Barco has partnered with AV systems integrator Vistacom to create a comprehensive video wall solution to help the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) improve public transportation for the Greater Boston area.
As the oldest and fourth largest transit system in the nation, MBTA has always been a champion of the latest mass transit technologies. Upon receiving a $6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security to renovate its operations control center, the agency was eager to drive the next level of evolution with a new networked visualization solution from Barco, implemented by Vistacom. Comprising a 20 x 3 video wall, the system is boosting situational awareness to enable smoother transit operations.
While there was a pressing need to upgrade the dimly light projection screens with a higher-resolution, more energy-efficient visualization solution, the most critical objective was to display information from other state transportation and security agencies in a coherent and quickly actionable manner. “MBTA needed a better way to harness numerous types of data, presenting it in a meaningful way to enable control room operators to properly assess unfolding situations,” explains Jim Ferlino, principal at Vistacom.
“MBTA can now bring up critical camera feeds in a timely manner, saving precious minutes during an emergency, continued Ferlino.
The wall is a mix of traditional rail control (SCADA) plus security feeds from five different network video record (NVR) platforms. The VidSys Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) software runs on top of the other software, integrated via the Barco CMS API plugin to control content on the wall.
“We are always excited to partner with Vistacom in developing collaborative visualization solutions for forward-thinking customers like MBTA,” comment Hans Dekeyser, vice president sales industrial and government for Barco North America. “We’re confident that the agency will experience significant gains in efficiency while improving decision-making with our robust collaboration and composition image.”
