Highway control relies on video capture and graphics technology

The Guthrie Highways Control Centre in Malaysia is exploiting the benefits of Datapath ImageDP4 graphics cards and VisionHD4 capture cards on a recent project at its facility in Elmina, a new township to the west of Kuala Lumpur. The technology is being used to facilitate a high resolution 28 screen Video Wall that helps the centre keep tabs on the movement of traffic across this densely populated area.

As an urban agglomeration, Kuala Lumpur boasts a population of 6.9 million and growing. As a result, traffic is becoming increasingly problematic – around 1000 new cars are registered here every day. Keeping the city's vehicles flowing is easier said than done, which is where facilities such as the new Guthrie Highways Control Centre can help, particularly if they are equipped with the latest video card and graphics card technologies.

With this in mind, the main contractor for the centre's construction appointed Nextplus, a subsidiary of VR Solutions based near Kuala Lumpur, to apply its extensive experience in software and hardware solutions for AV installations and Video Wall applications.

"Our brief was to help the centre visualise the live traffic situation being captured by the cameras out on the highways," says the company's Technical Director, Azlan Jizam. "The design focuses on a central array of four 46" screens (3840 x 2560), above which are four smaller screens in flat row of four, and two banks of 10 smaller screens either side (3840 x 11520) in a two wide by five high configuration. The system is fully expandable, hence offering future proofing for the customer."

Three servers are used to cater for the 28 screen display. The system also deploys Datapath ImageDP4 graphics cards and VisionHD4 capture card technology, with seven ImageDP4 and four VisionHD4 units used on the project.

"We use Datapath graphics cards and capture cards because they are reliable," says Mr Azlan. "The customer can rest assured that the system will perform for years to come. Furthermore, the cards represent excellent value for money."

Datapath ImageDP4 graphics cards combine a single, powerful graphics processor with PCI Express bandwidths and improved memory to provide responsive performance at up to double the resolution of previous generation Datapath graphics cards. This four-channel DisplayPort graphics card is optimised for use with the Datapath Vision range of capture cards for systems requiring video overlays from a wide range of sources and resolutions.

The VisionHD4 from Datapath is an eight lane PCI Express capture card with four independent video capture channels, each supporting full HD capture. The card provides a high performance, high density video capture solution for control room applications requiring high capture bandwidth.

"The installation took a fortnight to complete and passed off without any issues," concludes Mr Azlan. "The performance and flexibility of the system have ensured a very satisfied customer."