Original by Janice LEDinside, 2024-05-06 14:47

Despite the complex global economic situation in recent years, the LED display market has continued to grow. According to TrendForce’s “2024 Global LED Display Market Outlook and Price Cost Analysis,” the domestic LED display market demand recovered in 2023, and the overseas market also maintained growth. Therefore, despite the ongoing price decline of LED display products amid various technological competitions, the global LED display market still expanded in 2023.

| Image: The global LED display market size

Looking ahead to 2024, TrendForce predicts that with the promotion and demand growth of small-pitch and Mini LED display products, the global LED display market will continue to grow, reaching an estimated $10.7 billion by 2027.

From an application perspective, segments such as outdoor rental screens, conference integrated machines, cinema screens, and XR virtual shooting have emerged, especially outdoor rental screens. As sports events and large-scale performances are held worldwide, the outdoor rental and outdoor advertising markets are expected to continue growing, adding momentum to the overall growth of the LED display market.

Opportunities and Challenges: Increasing Demand for Technological Innovations in the MLED Industry Chain

Clearly, the demand for LED displays is long-term and sustainable. Technologically, with trends towards large sizes, high resolutions, flexibility, thinness, ease of installation, intelligence, and connectivity, development directions are becoming clearer. Whether it’s higher integration packaging solutions like COB/MIP or small-pitch, ultra-small-pitch, Micro/Mini LED display products, these are closely linked to the continuous miniaturization of spacing and chip sizes, which is trending even smaller. This presents new opportunities but also challenges for the industry chain.

After years of preparation and buildup, the Micro/Mini LED industry chain ecosystem has been basically established, with significant improvements in the maturity of equipment, chips, packaging, modules, and displays. However, a close examination reveals that the complete industry chain still has imperfections, especially regarding the ultimate display era of Micro LED, where many supporting technologies still have substantial room for innovation and optimization, such as data and power transmission in LED displays.

Typically, LED displays are assembled from multiple cabinets, each consisting of multiple modules. Modules include lamp boards, Hub adapter boards, receiving cards, power systems, drivers, and other parts. Lighting the lamp board requires precise matching and connection of these components, traditionally achieved through physical hardware, power cables, data cables, etc. The entire screen’s normal operation also depends on the connection of physical wires.

For instance, the connection between lamp boards and Hub boards is mainly through specially designed interfaces and cables to ensure data and control signals are accurately transmitted to each LED module. To maintain flexibility during assembly and ease of onsite installation, physical interfaces have certain tolerances.

Notably, as display pitches shrink, the tolerances of physical interfaces also decrease, reducing installation flexibility and convenience. Additionally, since interfaces need to align and be assembled by pressing together, the shrinking tolerances increase the risk of damage to physical hardware, which can affect data accuracy.

In this context, millimeter-wave wireless transmission technology has emerged.

“Connecting the Future”: Millimeter-Wave Wireless Transmission Technology Boosts MLED Industry Upgrades

Millimeter-wave wireless transmission technology enables wireless connections between lamp boards and Hub boards and between display cabinets. Currently, products based on this technology are in chip form, replacing common physical wires. This solution has clear advantages, simplifying installation and maintenance processes, saving time and material costs.

Compared to physical hardware with wires, wireless connection chips are smaller, have lower losses, and can better meet the high data transmission needs of high-resolution displays. Additionally, millimeter-wave wireless connection chips avoid issues like EMI electromagnetic interference and RFI radio frequency interference common with physical wire connections.

In other words, aligned with MLED display development trends, this technology helps LED display manufacturers accelerate the upgrade of overall solutions, preparing for market opportunities. Some manufacturers have already adopted LED display control systems based on millimeter-wave wireless connection chips with positive feedback.

| Image: The application of mmWave Wireless Connection Solution in LED displays (Source: Deco)

Currently, few market players provide this technology and products, but one domestic company, DECO INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “DECO”) has successfully industrialized its research into products.

DECO’s solution installs mmWave Wireless Connection Chips between LED display lamp boards and Hub boards, as well as between cabinets, achieving real-time stable data transmission and signal communication with high speed, frequency, and efficiency.

Specifically, thanks to millimeter electromagnetic wave technology, the chips can stably achieve a maximum rate of 18Gbps and a low latency of under 500ps for display data transmission across various frequency bands. Additionally, replacing physical interfaces with chips increases tolerance range during assembly, enhancing flexibility and simplifying screen splicing and adjustment, while avoiding risks of physical hardware damage.

Moreover, millimeter-wave wireless connection chips are small, can solve all connections with a single chip, are easy to design and use, and cover a wide range, providing more possibilities for efficient and convenient high-definition LED display applications.

Overall, for LED display companies, millimeter-wave wireless connection technology not only solves existing physical connector issues but also optimizes design complexity and material costs of LED display products. This positively impacts further price reductions, product promotion, and application of Micro/Mini LED displays.

For end customers (such as outdoor rental companies), adopting millimeter-wave wireless connection technology reduces installation and maintenance time and labor costs. Thanks to the high stability and reliability of millimeter-wave wireless connections, the risk of display failures during operation significantly decreases.

Looking to the future, the highly integrated nature of millimeter-wave wireless transmission technology promises more possibilities beyond transmission, making LED displays smarter, more convenient, and empowering MLED displays in all scenarios.

Conclusion

With the rise of emerging LED markets and new technologies, each link in the LED display industry chain must actively “seek change” to adapt to new industry trends and seize new opportunities. Early movers often gain the upper hand, as seen with DECO. DECO’s independently developed China’s first millimeter-wave wireless connection chip product is now in mass production and will be shipped in bulk to key LED display field customers.

From an industry perspective, although the commercial scale of the MLED display industry is not yet fully realized, the development and application of innovative technologies should be prioritized. Millimeter-wave wireless transmission technology, though still in the early promotion stages, has evident potential to significantly change the game.

We look forward to DECO and more partners continuing to explore the potential of millimeter-wave wireless transmission technology, unlocking the potential of LED displays, and creating more value for the LED display industry.

Written by Janice, LEDinside