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Digital Factory’s Custom Fabricated Steel Enclosures Protect And Enhance NEC-Mitsubishi LCD Displays At The Airport.
Digital Factory’s custom display enclosure capabilities, including the company’s vandal resistant glass and brightness-enhancing features, enhance the newly installed information display system at Sacramento International Airport (SMF). Centrally located in the heart of Northern California, SMF hosts over 9.5 million travellers annually.
Recently, SMF upgraded information display systems and the networking that drives it. The challenge of this effort was choosing state of the art displays that simultaneously matched existing airport design, provided clear graphic information, and could withstand daily direct public interface.
All told, more than 176 NEC-Mitsubishi LCDs were installed as Flight Information Displays (FID), Gate Information Displays (GID), and Baggage Information Displays (BID). The clean, crisp LCDs and related installation hardware enhance airport décor while providing travellers with up-to-the-minute flight information throughout the airport.
“Sacramento International Airport wanted to replace existing low resolution, CRT-based displays with free-standing, more current display technologies,” said David Barber, project manager for Air Transport IT Services, the Orlando-based leading provider of turnkey integrated solutions to the transportation industry. “But they also wanted them to be in safe, protective enclosures that would not take away from the visual appeal of the displays.”
After evaluating plasma, DLP and other popular display technologies, NEC-Mitsubishi’s LCD3000s/LCD4000s were selected for a variety of reasons.
“We wanted a display that offered visual clarity and did not have significant issues with image burn-in," said Steve Elrod, Deputy Director of Information Technology & Telecommunications for the Sacramento County Airport System.
"We evaluated various display technologies and ultimately selected NEC-Mitsubishi displays for SMF because we believe they meet our present needs.”
To fully take advantage of the sleek, attractive look of the LCD panels in specific areas of the airport, NEC-Mitsubishi brought in Executive Partner Digital Factory. The company, which is the custom display enclosure arm of West-Mark, a 19 million dollar a year manufacturer of stainless steel tankers and fire engines, was tasked with creating custom enclosures for several of the LCDs that would meet the rigorous safety and aesthetic demands of the high-traffic, high visibility areas of the installation.
“Digital Factory has consistently been the go-to company for us when it comes to creating completely custom display enclosures for our products,” said David Schultz, National Account Manager & LCD Specialist for NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America.
Digital Factory National Sales Director Jim Hackett, CTS coordinated the design, prototypes and delivery of protective enclosures. “The Sacramento Airport had specific needs not only for protecting the displays themselves, but not detracting from them. The displays needed to be seamlessly integrated aesthetically and meet the demands of public information display in arm’s reach of thousands of travellers a day,” said Hackett.
Digital Factory used extremely thin but resilient laser-cut matte black enclosures for the selected LCDs, adding no noticeable change to the displays, which was critical to the airport. “I went to show someone the bezel on the display, and when I looked at it I thought the bezel wasn’t even on yet,” said Barber.
Digital Factory’s extensive custom fabrication capabilities make such precision possible. Utilizing its parent company’s 1.5 million dollar laser system and CAD capabilities, Digital Factory offers on-the-fly solutions and adjustments.
“If a client is unsure about how something might look in a certain location, we can take a photo of the spot and actually superimpose a full colour, realistic rendering of the end result,” said Hackett. “Nothing is left to chance, and it reduces the financial risk and time involvement tremendously.”
The custom enclosures also feature Digital Factory’s proprietary VanRes™ AR/AG (vandal resistant anti-reflective anti-glare) glass, which actually enhances the optical characteristics of the LCD. “When you look at the display with the glass in place, you’re amazed at the increase in brightness,” Barber said. “The special anti-reflective optical glass actually increases the contrast ratio and makes the display look clearer.”
VanRes™ also protects the display from finger pressure, moisture, cleaning agents and other hazards. A special hydrophobic coating on the face of VanRes™ glass allows the display to be cleaned using common cleaners. The enclosures also feature Digital Factory’s fingerprint resistant finish (FPR), reducing if not eliminating smudges and spots resulting from daily public exposure.
Public safety at the airport was taken into consideration. Digital Factory’s on-staff PE (Professional Engineer) ensured the enclosure designs met or exceeded California’s stringent earthquake and engineering requirements for public spaces. The company also worked closely with NEC-Mitsubishi to ensure that all video and power connections are protected by a security cover that matches the bezel.
Barber utilized new technology to also ensure the displays were not physically encumbered by additional equipment -- computers or servers – to provide and manage content. Magenta Research provided their MultiView Series to deliver remote VGA signals to the LCD displays throughout the airport.
Magenta’s proprietary technology, specially designed for high-resolution video plus optional serial signals, enables distribution of content over a single inexpensive cable to 50 – 1,500 feet away without signal degradation.
“We didn’t want to have a computer running each individual display,” said Barber. “With Magenta’s technology, we were able to centralize all of our computers in one secured room, which was extremely beneficial for providing UPS power and maintenance.”
According to Barber, the displays at all baggage claim units will be used in the immediate future to generate advertising revenue. “Providing information to airport patrons is just one side of the coin,” said Barber. “Making the information easy to access and improving the overall airport experience is just as important.”
Barber added that the former FID systems provided individual airlines on proprietary displays but that the new system enables display of airline data for all airlines on the same board.
About Digital Factory
Digital Factory is a wholly owned subsidiary of West-Mark (Corporation established 1967), a nineteen million dollar a year leading manufacturer of stainless steel tankers and fire engines.
With manufacturing facilities in excess of 130,000 square feet located in Modesto, Atwater and Bakersfield, California, West-Mark provides Digital Factory with access to over 120 fabricators, CAD design engineers, and metal forming, laser cutting, and finishing equipment never before available to the display industry.
The sheer volume of metal work at West-Mark allows Digital Factory to not only be extremely cost-effective, but provides our clients an amazingly short design to fulfilment cycle. For more information about Digital Factory, visit www.digitalfactory.com
About NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America, Inc.
Headquartered in Itasca, Ill., NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation, a joint venture company established by NEC Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.
The company incorporates the strengths of NEC’s worldwide leadership in LCD desktop and information displays, Ambix™, and MultiSync technologies, with Mitsubishi’s market leadership in flat aperture grille CRT technology development.
NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display ranked as the number one best-selling stand-alone LCD monitor brand according to the iSuppli/Stanford Resources Flat Panel Monitrak® Quarterly Report, Q4 '04. NEC-Mitsubishi was also ranked the top stand-alone LCD monitor manufacturer in North America for all of CY2003 according to DisplaySearch's Annual LCD Monitor Strategy Report 2003. For more information, call 1-888-NEC-6487 or visit www.necmitsubishi.com
About Magenta
Magenta Research Ltd. is the demonstrated leader in the delivery and flexible distribution of audio/visual signals. In 2003 Magenta accomplished an industry first - the transmission and maintenance of high-resolution UXGA video at a distance of 1,500 feet (457 meters) over cost-effective CAT5-type cable.
The company offers an adaptive, highly robust and cost-effective series of transmitter, receiver, switcher and distributive systems for a large variety of A/V applications, especially dynamic signage for airport, retail, fast food, museum, casino, courtroom and corporate applications. Based in Brookfield, CT, Magenta utilizes a network of distributors, representatives, resellers and catalogs to market its enabling technology worldwide.
Sacramento, CA
