A touch of virtual reality

The operator of the South Australian electricity distribution network, SA Power Networks, is the latest organisation to benefit from the expertise of local company Jumbo Vision, which specialises in the development and integration of control rooms that deftly balance the human factor with the latest audiovisual technology.

One of Jumbo Vision’s main areas of focus is the technical room, something it has been involved in since the early 1990s. Over the last decade, it has been busy extending its skill set into related areas, including audiovisual system integration, command and control consulting, and technical furniture design.

These skills were recently put to the test on the SA Power Networks project, which presented Jumbo with two special challenges.

First, it was an upgrade of an existing mission-critical control room - namely, its network operations centre - so the changeover had to be done right the first time. Second, with electricity such an essential service, the control room had to be both extremely reliable and functional from the outset, with its operators already well trained in its use. The main challenge, therefore, was to create a bespoke control room design that had, in effect, already been proven in battle.

For Jumbo Vision, it would be one of the more complex undertakings it has been involved with, ultimately requiring the installation of 14 new custom-built operator desks, supplied by technical furniture industry heavyweight Evans Consoles. Canada-based Evans counts NASA, Shell and BHP Australia among its clients, with Jumbo Vision - through its recently launched Control Room Solutions - partnered as its Australian manufacturing representative.

For the project to be a success, and proof of Jumbo Vision’s ability to deliver on some of the most stringent quality and uptime requirements it had yet faced, a new approach to control room development was required: one that took their already formidable virtual reality skills and applied them to the design process itself.

The new design approach saw Jumbo Vision manufacture life-sized, wheeled models of the control room consoles, which SA Power Networks’ managers and technical staff could then manoeuvre around in a 1:1 scale representation of the actual room - trialling layouts, identifying operational and usage issues, and allowing space optimisation decisions prior to deployment.

This created a strong sense of ownership of the design and, according to Jumbo Vision General Manager Lena Kimenkowski, “Resulted in an unprecedented degree of collaboration that quite possibly saved weeks of time that would have been spent working on a solution that not everyone would have understood, or agreed on.”

She described feedback on the process from SA Power Networks as being excellent, with the result being Jumbo Vision was awarded the contract to go ahead with the upgrade.

Full-scale physical models are an expensive option, however, with the project essentially serving as a proof-of-concept for the next phase of virtualisation: a walk-through, 1:1 representation of the control room projected on the floor in 2D and 3D. Termed ‘CADwalk’, it will be particularly useful to operators and other stakeholders who often find it difficult to translate 2D CAD designs into how the space will operate once completed.

In addition to the consoles, Jumbo Vision also oversaw the installation of over 40 monitor mounts which had been customised to SA Power Networks’ requirements, with one solution requiring the motorisation of a triple-screen array for each console. Over 80 Samsung MDX230 monitors were supplied and installed, and they also supplied and integrated all console cabling, including power, data and video.

“We are very proud to have been able to work closely with SA Power Networks through the entire project, from the early stages of the design process right through to the implementation of the upgrade for their network operations centre,” said Kimenkowski.

“We see ourselves as part of the development process, with the SA Power Networks project being a great endorsement of our methodologies as well as our products. It also demonstrates our readiness to engage with more organisations in both SA and the rest of Australia across a range of utility segments, including water, gas and traffic.”