The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has upgraded the audiovisual technology at the Dryden Fire Management Centre located at the Dryden Regional Airport.
The project was headed by Garth Wintle, Fire Intelligence Specialist who reported that "We were looking at modernizing our visual aids and adding some interactive capabilities. We wanted the new system to leverage our mapping and asset tracking applications to be able to make better and quicker decisions."
"We really only had a concept of what we were thinking about. I had sent inquiries to a couple places inquiring on what was available and Alex and Richard dropped in, heard what we had in mind and presented us with a mock up and a materials list. They presented multiple phase options which allowed us to fund the project."
Alex McIntyre, Inland AV, commented that "The building has an outside wall of windows creating a challenge with high levels of ambient light in the room. They also wanted to display up to four different computers on one screen simultaneously. The Epson Pro series of projectors provided the brightness and resolution that this project demanded and the BrightLink projectors deliver the interactive capabilities. The system is rounded out with some signal processing and routing components as well as some flat panel monitors."
The projection screen on the left hand side of the photo below shows the projection of four separate computer signals being displayed simultaneously by an Epson Pro Series projector. Also of interest is the interactive BrightLink projector on the right hand side of the photo.
The Epson Pro Series projector delivers a bright, crisp image even with the high ambient light conditions. This is demonstrated in the photo below with a wall of windows and a sunny day.
The photo below shows a side view of the two BrightLink projectors on the right hand side of the photo and just how close the projectors are mounted on the wall. The Epson Pro projector is in the middle of the ceiling.
The other end of the room features three monitors. The ceiling structure did not provide a hanging spot for the monitors so the integration team developed a unique solution so that the monitors were mounted right where they were wanted.
While Garth and the rest of the team await the start of the 2011 fire season, he is already looking ahead, "I do see some future flexibility in the system. One day we will likely go to a full electronic display and I see it will be a simple transition."
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