During a facility remodel in 2018, Digital Horizons was tasked with designing an intelligent audio/video system for the Crow Wing County Emergency Operations Center. We worked with project manager ICS, Hy-Tec Construction, the engineering team at Widseth, and staff at Crow Wing County to achieve this end result.

This space would serve multiple purposes – to hold large briefing and training sessions and to also act as the county’s EOC, or “Emergency Operations Center.” Through iterative discussions with the county staff and sheriff’s department, we designed a system that would incorporate the needs appropriately.

A large format projection system was installed that consists of a high-output ceiling mounted projector and a 147” tab-tensioned motorized projection screen, recessed into the ceiling in the front of the room. Four additional 75” displays were installed in the room – two in front, two on the sides – that are used to display the same (or different) content as the projector. 

For display purposes, the room has a dedicated multi-monitor output computer, (2) cable boxes, and an auxiliary HDMI jack for presentation purposes. The computer provides multiple monitors worth of content that they can share to different screens, and the two cable boxes allow them to watch different channels simultaneously during emergency events. 

For audio and video conferencing purposes, four ceiling mounted beam-forming microphone arrays were installed for picking up crystal-clear spoken audio, along with a single high-resolution PTZ camera for capturing the audience view for transmitting to remote participants. 

A series of in-ceiling speakers provide sound reinforcement for the desired content – whether they’re listening to one of the cable boxes or holding a meeting and listening to a remote participant. 

A single in-wall 10” Crestron touch panel interface provides staff with an easy way to set up and configure the room.