The Customer
The combined fire and rescue service center in Oldenburg, ‘Kooperative Großleitstelle’ (KGO), manages the police emergency calls for about 1.7 million citizens of covered by the Oldenburg police administration as well as emergency calls for firefighting, ambulance and rescue services for 730,000 citizens in several administrative districts of Northern Germany. The center is responsible for answering and dispatching emergency calls and coordinating aid programs 24 hours per day.
In addition, the center maintains the safety and security of the region’s communities through video surveillance of public places and institutions including prisons and banks. It also receives live video material captured by police helicopters.
The Challenge
The KGO handles a wide variety of incoming data and integrates it together to enable operators to instantly access the information they need in order to provide the fastest emergency response possible.
This huge variety of audio and video resources is delivered over a range of different interfaces, to be distributed around the center and to conference and training rooms. To achieve this, Siemens designed a comprehensive media concept for the KGO and contracted Barox, an expert network systems and communication technology integration company, with the task of integrating the AV systems in the center.
The combined fire and rescue service center in Oldenburg was a special challenge for us. All relevant signals had to be transmitted over large distances via fiber and Cat X cable with virtually no delay. – Diana Henn, Sales Manager at barox
The requirement for the system is to provide fully- flexible distribution, switching and display of all video sources and audio signals to projectors, TFT monitors and loudspeakers on media walls in different rooms throughout two linked buildings on the KGO site. A wide range of signal types; from simple BNC/FBAS to VGA and DVI, needs to be accommodated, switched and distributed in a single integrated network.
The Solution
Barox evaluated the KGO’s complex requirements and found the ideal solution in IHSE’s Draco tera enterprise matrix switch. This device offers comprehensive and flexible switching of all types of signal within the center and distribution to display locations over both Cat X and fiber cables.
To provide the crucial continuous and uninterrupted operation, the Draco tera enterprise system incorporates redundant PSUs and allows hot-swapping of components during operation without the need to interrupt power to the system or halt its operation. Mix & Match technology allows different signal and transmission formats to be deployed today and in the future and Flexport technology makes connection and configuration simple and reliable.
The KGO’s wired network infrastructure is mainly based on Cat 5 cabling allowing distances up to 140 m, with some fiber connections between new and old buildings on the site. Signal transmission is maintained with no perceived loss in quality due to the efficient and accurate compression algorithms used within the system. Signals are switched with extremely low latency, ensuring that no critical events are missed in live operations.
IHSE’s HDMI/DVI adaptors and video scalers enable all commonly-available types of interfaces to be included, and allow peripheral devices to be changed quickly and easily. Redundant PSUs provide enhanced resilience.
The Benefit
The installed system meets all the objectives of the KGO and provides an outstanding level of performance, enabling the highest level of operation for the region’s police, firefighting and ambulance services.
Draco tera enterprise offers the highest video quality with the flexibility to combine different network infrastructures. We will always recommend and deploy this technology for challenges like this in the future. – Diana Henn, Sales Manager at barox
