Hardware Solutions & Data Flow

Below are 3 possible designs for the physical display and a few advantages and disadvantages for each of them.

Design one shows a dedicated device for each output on the map. This "Station" accesses the Web Server and gets it's specific playlist from there. It then outputs the audio via an Audio Jack and the song & artist name via an Arduino connected to a 16X2 display.

Design two has a PC at the physical display. This PC controls all 16X2 displays via Arduino boards to show song and artist names. This PC also controls all the audio outputs via Arduino boards.

Design three has a PC that, similarly to design two, controls the 16X2 displays via Arduino boards. The PC in this design houses a professional grade audio card with several outputs. The control of what audio channel goes to which output is managed via dedicated low-level software (Java).

Overview of the data flow:

The main DB and Server are cloud-based and are accessed by dedicated REST functions. The types of clients are the "Stations" at the physical display (or the physical display if other solutions are chosen) and the Android App.