3 Steps to Building an Integrated Control Room with a Seamless Visualisation Experience

Original Source: https://vuwall.com/building-an-integrated-control-room-blog-ihse/

Increasing productivity and efficiency in today’s modern control room begins with building an integrated control room, where operators can focus on their mission and not on the technology. The challenge is being able to display the relevant combination of information in the right place at the right time on the video wall, the operators’ desktops, in a crisis room or a director’s office. Having all systems and applications interoperable and controlled from a single unified platform is the key to creating a seamless visualisation experience. This article describes how to do just that.

Creating the Most Efficient and Reliable Modern Control Room

The primary purpose of a control room is to provide a central space that can effectively monitor and control complex systems, whether it is a large industrial process control application, a complex transport network or a command centre for emergency services.

For the most effective operations, control room operators must have up-to-date information that is accurate and complete. That data must be presented to them in a clear and logical way, in a layout that can be changed quickly as needed so that they can respond rapidly to changing situations and emergencies.

Modern control rooms generally include a large video wall for common access and visualisation of data and group analysis, coupled with individual workstations. These workstations typically have the same data as the large screen along with additional information, allowing specialist operators to extract the additional information required for their specific roles.

To achieve this, it is imperative to select the right technology that allows the combination of both elements (video wall and operator workstation content) to be managed by a single system in an integrated and flexible solution.

Here are the three critical steps to achieving the ultimate integrated control room installation:

1. Select the right video wall displays & video wall control system
2. Select the right workstation and switching technology
3. Ensure a seamless integration between the video wall and workstations

 

1 Large Video Wall & Control System

The first step is to select a high performance and flexible large screen video wall and control system. It is important to choose a video wall that can display high quality images and data, offers a thin-bezel or no bezel (LED) design, is modular for scalability and delivers a great viewing experience in various lighting conditions.

There are various manufacturers that can offer such high-end displays. A great example is Samsung’s The Wall, a proven next-generation MicroLED display that is redefining the industry with a one-of-a-kind visual experience. The Wall brings superior colour purity with innovative colour enhancing Ultra Chroma Technology, a perfect black presentation with Black Seal Technology LED HDR and HDR 10+ support for optimum peak brightness and accurate grayscale expression. It is a real game changer for control rooms. In July 2021, Samsung certified VuWall’s VuScape video wall controller as the first to ensure a seamless interoperability and optimized visualisation experience. READ PRESS RELEASE

Video Wall Processing (a.k.a. Video Wall Controller)

It is equally important to select the right video wall controller to maximize the usage of the video wall. Selecting the optimum controller is key to ensuring that operators can see what they need to see, when they need to see it. The most critical characteristics to consider are its performance, scalability, flexibility and ease of use. You can learn more about the specifics of these critical considerations in this article: “Essential Considerations When Investing in a Video Wall Processor”. VuWall’s VuScape line of video wall controllers have been deployed in thousands of control rooms worldwide. Designed for mission-critical operations, they offer high performance video processing, can easily control and manage any source to any display and offer the utmost flexibility and scalability with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface with a full-featured video wall management software.

Video Wall Management Software

In addition to the performance and processing power of the video wall controller, it is often the software that resides on these controllers that makes all the difference. There are many comparable video wall controllers out there, but it’s their software that differentiates them the most. The software is what determines the user experience and how productive control room operators will be. The most critical consideration for selecting the right video wall management software is interoperability; a platform that can route virtually any source type to any display and is compatible with third-party devices so that a single interface can be used to manage all devices on the network. Ease of use is another critical component; software that offers easy drag-and-drop operations both to configure and to operate the video wall.

TRx is VuWall’s centralized management platform – the only true interoperable platform that provides both AV-over-IP distribution and a fully-featured video wall management software. TRx even includes a control panel designer to create customized HTML-based control panels to facilitate day-to-day operations, all without any programming required.

2 Workstations & Switching Technology

Selecting the optimum switching solution is crucial in control rooms that must provide operators with the information they need when they need it. Providing operators with the correct information from a vast array of different sources can be challenging, but thankfully, this challenge can be overcome with the right technology.

Accessing the Right Information

With an increasing amount of data and visual information, an effective control room demands a system that unifies and routes information effectively so that each operator can select the most relevant data and easily control remote computers to accomplish their tasks.

KVM Matrix Switching for a Flexible Connection

One of the most efficient and flexible ways to achieve this is with a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switching system. Typically, the computers and source devices supplying the data that operators need to observe is located at a distance from the operators in a secure server room with a controlled environment. Access to those computers is possible using KVM extenders, an integral element of the switching system.

At the centre of the KVM system is a matrix switch that routes individual computers to operator workstations. Any operator can select any source computer and control it as though the computer was located only a few metres from their desktop; with no latency, interactive delay on the keyboard and mouse or misleading artefacts on the screen. It is also possible for several operators to view and control the same computer simultaneously – under strict access control to maintain operational integrity. More information on the capability and application of KVM switches within control rooms can be found in the KVM in Mission-Critical Control Room brochure.

Maintaining System Control and Integrity

System control and integrity is an important consideration when giving operators access to all computers. Operators can also select between sources using simple keyboard commands or through an additional device such as a push button panel or touch screen. The IT system administrator is also able to control switching routes centrally and assign access permissions along with a series of other control parameters that suit just about every practical operational requirement.

Ease of Use

Many workstations are equipped with several screens which would normally require multiple keyboards and mice. A KVM system allows a single keyboard and mouse to control any computer, simply by hovering the mouse over the appropriate screen and interacting with the presented data.

Remote Access

Long distance transmission is achieved using extenders at each end of the links to transmit signals over the CAT or fibre cables. Distances of 140 meters with copper and 10km with fibre cables can be achieved.

 

3 Effortless Data Flow – An Integrated Solution

Presenting all the combined visual information on the large video wall at the front of a control room and across all operator workstations is essential in ensuring that decision-makers are equipped with the information they need to minimize response times and increase operational efficiency. This can only be achieved with a centralized management platform that is integrated with all the information systems used to provide data to those decision makers.

A workflow diagram of a recommended solution is shown below.

A key element to this infrastructure is the VuWall TRx Centralized Management Platform. TRx software provides an easy-to-use user interface to fully manage both the content on the video wall and the routing of source computers to the operator workstations. It also provides an intuitive control panel designer tool to quickly and easily create an unlimited number of HTML-based control panels to select between various pre-set screen configurations for the most common operational scenarios and crisis situations.

VuWall and IHSE have developed a complete integration between TRx and the IHSE KVM matrix switches to ensure a seamless visualisation experience. Click here to learn more about this integration.

Conclusion

Control room operators must have instant and reliable access to accurate information at all times even though this information comes from a wide variety of sources delivered in various formats.

In this new era of smart control rooms, unified, integrated and interoperable technology can handle all types of incoming visual information and deliver this information where and when it is needed.

A proven and tested integrated video wall controller and KVM switch solution with a simple-to-use control interface, achieves just that; ensuring operational staff have constant access to information to make the correct decisions, especially at the most critical times.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

Sydney Trains Rail Operations Centre

A major new central control room (CCR) was needed to enable train operators to visually monitor and manage over 500 miles of track on the Sydney Trains network.

The Rail Operations Centre (ROC), located within Alexandria NSW in Australia, brings together three separate Sydney Trains divisions under one roof: rail management and two signalling controller divisions. At the front of the control room a custom-made NanoLumens 41-million-pixel LED video wall measuring 106 x 12 feet (32.5m x 3.65m) displays rail network content from over 40 sources, enabling anyone present in the centre to observe the current network status.

Network controller workstations are provided with up to eight monitors to concurrently control remote source devices with a single keyboard and mouse. A deep level of redundancy ensures that the system is operational 24/7 with no down time that might compromise the safe running of the network.

The entire Rail Operations Centre is managed and controlled with VuWall’s VuScape video wall controllers and IHSE’s tera Tool user controllers under administrator control to ensure that all operational staff and managers have access to accurate, up-to-the-second, information on workstation monitors and on the large video wall.

The ROC is one of the most sophisticated, data-driven, and ergonomically designed operations control centres in the world. This state-of-the-art deployment sets a new standard for other mega-city transit systems.

RELEVENT RESOURCES

• Learn more about IHSE & VuWall Partnership and Integration
• Brochure: IHSE and VuWall
• White Paper: Combining KVM Switching and Video Wall Management
• Webinar: Combining KVM Switching and Video Wall Management
• VuWall Certification with Samsung Press Release
• Case Study: Sydney Trains ROC

Tunisian National Guard – Ministry of Interior

VuScape Powers 24/7 Control Room and Crisis Room

Original Source: https://vuwall.com/customer/tunisian-national-guard-control-room/

“VuWall has proven time and time again that their solutions bring the performance and reliability that government and mission-critical control rooms demand. But most importantly, we know that we can always rely on their team to have a smooth and successful deployment and on their products for a satisfied customer.”

Nidhal Jerbi, General Manager at MultiCom

Challenge

The Tunisian National Guard serves as the defence force against external threats and as a security force against internal threats. They have an incredible obligation and responsibility to use the most advanced and reliable technology to protect their people. The Operations Director of the National Guard was tasked with deploying a new system for the management, dispatching and display of different types of data, videos and other visual information coming from many various information sources from the Ministry of Interior. This information needs to be compiled and displayed in a comprehensive and relevant manner so that control room operators and crisis room personnel can make quick and informed decisions and are able to visualize what they need when they need it.

Solution

MultiCom, a Tunisian Integrator specialized in security projects, selected VuWall based on their longstanding history of deploying other successful video wall projects together. MultiCom installed two VuWall VuScape VS640-3 video wall controllers to drive a large 6480×3600 0.9mm LED video wall, a 4K 65’’ interactive screen, and a 65’’ touch screen. The system can be controlled from 50 operator workstations. The control room is also equipped with two 10’ ControlVu touch panels from VuWall, where operators have customized pre-sets that could be triggered by authorized users with the simple touch of a button on the touch screen.

Results

The VuWall solution is deployed throughout the main Control Room at the National Guard as well as the Crisis Room. It is being used by approximately 50 people at once, able to visualize what they need when they need it. VuWall has brought these operations the simplicity of dispatching different sources from different locations quickly and easily with an easy and intuitive user-interface that all operators were able to learn very quickly. VuWall’s unique offering has delivered the National Guard an unprecedented ease-of-use and operator efficiency with the unique ability to display any source type on any type of display and control/manage the visual experience from any workstation in the facility.

About Tunisian National Guard

The Tunisian National Guard is the national gendarmerie force of the Republic of Tunisia. Created in 1957 and originally dependent on the ministry of Defence, the force was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior. Separated from the Tunisian Armed Forces, it serves both as defence force against external threats and as a security force against internal threats. It has a standing force of 15,000.

About MultiCom (Integrator)

Société Tunisienne, spécialisée dans les systèmes de sécurité électronique, MultiCom distribue des produits et conçoit des solutions destinées aux professionnels de la sécurité. S’appuyant sur son expérience en matière de vidéosurveillance, de contrôle d’accès et de systèmes anti-intrusion, MultiCom dispose d’un savoir-faire de haut niveau technologique pour offrir les solutions adaptées à vos besoins spécifiques.

Die Mobiliar Collaboration Room

Original Source: https://vuwall.com/customer/case-study-mobiliar-video-wall/

VuScape Powers Video Wall at Insurance Company’s Headquarters in Switzerland

Challenge

Mobiliar, Switzerland’s oldest and largest insurance company, was looking to equip their new centralized newsroom with a video wall to serve as a collaboration and information central. It was critical that the video wall was able to integrate various different collaboration tools and also live video feeds, web sources and other sources. The quality had to remain crisp and the integration had to remain seamless to the users.

Solution

AV integrator, Kilchenmann, equipped Mobiliar’s newsroom with state-of-the-art audio visual technology that was required for them to serve as the central communication hub, at their headquarters in Bern, Switzerland. The 3×3 video wall at the heart of the room includes nine full HD 55 “displays (1080×1920 for a total of 9720×17280 pixels). The VuScape video wall processor and video wall management software by VuWall is used to route all sources to the displays, and be arranged in any layout desired, with perfect pixel accuracy. The sources managed by the VuWall system include web content as well as content from Barco’s ClickShare, a BluRay player, a Microsoft Wireless Display, TV signals and other conventional baseband cable connections.

Results

Today, the staff in Mobiliar’s newsroom are using their 3×3 video wall as both a collaboration space and as a valuable source of information to stay informed and up-to-date. The flexibility and versatility of the solution allows them to work efficiently and remain productive. VuWall’s solution delivers an easy and high quality visualization experience allowing employees to focus on their work and not worry about the technology.

About Mobiliar

Mobiliar, founded in Bern in 1826, is the oldest private insurance company in Switzerland. The company, which operates as a cooperative, employs more than 4,900 staff in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and offers 327 training places. One in every three Swiss households is insured through Mobiliar. The company specializes in proving vehicles, travel, health, and housing insurance.

About Kilchenmann (Integrator)

Kilchenmann is the leading provider of professional audio-video and communication technology in Switzerland, with locations in Bern, Basel and Zurich. Kilchenmann brings innovative media and communication solutions for large companies, SMEs and builders, with an end-to-end approach to customer consulting.

Selecting the Right Visualization Technology for Emergency Operations Centres

Original Source: https://vuwall.com/av-technology-for-emergency-operations-centres/

Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) are where vital decisions are made. Today, more than ever, it is essential that these centres are equipped with the most efficient, reliable, and intuitive technology to gather and interpret data, and plan and implement the best emergency responses in high-risk situations. With so much at stake, it is during the planning and design stages of these centres that selecting the right technology is most critical.

Unlike control room environments, Emergency Operations Centres are characterized by noise, bustle, and tension, with staff working intensively to respond to complex and stressful situations. It is a fast-paced environment, where providing up-to-date information to all stakeholders is crucial.

EOC’s usually consist of multiple departments (e.g. in Europe 112, emergency services, etc.) that work together. Whereas each team is responsible for specific tasks that are reflected on a central video wall, they must still collaborate and assess the entire situation together. Each group then extracts the information they need to respond accordingly. EOC’s typically use a smaller video wall than those in control rooms, but usually have secondary displays, likely LCD panels, that are installed throughout the facility.

The video wall is the central and most critical visualization element in an EOC, while the secondary screens located throughout the facility display content of specific interest to the nearby teams. The EOC is often complemented by additional workspaces such as meeting rooms, crisis rooms, conference rooms, and offices. These are used for conducting strategic meetings for planning and assessing protocols and processes. Often times, the teams in those rooms need to visualize content from the main video wall or send content from the rooms to the main video wall.

Understanding and considering the requirements for such a variety of visualization needs in different locations for a variety of use cases, is important in selecting the technology and system architecture to implement. At VuWall, we always want both our client (the integrator) and the end user, to understand the proposed workflow to ensure that it addresses their needs in the best possible way. For this reason, we like to work with our partners and customers to deliver architectural schematics that illustrate the EOC operations.

The Importance of Interoperability

As mentioned above, Emergency Operations Centres often have multiple teams, each focused on solving specific tasks, each with their own sources of information and work tools. It is, therefore, important that these teams can instantly share information with the other teams and share the information sources with the main video wall for collaborative viewing.

This experience needs to be easy and seamless for the staff, and the only way to ensure that is to deploy interoperable technology that can easily integrate with the various tools used in different areas of the facility. This is where the need for effective video wall processing and collaboration technology comes into play, enabling users to easily view and interact with audiovisual sources and collaborate between different work areas. Whether working with the primary video wall, a secondary display, a desktop, or a display in a meeting room, the technology behind the scenes must be able to seamlessly handle (or route) sources and data from any source to any display throughout the EOC.

Manufacturers are making huge investments in developing unified visualization solutions to make their platforms interoperable and as intuitive as possible. Their objective is to provide users tools that are easy to use, quick to learn, but are also extremely flexibile and efficient. Click here to learn more about unified visualization.

EOC’s also need a robust solution to distribute source signals across all the displays in the facility with very low latency. More and more organizations are turning to next-generation AV-over-IP solutions to facilitate signal distribution to enable effective collaboration.

VuWall has been focussed on developing interoperable AV-over-IP solutions for that exact reason – to facilitate the deployment and usage of visualization systems, for the most effective distribution of visual content from any source to any display.

The Visualization Experience

When selecting a display, visual acuity is the key consideration. This is what will allow operators and decision-makers to see what they need to see, where and when they need to see it, and respond efficiently in a timely manner. It comes down to a simple equation: you have to consider the size of the display, the distance at which the information is going to be viewed, and the type of content or source that is going to be displayed.

In other words, operators must be able to properly see the big picture, but also be able to clearly read the content and interpret any symbols or alerts from their physical location in the EOC. A resolution of 1080p may be adequate in many control rooms and Emergency Operations Centres, but there are applications where 4K (8K in the near future) is already necessary to avoid losing the ability to see important details that are displayed on a large video wall.

Consider, for example, a government intelligence centre that assesses a target area and observes information from high-resolution cameras or maps. These would include visual details that are crucial for decision-making. The size, distance, resolution and ergonomics of the video wall are important factors to consider so that operators are able to interpret situations accurately and respond appropriately.

The Mission Matters Most

End users in Emergency Operations Centres must have high-quality tools that enable them to make well-informed decisions, especially in emergency situations. They must trust the technology: everything from the displays, the video wall processing, the collaboration tools, and of course the signal management.

For those looking to build a highly reliable and high-quality Emergency Operations Centre, I recommend working with a trusted integrator with proven experience in such environments. There is no one EOC or control room solution that works for everyone. The right technology and project design can vary considerably depending on your mission and the user’s workflow. The focus should always be to find the best possible technology that will allow operators to focus on their mission and not worry about the technology.

Relevant References

• CASE STUDY: Sydney Trains Rail Operations Centre
• CASE STUDY: Tunisian National Guard
• ARTICLE: Streamline Video Wall Control and AV-over-IP Distribution with Unified Visualization
• ARTICLE: The Power of Prediction: Emergency Response During a Pandemic

WEBINAR – ON DEMAND: New Trends & Critical Consideration for Control Room Design by Samsung, VuWall, EENA112, and CCD