March 8, 2001

Federal Aviation Administration

Atlanta, Georgia

by Denise Harrison

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Consultant:

Click photo for larger view.

Equipment list. Click photo for larger view.

Atlanta's Terminal Radar Approach Control Center (TRACON), which manages flights for more than 30 airports in the state of Georgia, is currently operating at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport until the grand opening of the new facility April 10, 2001. Hartsfield alone has 78 million passengers a year and a daily airport average traffic count of 2,600 flights. The Atlanta TRACON controllers see an average daily count of 3,200 flights, with a yearly total exceeding a million.

"We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We don't stop. Even if the Atlanta airport is closed or one of our satellite airports, we are open, ready for business. Safety is our utmost concern and priority. With the Barco display walls and some of the other technology (see equipment list to the right), we will be better able to monitor more closely weather and traffic, which will no doubt do nothing but enhance safety," said Jim Vallone, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) representative.

Barco installed three 2 x 2 MP50 display systems throughout the room, and one 4 x 2 system in the center of the room. The main 4 x 2 wall will be used for arrivals into Hartsfield only. The first 2 x 2 system will be used for departures, mainly out of Hartsfield, the second 2 x 2 system will be used to monitor satellite airports, and the third 2 x 2 wall will be used to monitor air traffic in and out of Macon and Columbus (that transition is expected to take place in the Spring of 2002). A total of 20 Barco MP50s were installed.

Equipment also came from Crestron, Extron, Sony, Panasonic and others.

CDAI, an Atlanta-based consulting firm specializing in presentation and performing arts technologies, was hired by the FAA to provide design for presentation lighting, video wall systems, architectural acoustics and mechanical noise control.

"The combination of multiple high resolution sources and a 24/7 environment led us to this solution. The use of the Barco video wall system with digital processors allows the FAA to show all sources in their native resolution and gives the FAA the ability to quickly change the video wall configuration with the push of a button," said Alex Marash, CDAI System Designer.

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