Ostrava-Mošnov Airport is a public civil airport for domestic and international air operation, for regular and irregular transport. The solution on the basis of the InfoPanels system provided an improvement in the presentation of information about arrivals and departures in the airport which are expanded by the options for multimedia presentations, displays of actual news and many other useful services. The various display panels and graphic displays of the content suitably complement the environment of the recently opened departure hall.

Situation

Ostrava-Mošnov airport has become an important transport junction for the entire Moravian-Silesian region and is the second largest airport in the Czech Republic. Due to its position close to the state border with Poland and the Slovak Republic, the airport serves as an important entrance point not only into the region of North Moravia and Silesia, but also into neighbouring regions. The construction of the departure hall reflects the demands for the increasing number of passengers and creates a new gateway for visitors to a dynamically developing region. 19“ displays are used for the orientation of passengers to display arrivals and departures and in order to display data above the check-in desks then text panels are used. The main disadvantage of the existing solution in terms of the passengers was the small size of the displays and for the operating elements of the airport there were restricted configuration and administration options for the whole system.

Business Objectives

The key requirement was the replacement of the existing display with an electronic information system with the option of dynamic navigation, presentation display and video. The servicing of the system was not to excessively overload the user and had to be simple and intuitive. A further requirement was to keep the server part of the existing system, including the client server for the creation of time tables and the relation to the system for air traffic control. Simple administration of the system had to be ensured with respect to the fact that more than 40 large area display units were to be used.

Solution

For the solution of the stated objectives it was necessary to select such HW and SW which would ensure reliable operation of the application together with the support for the standard technologies and data formats. For this type of application, the InfoPanels of the company ELCOM were used where the HW platform is based on plasma and LCD displays completed by built-in PCs, communication is performed through the Ethernet network in whose centre is located a high performance server. InfoPanels SW is based on Microsoft Net technology, the key data storage area is the Microsoft SQL Server. The built-in PCs for the displays work on the MS Windows XP Embedded operating system, the client computers for the servicing staff work on MS Windows 2000 and higher. The main reason for selection of the Microsoft Windows platform was the wide support for data formats and multimedia. The use of Net technology, available components and development tools from the MS Visual Studio package enabled the effective development of the application in a standard user environment. A disadvantage for this comfort is the higher demands for memory and performance which must be taken into consideration during selection of the HW. The existing system was also based on the Microsoft Windows platform, the integration of the existing system with the new system was performed very easily. The existing structure of Microsoft SQL database remained the same and the control applications for the system based on CitectSCADA was kept. The HW and SW are divided into three blocks – client stations, server and displays. On the existing server the installation of a media server, configuration of the SQL server and the web server for the InfoPanels was implemented). These services are used by the client applications of users who enter the time schedules and store media data. The control units for the displays periodically check the requirements and ensure the display according to the adjusted graphic diagrams – layouts. For creation of layouts and connections of dynamic elements to data sources there is a graphic design module – LayoutEditor which is also for data regarding arrivals and departures from the existing database.

Benefits

With the implementation of the InfoPanels system the principal requirements were met. The highly developed technology and professional appearance of the final solution brought an improvement of the orientation and the informing of passengers. The system also provided areas for presentation of other services offered by the airport or its partners which should also bring a secondary financial effect.

Products and Technologies

• 40 pcs … IEC InfoPanels unit 32“ (panel LG, embedded PC ELCOM)
• 2 pcs … IEC InfoPanels unit 42“ (panel LG, embedded PC ELCOM)
• MS SQL Ser ver 2005, MS Windows XP Embedded
• InfoPanels Server, InfoPanels Player, InfoPanels Explorer, InfoPanels LayoutEditor
• CitectSCADA