Safety first from entertainment package
The decommissioned drilling rig GSF Labrador was recently converted into a hotel accommodation platform at Damen’s Scheldepoort Repair & Conversion Yard in Vlissingen.
On board entertainment systems to serve the welfare of crew and/or passengers onboard ships are becoming standard equipment on vessels servicing , for example, the offshore wind farm industry.
They can, however, do so much more than providing only TV, with added safety and information features very much to the fore in marine applications.
Innovative Dutch manufacturer Alphatron IT & AV Solutions has recently commissioned its maritime entertainment concept, Alphatainment, for the former offshore drilling rig, called GSF Labrador. Owned by Atlantic Marine Services BV, the rig has been converted into a hotel accommodation platform at Damen’s Scheldepoort Repair & Conversion Yard in Vlissingen and is now into service in the coastal waters of Denmark.
The entertainment concept Alphatainment was installed together with Nordica Marine from Miami as project partner, with very little lead time given. The system, providing TV entertainment to 146 locations onboard, is a user friendly modular concept which reduces the quantity of cable onboard and has interfacing provisions and remote accessibility.
Using no extra location hardware other than a TV and a remote control the user is able to enjoy multimedia services such as (HD)TV, Video On Demand, Audio (On Demand) and a variety of Infotainment running through a single maritime Cat cable from a centrally placed server. Using IP creates many new possibilities for ship owning companies where a crew welfare concept can now also be seen to include information and safety tools known as infotainment. An onboard interface was made, for example to the helicopter flight schedule for viewers to see as a separate TV channel.
The system is developed under Linux for less complicated and more reliable operation, with excellent picture quality, including the availability of High Definition. The separate internet dimension can be seen as a tool to attract and retain the best workers, who can access family and friends from the comfort of their own offshore cabin and even have Skype conversations with them.
The safety dimension takes the form of the system being a possible delivery platform for instructional videos and capable of interfacing to an alarm system, splashing evacuation instructions specific to each room in the event of an emergency. When listening to audio or watching TV, the entertainment is interrupted immediately in the event of an emergency announcement from the PA system. Also, a selection of users might be granted access to bridge information channels as a separate TV channel.
Alphatron is currently involved with many other interesting projects, such as Platform Supply Vessels, Pipe Laying Vessels and an Offshore Wind Installation Vessel, where the onboard entertainment concept will also be used for more than just TV. In a vision of the future, each client employee arriving onboard will be provided with a programmed iPad to be used for both work and entertainment by logging in to a selection of the onboard IT networks.
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