- Washington State Department Of Transportation Installs A New Multipurpose Videowall
- OLYMPIA WA—The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is responsible for actively managing and improving the traffic flow and performance and to respond to traffic needs throughout the state. Six regional traffic management centers (TMCs) process live, encoded video feeds from cameras positioned at key points, including highways, bridges, and mountain passes.
- The decision was made to install a new state-of-the-art display wall that would allow WSDOT to improve and respond to changing traffic conditions. For years, the agency had to rely on individual staff members pulling in and decoding feeds from traffic cameras on their own desktop. WSDOT wanted to be able to pull in and review all of the information they would need into a single centralized place, including information on current construction projects, aerial photos, flow maps of traffic, DVD content and public service announcements as well as information from WSDOT’s own applications. They also wanted a place where the public might have access to changing traffic conditions.
- The area selected for the installation of the new display wall offered a limited amount of space. In addition, the rear surface of the area was a concrete wall that would allow no back access to the system. Based on such physical limitations and the client’s stated needs and objectives, systems integrator CompView opted to construct a videowall comprised of six Mitsubishi VS-50XLF50U projection cubes stacked two high and three across in tandem with a Jupiter Fusion 964 display wall processor. The Mitsubishi VS-50XLF50U cubes are only 23 inches deep. Their unique front access mechanism allows the videowall projection cubes to be placed against a wall, eliminating the need for rear service access space. These cubes are also easily assembled and dismantled, allowing greater flexibility.
- The Jupiter processor used in the WSDOT project manages content at the display wall or remotely using Jupiter ControlPoint client software via a Citrix server. Video feeds, slideshows, and broadcast content are now routed through the processor, and then to the designated projection cube. Any image that operators select can be sent to any of the cubes or enlarged and tiled
(Above) The new videowall recently installed at WSDOT improves response to changing traffic conditions throughout Washington state. (Left) The WSDOT display fits into a limited amount of space and keeps access to the back of the system prohibited. to span across multiple cubes.
The Jupiter Fusion 964 processor is a high-performance, cost-effective, space-efficient platform that offers a number of features that proved to be ideal for this application. First, the Jupiter Fusion 964 processor provides direct display of the live video content from the internet to the videowall. Second, the Jupiter Fusion 964 processor can also display Power- Point presentations or other Windows applications. Third, the Jupiter processor offers substantial capacity for expansion, so if the WSDOT chooses to add an additional videowall in the future, the content can easily be routed through the existing Jupiter processor. Lastly, the Jupiter processor used in this project is exceedingly user-friendly, outfitted with many WYSIWYG features that render the task of remotely managing the videowall simple even for nontechnical staff.
