Control rooms, in search of flexibility

In an increasingly IoT world, supervision and control are more and more crucial in any sector, be it security management, production, logistics, transport, telecommunication networks, energy production and dispatching, agricultural production, building automation and many other areas.

The analysis of countless pieces of information coming in from the most disparate supervisory systems, requires of the operators in charge a level of multidisciplinarity that is difficult to concentrate on a single individual who must correctly interpret all the information and act promptly with consistency and effectiveness even in emergency situations. This is why it is common practice to set up teams of operators and experts who work closely together in supervisory environments, the control rooms.

Teamwork requires effective sharing of information, and the solution lies in the creation of large viewing surfaces within the control room, on which all members of the supervision team can benefit from the information needed to jointly assess the various cases in order to determine the consequent action to be taken.

The large 'videowall' type viewing surface, realised through the juxtaposition of several large-format monitors, is well known to operators working daily in control room environments, an effective and reliable viewing surface that allows the structuring of surfaces of various formats to meet the ergonomics and any specific architectural constraints of the supervision environment.

Traditionally, the information displayed on video walls is managed by video matrix systems that allow the images generated by the operators' individual computers to be arranged on the viewing surface. The management of visualisation by means of video matrixes is certainly functional, but it is complex in its realisation, rigid in its implementation possibilities, and difficult to maintain, since it requires specific knowledge of professional video technologies, knowledge that is required of the IT personnel who are normally in charge of solving any problems. Definitely a management via video matrices is to be considered an obsolete solution for the new IoT oriented dimension, a dimension in which information moves natively over data networks according to streaming and web browsing technologies. The contemporary solution provides direct management of new technologies and the flexibility typical of a PC-based approach.

Polywall, the modern and flexible solution

Liga DS is the exclusive distributor for Italy of Polywall software solutions for the management of vision surfaces in control rooms with more than 800 active installations worldwide. Software designed and developed specifically for control room environments, based on Windows operating system and workstation/PC hardware agnostic, it allows the direct management of streaming streams of any type, direct management of applications, screen mirroring and/or KWM of individual operator workstations, management of document repositories, and visualisation from web browser. The arrangement of content on the display surface is managed by an absolutely smart console, which can be reached via web browser and can therefore also be managed using common tablets. The control console allows dynamic content management and features both layout preview and live view of the layout of the images displayed on the video wall(s).

Six licence levels are available, indefinitely, to meet small supervision needs in digital signage style, up to the Enterprise licence for the realisation of an infinite number of control rooms within the same network with redundancy logics and assignment of access permissions.

Become a Polywall expert, get your free certification by clicking here:

Ligra DSS

What about the viewing surface?

Brightness, edge thickness, absence of reflections, hours of continuous operation, these are the essential parameters for choosing the monitors needed to compose an effective and reliable video wall. Our proposal for high end performance is definitely SHARP/NEC, specifically the 55" MultiSync® UN552S model with its extremely uniform 700 Nit brightness thanks to the adoption of an S-IPS panel, with an edge thickness of less than 1mm on each side, the anti-reflection treatment of the panel that allows a sharp vision free of interference from external light sources, the 24/7 usage certification guaranteed by an active heat control system, the possibility of advanced calibration via NEC Display Wall Calibrator software. The ultimate in performance for this product category.

Ligra DS

Ligra DS

What if my space does not allow for a wall videowall?

Mounting flexibility is the demand? B-Tech AV Mounts our answer, with the System X series you can configure the way you want your video wall to be mounted: suspended from the ceiling, mobile on wheels, ground anchored, wall mounted with push pull brackets. Every need can be catered for.

Simply access the online configurator define your configuration and request a quotation by writing to us at avpro@ligra.it

B-Tech

Ligra DS

But which video cards can I use for my Polywall 'Visualiser' computer?

The gateway between the Polywall management software and the videowall is the 'visualiser', i.e. a PC/workstation running the Polywall Visualizzer software, which must have sufficient video outputs to interface with the monitors that make up the videowall. Polywall suggests graphics cards Matroxbrand distributed by Ligra DS. Specifically, the D-Series (Full-height Gen 3 PCIe® x16) graphics cards are a guarantee of maximum reliability. The series provides a choice of output connection with 4 DisplayPort ports for the D1480 model or 4 HDMI ports for the D1450 model.

Matrox

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