Design and Simulation of a Large-Scale RGB LED Matrix Display Controlled by a Microcontroller

Large LED matrix displays are widely used for advertising, information and entertainment. This paper presents the design and simulation of a large-scale RGB LED matrix display controlled by a microcontroller. The display is organized in multiplexed rows, column data are loaded through shift registers or constant-current driver chips, and color depth is produced by pulse-width modulation. Refresh rate, brightness uniformity, achievable color depth and power consumption are evaluated. In the design calculation and simulation the display (192×64 pixels) reaches a refresh rate of 296 Hz with 8 bits per color, a luminance uniformity of 94 % (minimum over mean at nine points) and a full-white power of 139 W.