Vast Abu Dhabi Mosque Using Fine Pitch LED Ribbon Displays To Guide Visitors

November 15, 2023 by Dave Haynes

Here’s an interesting application of fine pitch LED to deliver what I’d call boring but very useful digital signage – wayfinding in a big mosque.

This is in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The Wikipedia page for the place of worship says it is the largest of its kind in that country and can hold a somewhat mind-blowing 40,000 people (maybe in the outside plaza???). The main prayer hall can hold more than 7,000 people.

The mosque’s footprint is vast, so finding one’s way around might prove a challenge, especially for newcomers. There are suspended LED ribbon displays in corridors that guide people in two languages to everything from the library to the food court. The LEDs are 1.8mm, fine enough to show text without it visually breaking up for onlookers.

The system was put in by Dubai-based BritePixl. Here’s a Linkedin post with an embedded video (warning – be ready to mute the video’s background music, which I guess someone, somewhere thinks is pleasant and appropriate).