Upgrading a Command and Control Room in a New Police Station

CHALLENGE

As part of the move to a new building, a police department based in the north of Europe planned to overhaul their command and control room equipment. Their existing control room used legacy analogue technology and was a mix of KVM point-to-point extensions (VGA-PS2 and VGA-USB), and small desktop KVM switches to give single-user access to one or two remote systems.

SOLUTION

The police department specified a need for fast switching times, redundancy and hot swappability to avoid potential downtime. Black Box suggested the implementation of a DKM FX Matrix Switching System. Because of its scalability and flexibility, DKM FX switches are a great solution for command and control rooms, providing multiple users with simultaneous access, and the ability to work over a mix of structured cabling (copper and fibre).

The DKM FX solution is configured with two video walls, one 4-by-2 and one 2-by-2 setup, connecting rooms with five desks and multiple users throughout 24/7 shifts.

A Black Box MediaCento Control System integrates with the DKM FX in order to bring touchscreen compatibility for switching and control of the video walls. The larger video wall has a title function where an image can be sent to a 2-by-2 area. Operators have a- mix of extension systems on their desks, enabling some to transmit to the video walls while others are simply connected to remote servers.