The Situation Center was established to support management decision-making on different areas of activity of the Managing Company based on structured information received in real time and integrated performance indicators using telecommunication equipment for real-time interactions with remote divisions and sites.
To achieve the above goals, there was created a technological platform, including display facilities, sound systems, equipment for video conferencing with production sites, workstations and other systems integrated in an ergonomically designed space of the Situation Center’s conference room.
A software platform serving as an “operating system” of the Situation was developed and implemented. It is a flexible tool for the visualization of arbitrary information flows on display devices, including cartographic content (geographical maps and high-resolution satellite images) combined with information layers (statistics, weather maps, infrastructure and industry facilities, positions of ships, aircraft, communications satellites, etc.), surveillance cameras at sites, presentation materials, photo and video content. Work is in progress to develop an information system for the top level aggregation of heterogeneous data required for different management decision-making purposes, the creation of integrated indices and presentation of information in the form of business graphs and infographics.
Brief description of the Situation Center equipment
A futuristic design developed for the Situation Center is unique for each room, but follows a common style using attributes of the mining industry, which is the company’s core activity. The design places a special focus on ergonomics, the mutual disposition of display equipment and workstations, and the maximum integration of technical and design solutions.
The Situation Center is equipped with a seamless LED video screen with the 2K resolution for comfortable work with large amounts of data and cartographic information with a high level of detail. In front of the screen there is a desk and a spherical geodata display system. The use of LED technology has created a bright, contrasting, seamless screen of an optimal size, which is not possible to achieve with LCD or projection technology.
View of the video screen from central workstations
Each place at the table in the conference room is provided with an interactive display to show individual information and control the content displayed on the video screens. Participants of the meetings can demonstrate materials from their tablets and smartphones.
The spherical display system installed in the conference room provides a highly illustrative view of the information about facilities with reference to the earth’s surface, making it possible to assess the mutual disposition of the areas explored and the items monitored at a single glance.
The visualization system is supplemented with an 84-inch mobile interactive panel for making reports.
The Situation Center has a video conferencing system integrated with both internal networks of the Group and external subscribers, allowing for receiving data from remote subscribers in real time.
All the equipment of the Situation Center, including utilities, is connected by a specially designed control system enabling monitoring and control of the entire set of technical equipment by one person from a single operator workstation. A specialized high-resolution display is provided for the operator for monitoring of images from all sources used during meetings in order to display required information on the screens in real time.
Interface of the equipment control system
The hardware for the Situation Center was designed taking into account state-of-the art level of information and visual technologies. In particular, the whole video path supports transmission and processing of content with the advanced 4K resolution which is only beginning to get traction. The use of innovative solutions will ensure that technical solutions will remain relevant for many years.
The main working area of the Situation Center
The creation of the Situation Center has consolidated the company’s strategic and operational management tools for interaction with the external environment into a single facility and implemented an effective and convenient tool for the comprehensive support of the decision-making process for the management.
Brief description of the Situation Center software platform
The functions of the system currently implemented in the Situation Center can be divided into three areas: communication, geo-information and multimedia.
Communication. The system provides for simultaneous operation of several groups of users, both in the Situation Center and in remote offices or those working on mobile devices. A single information space is made available to all groups of users, enabling them not only to simultaneously receive information, but also to actively contribute to the process. A number of functions serve this purpose to allow for effective interactions between all employees involved in the Situation Center’s operations. Each specialist can make graphic comments on the materials displayed, display content from cameras of remote participants without interrupting the demonstration of the current content, and display images from mobile devices.
Geo-information. A major factor in the work of the Situation Center is the need to receive full and comprehensive information about the sites in real time. The geo-information functions of the system include visualization of cartographic information with the display of superimposed information layers, enabling the operators to receive as much as possible information on the site displayed. The system allows for monitoring ships and ports, mapping the position of aircraft in real time, displaying infrastructure and industry facilities on the global map.
Geo-information interface
Map data can be supplemented with geo-referenced videos and presentations. Real-time broadcasting from surveillance cameras is available for monitoring of the situation at all remote sites. Data can be supplemented with images, videos, diagrams and documents.
Combining all this data into a single information space gives an opportunity not only to assess the current situation in real time but also to achieve high quality of decisions made.
The multimedia functions are, in turn, designed to simplify the interaction of users with the system by providing a simple interface for managing data displayed on the video screen and the spherical visualization system, as well as by enabling the creation of scenarios for change of maps and information layers with time-referencing. These scenarios help save much time in daily on-site monitoring of the situation.
The Situation Center software platform continues to be developed. The development of several other systems is underway to significantly expand the data visualization and processing capabilities.