Control room design overview

The main task of a control room is to make data and information available to distribute them and to control them and to react fast on failures, events or emergency cases. This can be achieved with a central visualisation unit in, general a video wall. For the design and planning of a control room a lot of factors have to be considered, like ergonomics, technology, reliability etc..

A lot of factors are important here we would like to point out the most important ones:
-all equipments have to have 24/7 ability, not only all electronic components, but also
for example the operator chairs.
-appropriate and functional furniture
-air conditioning
-dust-free environment
-reduction of heat and noise
à move equipment like operator PCs and video wall controller to separate server room
-proper environmental conditions, this will extend the product life and reducing failure rates especially
for technical equipment
-assure service accessibility
-assure that all equipment can pass doors and corners for installation
-infrastructure
à keep additional spare cables available in the computer floor, this will save time, because
exchanging broken ones will need time
à keep a minimum of spares on site to reduce downtimes and being able to react quickly
à knowledge about the systems, keep documentation reachable
-training of the operators for all the equipment inside control room
-use of digital connections in order to not loose image quality
-secured access to control room and to equipment to prevent incidents and mal-operation
-keep right viewing distances not too far and not to close
-keep appropriate height of consoles and operator workstation monitors
à ergonomics, ability to view of video wall
-height of video wall and height of base structure of video wall
-air quality, air quantity and air temperature control à fatigue of operators
-ideal temperature (ergonomically) 21 – 22 ° C
-ideal humidity (ergonomically) 45-65 %
-ideal air movement < 10 - 15 cm/sec.
-suitable lighting conditions
à no direct light on displays (artificial or sun light), low level of lighting = good for image monitoring,
bad for paper works
à individually adjustable lighting (not every operator has same requirements for his tasks)
-ceiling material reflection max. 30,8
à correct light distribution
à minimizing costs of lighting (power saving)
-walls à matte, flat finish with a reflectance of 0,5 – 0,6
-floors
à 0,2 – 0,3 reflectance (carpet)
à 0,25 – 0,45 reflectance (floor tiles)
-operators like to work in an environment with windows, but this has the following risks
à security risks
à potential of reflection
à distraction of operators
à heat of sunlight
-right location doors and windows
-north facing windows
-creation of a separate recreation room
-creation of a separate meeting or crisis room
-operator workplaces
àaisle space
àrow width
-correct colors of interior design à area of conflict with corporate design and ergonomics
-scope of work, methodology to follow, profile of task force
-choosing the right content and the appropriate number of source on the video wall

Analysis:
-ensure operator perception
-ensure rational environment, facilitate work and processes
-enabling to carry out tasks logically and in an appropriate manner
-ensure that technical infrastructure and required equipment is given

Planning:
-initial layout sketches and design offer
-proposal of adaption and design
-design of video wall equipment
-design of video wall covering
-design of meeting or crisis room
-design of flooring/ceiling/wall covering
-design of lighting
-console arrangement
-design of interior decoration incl. decorative elements
-design according CD/CI


Viewing distances to video wall:
Min. 2 m max. 8 m
Video: 6x display height
Fonts: 4x display height

Calculation of display height and width:
-4:3 height = 0,6 x diagonal, width = 0,8 x diagonal
-16:9 height = 0,49 x diagonal, width = 0,87 x diagonal