Hurrairah bin Sohail discovers how Hayleys Industrial Solutions surmounted the challenges it faced as it aimed to beat the clock and provide the main chamber of the Sri Lankan Parliament complex with an upgraded congress and conference system.
Constructed specifically in 1979 to be the seat of the country’s government, the Sri Lankan Parliament complex is situated on a 12 acre island about 16km east of Colombo. The building was designed by respected local architect Geoffrey Bawa.
Late last year the Sri Lankan Parliament complex decided to upgrade its conferencing and congress capabilities. Hayleys Industrial Solutions was brought on to serve as the integrator for the project.
Saman Perera, the coordinating engineer from Hayleys Industrial Solutions, comments: “We were brought in to replace the legacy system which comprised a Televic system, customised controlling panels, Zenizer microphones along with a conference system with language interpretation and voting.”
He continues: “Our job consisted of design, supply, installation, commissioning and training for the new conference system. There was also the requirement that the voting system be integrated with fi ngerprint identifi cation and that the voting results be displayed on customised templates. For example results had to be displayed by total result, by name and so on.”
As can be imagined, Hayleys Industrial Solutions faced a number of challenges. Perera details: “The system had to be commissioned within two months from letter of award. It had to be ready for annual budget reading. The time period allowed for replacement of equipment within the chamber was two weeks. The challenge for us was to design the system according to the customer requirements – having discrete solutions for microphone system, interpreter system, channel selector system and voting system with redundancy for equipment and cabling system – within this time frame.”
The prestige of the project along with the stringent requirements and short time frame meant that the selection of the right solution was essential. Perera says: “We decided to go with a Bosch solution as it met all the requirements of the government and it was the best product for the parliament.”
A Bosch DCN CCU2 conference controller forms the core of the system and it is used to manage wired and wireless delegate microphones. A Bosch PRS-4AEX4 audio expander is employed to help the conference controller distribute signals across the full expanse of the space.
A Bosch DCN-FCS fl ush channel selector is used for output so that audio can be heard on Bosch LBB3443/10 headphones. The same audio can also be routed to Bosch LBC3200 and LB2- UC15-L1 line array speakers.
Internal cameras record proceedings. For voting, HP servers with MVI Display software are used. The HP servers also enable software features on the Bosch DCN CCU2 controller which are employed for voting features. Results are shown on nine 55-in professional displays and four PCs which are equipped with 17-in pop-up screens. Perera comments: “For the displays our primary criteria for selection was durability along with the quality of the display image itself.”
Each delegate’s position in the main chamber has been provided with a customised panel. This comprises a Bosch microphone control panel, pluggable microphones, a channel selector with volume control and a third party thumbprint reader.
Perera says: “The delegate panels had to have all the features that were required and they also had to be easy to use. Each member’s desk is provided with a contribution panel which consists of speaker, volume and channel selector for listening to interpreted languages with headphones. Biometric readers for authentication and voting panel for voting are also present. The microphone panel is provided with a gooseneck microphone and a request to talk button.”
Installing the equipment at the delegate positions in the main chamber was trickier than anticipated. Perera narrates: “The furniture for the chamber had already been selected and picked out and could not be changed. So all the equipment that was needed for voting and interpretation had to fi t the existing cut-out of the tables. It took some creative designing on our part to make it all work.”
Regarding the other challenges that had to surmounted, Perera says: “The main challenge was time. We had to complete the system within the two weeks that were allotted when the main chamber had some downtime. On top of that, access to the site was diffi cult due to high security restrictions as this is a government building. The only solution to time constraints is to work hard and meet the deadline, which is what we did.”
The project was completed within the timeline and the conference system in the main chamber of the Sri Lankan Parliament complex is operational.