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Headlines ExhibitOne Integrates AV, Data Management to Handle Partnership Develops System for Nuclear Regulatory Commission While hearings over whether to authorize the U.S. Department of Energy to construct a geologic repository for nuclear waste are complicated in themselves, so is the presentation of the anticipated high volume of evidentiary material relating to the issue. With this in mind, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has turned to experts, including Phoenix, The agency awarded the evidence presentation system contract to ExhibitOne in October 2004. Installation of the system in a Las Vegas, Nevada-area hearing facility began the following February and was completed in August 2005. It’s not the first time the NRC has relied on ExhibitOne, however. In 2003, ExhibitOne partnered with Nortel Government Solutions, headquartered in Fairfax, Va., to develop the initial model of its Digital Data Management System (DDMS) at the NRC’s headquarters in Rockville, Md. That installation was successfully completed in 2004. As part of a multi-year relationship with ExhibitOne and the NRC, Nortel Government Solutions also has played a key role in the Las Vegas-area presentation system portion of the DDMS. Requiring eight equipment racks that were placed in a separate control room, the DDMS was integrated by ExhibitOne into a sophisticated audio-visual system. Together, the companies have created an evidence presentation system that will accommodate what may well be the largest evidentiary record ever compiled for a NRC hearing. The system has the ability to display documents and exhibits from a database projected to contain more than 50,000 documents, including previously recorded digital audio and video evidence. “ExhibitOne and Nortel Government Solutions are honored to provide the best-fit solution for this event. Attorney tables feature local control Hand in hand with volumes of evidence is the large scope of the hearing itself. In fact, the Las Vegas-area Specifically, each attorney table has two monitors. While such tables typically have one feed enabling viewing of evidence on a 15-inch monitor, ExhibitOne’s system features three feeds allowing attorneys to switch locally between viewing evidence displayed on a plasma screen, a witness on a video conference, or even accessing the DDMS digital information database. It’s flexible enough that attorneys can switch to computers in a data closet and access legal research sites such as WestLaw and Lexis-Nexis, as well as the NRC’s Web site and the Licensing Support Network. They also can look at real-time transcripts through the DDMS. Additionally, attorneys can control document cameras and zoom in on display materials. This is thanks to remote control of all telepresence aspects within the hearing room using a wireless touch panel. Not a typical hearing room The project required unobstructed views throughout the Las Vegas-area hearing room, the well area and audience areas. To meet those requirements, ExhibitOne had to address the large size and unique characteristics of the approximately 85 x 95-foot hearing room, which is pyramid-like in shape with a ceiling that reaches 35-feet high at the center and has glass at the top to provide natural light illumination. “This hearing room is out of the ordinary. It’s a standout among all I’ve ever seen,” says Lofaro. According to him, ExhibitOne incorporated 12 individually controlled camera views as part of the evidence presentation system, as well as numerous presets and rotation capabilities to provide coverage of the large space. Additionally, four 61-inch plasma monitors were hung within the hearing room. The monitors \ which display closed captioning over both composite and VGA outputs, providing compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act — are used for viewing evidence, video conferences, and those participating in the hearings. Use of the large monitors is unusual in itself, Lofaro says, especially considering that they display images at Not surprisingly, careful attention was given to sound in the unique Las Vegas-area hearing room. “We had to put special controls on the microphones to handle the openness of the room and each table has it own speaker. We used a mix-minus system enabling speakers to hear all sound except their own voice, so there’s no feedback,” says Lofaro, noting that all microphone feeds and speaker outlets are handled individually. The Las Vegas-area hearing room even has a separate control room that enables any audio-visual issues to be addressed without interfering with the proceedings. The control room, which also is handy for changing camera views, verifying outputs and other operational matters, likely will be staffed by a clerk and/or audio-visual technician during the hearing. A flexible, integrated audio-video system Impressively, the evidence presentation system’s video component still can work with VCR technology, although its digital format enables files to be moved and video to be pushed out to broadcast or Internet mediums. Being digital to digital, the video system also can capture laptop and other digital presentations such as computer models and simulations, easily. Another key feature of the evidence presentation system is its sophisticated audio-video mixing system that senses sound pressure and automatically puts the camera on the person speaking, simultaneously recording both audio and video. The benefit of this is a searchable transcript. Other highlights of the system include video conferencing and outputs at the back of the hearing room that enable members of the media to take video and audio feeds directly. It is also expected that video streaming out to the Internet will be arranged. Impressive creative thinking A leading national provider of audio-visual technologies, ExhibitOne and its partner, Nortel Government Solutions, delivered a robust evidence presentation system to meet the project’s specific needs, right down to integrating a calendar and witness management system to facilitate easier scheduling and coordination of witnesses, hearings and facilities. As an example of ExhibitOne’s creative thinking, TiVo technology was used not in the traditional sense of recording a favorite program, but for providing instant playback capability while still recording live. Other creative thinking was apparent in the system’s ability to marry court reporting, close captioning and video recording. According to Lofaro, the time required to design and install the Yucca Mountain exhibit presentation system was eight times greater than other ExhibitOne projects. “Everyone involved has been great, from the judge and Nortel Government Solutions and their project managers to our own installers and designers. It’s gone very smoothly because of the people involved,” adds Lofaro. “It’s a real sense of accomplishment.” For more information on ExhibitOne or the technology solution for the NRC, contact 888.572.3265 option #3, email info@ExhibitOne.com. "References and statements attributed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should not be viewed as an endorsement by the NRC of the products and services discussed herein."
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Arizona-based ExhibitOne, to handle the design and installation of a state-of-the-art evidence presentation system. Requiring more than four months to design and another six months to install, the sophisticated system will be used for 
hearing room has three judge and five witness locations at the bench. It also has 15 attorney tables, far more than the two-to-four tables of typical courtrooms. Each of the tables accommodates two attorneys, resulting in 30 attorney locations. According to Mike Lofaro, ExhibitOne Vice President of Engineering, a great deal of individual control has been built into each of the tables. 
VGA resolution, which is far higher than standard composite resolution. |
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