As airports keep growing, there is not only more information to communicate, there are also more changes to communicate -- in real-time. One of the communications challenges is communicating ever-changing flight schedules.

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This was the ccase at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport faced. This, the largest of Canada's airports, decided to upgrade the airport, including construction of a new terminal and improvement of the airport’s Air Traffic Information System, which must provide continuous, accurate, and up-to-date flight information to travelers.

As in many airports, CRT monitors were originally installed throughout to display flight information. The problems with the CRTs were that first, the large footprint allowed for only 29-inch monitors, which were severely limited in the number of flights each CRT could display. Second, CRTs often become unreadable in direct sunlight.

The airport and the companies working on the installation decided plasma would do the job better.

"With increased air traffic flow, the airport needed to display at least five hours of forecasted flight information," said Donald Huen, GTAA general manager operations projects. "The CRT monitors could only hold up to one hour’s worth of flight information on the screens, but with the size of the plasma displays and the quality of their visuals they can accommodate much more."

The GTAA and consulting company Maverick Presentation Products ended up choosing NEC Technologies' 42PD, the 42-inch public display model, mounting systems from Peerless Industries and computers from MiTAC Computer Corporation.

"An advantage NEC had is that their panels are designed to operate in a public display environment," says Doug Wismer, a consultant on the project. "They have a lot of features that worked well with this project."

Aside from the size of the screen, the display needed to be crisp and clear enough to be seen from almost anywhere in the terminals. Capitalizing on one of the inherent advantages of plasma displays, the NEC monitor has an extremely wide viewing angle of over 160 degrees. This allows people to view them clearly as they walk past – even from a severe angle. The 42PD also has an anti-glare screen filter, which allows the displays to be readable even in the bright lighting of the terminals.

Another feature of the NEC displays that appealed to the GTAA is the PD Series’ cabinet design, which has a recess that allows a small PC, such as the MiTAC Plasma Engine System, to be inserted into the back of the monitor. The Plasma Engine was developed specifically for the PD Series monitors in a collaborative effort between NEC and MiTAC Computer Corporation. It enables the displays to be neatly installed throughout the terminals, providing a completely self-contained digital signage solution. Another plus was the NEC PlasmaSync monitors' self-diagnostic feature and AccuShield phosphor protection system that supports a longer usable life for the displays.

Seventy-two plasma screens were installed portrait style around terminals 1 and 2 to display flight information.

Continue to Page 2.

 

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