexity Behind the Sphere
A sphere presents an unusual content problem. You aren’t dealing with a conventional 16:9 rectangle.
StudioDX uses precision source and pixel mapping to distribute content across the curved LED surface and the supporting displays. Content can flow seamlessly around the sphere and synchronize with the other screens, or each display can operate independently. The platform also supports multiple sources of up to 8K content, hundreds of playout zones, overlays and synchronization across multiple players.
That is an important distinction.
The more unusual the display geometry becomes, the more important the software and media-server layer becomes. A spectacular display isn’t very spectacular if operating it requires an engineering project every time the owner wants to change the experience.
Interactivity Is Where ATLAS Gets Particularly Interesting
The system was designed from the beginning to support sensors and interactive applications.
StudioDX supports triggered sequences, reactive content, plugins and API integrations. Acquire Digital says that opens the door to applications including content that responds to people passing the display, experiences that react when someone stops to watch, and live flight tracking showing arrivals and departures on the globe. Advertising can also be incorporated through Clear Channel Airports.
That combination—display + sensors + data + APIs + content management—is increasingly where the digital signage market is heading.
The screen is becoming the visible endpoint of a much larger application.
Acquire Digital Has Been Doing This for a Long Time
One reason this project is worth noting is that Acquire Digital isn’t a newcomer trying to figure out interactive digital signage.
The company has many years of experience with complex interactive applications, wayfinding, kiosks, large-format displays and unusual digital environments. That background matters on installations such as ATLAS because the difficult part isn’t necessarily turning on millions of LEDs. It is integrating content, data, triggers, sensors and external systems while giving the customer something they can actually operate.
StudioDX represents the newest generation of that experience.
Acquire now positions StudioDX as a media-server and content-management platform specifically designed for high-resolution, multi-zone fixed installations where playback performance has to coexist with practical CMS operation.
The company’s broader product portfolio also includes Wayfinder, Acquire2Go!, Vision, Doohad, Assist and Watchdog, reflecting its history across interactive and managed digital applications.
From Digital Signage to Digital Experience
ATLAS is also a useful example of a broader change taking place in the industry.
For years we separated technologies into categories: digital signage, kiosks, wayfinding, interactive displays, advertising networks and information systems.
Those boundaries are getting harder to maintain.
ATLAS can be signage. It can be an advertising platform. It can display airport information. It can react to people. It can visualize live flight data. It can synchronize multiple displays and potentially incorporate entirely new applications through APIs.
The physical sphere gets everyone’s attention—and deservedly so.
But the more significant technology story may be the software underneath it.
That is where projects like ATLAS are headed: the display attracts the passenger, while software, sensors and data determine what happens next.
