VARIZONE for North Rhine Westphalia’s Parliament in Düsseldorf
Citizen-friendly and transparent…
...this is how the “Landtag” parliament of North Rhine Westphalia, one of the 16 federal states of Germany, portrays itself. Even the parliamentary building on the bank of the Rhine Promenade in Düsseldorf was architecturally designed according to these principles. The glass front of the building provides a gaze inside, and the building’s round rolling facades symbolize democracy and transparency. The parliament recently acquired a VARIZONE System from KLOTZ DIGITAL in a layout planned by ADA Acoustic Design Ahnert, Berlin. The modern Public Address System is consistent with the parliament’s concept. Although the visitor’s attention is first captured by the building’s architecture, the building’s acoustics will now contribute to its atmosphere and communicate information. The new Public Address System was installed by Hochtief supported by FG-Elektronik, KLOTZ DIGITAL’s exclusive VARIZONE sales and service partner in Germany.
The Vision
The facility’s previous 100 V public address system has become outdated and increasingly prone to failure. The audio engineers responsible for the system have found it difficult to provide spare parts and continual breakdowns have caused major problems. To cut a long story short: The replacement of the old Public Address System was more than necessary when the parliament decided to install a new PA system in early 2005. The new Public Address System was to be simultaneously used as a voice evacuation system and it was therefore vital that it was in accordance with DIN EN 60849, the European technical security standard a system has to fulfilll when used as Voice Evacuation System. Additionally, the new public address system should allow for default audio and background music to be broadcasted in the building’s public areas. During events even external audio sources such as microphones or CD players should be easily tied into the system. To save time, effort and money, the parliament asked that a large part of the cabling structure, serving the previous 100 V system remains in place. The new PA system was supposed to fit to major parts of the existing cabling structure.
Reaching the limits of 100 V technology
In addition to the above mentioned requirements, the parliament’s new Public Address System had to meet a challenging task – the transfer of the so called “parliamentary party call”. Currently, there are four political parties who determine the political decisions in North Rhine Westphalia. Different areas of the parliament are assigned to each of these four parties, e.g. offices, assembly rooms, foyers, etc. These parliamentary sections require dynamic zoning: Each parliamentary group’s area is to solely broadcast information and announcements for members of that party and the “parliamentary party call” allows for members to receive individual and targeted information. The challenge is each time the number of members in a parliamentary party changes – this happens latest after elections – the rooms in the building need to be reassigned to the new Parliamentary Group Sections and according to the number of members each party includes. The “parliamentary party call” and the announcement zones therefore need to be flexible and easily adapted to the new situation. Accordingly, North Rhine Westphalia’s Parliament was looking for a PA system to transfer targeted announcements and information to exclusive and limited areas of the building, while being able to easily adjust the system to new area allocations without new cabling and major restructuring.
VARIZONE: Combining digital and analog technology
VARIZONE was installed in form of a „hybrid-system”, meaning a combination between 100 V equipment and digital technology. The hybrid form was chosen, keeping in mind the preferred use of the existing cabling structures, while at the same time allowing for the grouping of speakers and speaker lines to individual zones. VARIZONE groups the facility into 19 announcement zones. The digital busses have been primarily installed in parliamentary group sections, which are separated into 6 zones. 100 V technology has been used where large areas merge into the same zone and where a less complex PA is required. The “Citizens Hall” for example, is grouped into four zones; the underground car park, and the administrative area consisting of office space which is not assigned to any parliamentary party. The Forecourt at the main entrance and parliamentary grounds close to the Rhine are two areas outside the building which are integrated into the PA system. In the foyer which surrounds the plenary hall, the restaurant in the citizens’ hall, and the visitors’ gate, both technologies are used in combination. The Parliament’s president uses a gong signal to call parliamentary members to meetings. The gong can be heard in wide areas of the facility and these areas are combined into a separate zone.
Review of the VARIZONE System
The core of the new system is a VARIZONE Matrix Controller. It acts as central audio engine and router for both the 100 V system and the digital audio components. It routs any incoming audio signal to the required speakers. DSP features, such as EQ and DYN are integrated which ensures perfect audio quality and intelligibility. An intelligent digital bus system (DSS Bus) feeds all analog and digital amplifiers, speakers and speaker lines at the same time with up to 8 audio channels, control data and power.
Digital Components
Line Interfaces supply power to the DSS Bus, act as bus driver and integrate 171 programmable amplifier modules (PAM) into the digital PA system. PAMs are installed in a decentralized fashion and close to the active speakers. The DSP GAIN and EQ functions are integrated which allows for excellent audio quality. PAMs with speakers are arranged into zones through software configuration and can therefore easily be rearranged, enhanced and changed as needed, independent of wiring. This is a prerequisite to effectively adapt the “parliamentary party call” to new circumstances after elections. Authorized parliamentary members and employees can carry out the “parliamentary party call” via paging panels installed in the parliamentary group sections. The four paging panels are fitted with two buttons, one to start an announcements and the other to select the zone in which the announcement is to be broadcast. In order to minimize potential mistakes in selecting the zone, zones are preconfigured and independent of the button pushed.
In addition to the four group parliamentary sections and the paging panel located in the lobby which is operated by the porter, OCTO-BUS input modules tie external audio sources into the system. These input modules are installed in the two foyers of the major parliamentary group sections, the citizens’ hall, the restaurant, the visitors’ gate and in the plenary hall. Their primary purpose is to play background music, additional information and the gong signal.
Software configuration and control of the complete PA system is done via a PC in the control centre. A redundant backup emergency PC automatically acts as a replacement in case the master fails.
System Monitoring Without Gap
In accordance with DIN EN 60849, the VARIZONE system, including all 100 V components, continually monitors itself. The system automatically announces faults and failures and is able to indicate exactly which PAM is faulty. This is possible because each PAM is assigned a number during system configuration.
At a width of 105m, a length of 195m and a height of 21m, the size of the Parliamentary building is not overly impressive, but rather it is the buildings architecture. Nevertheless, audio data often has to cover more than 200 meters from its source to the speaker. To avoid losing signal quality during its transfer via the DSS Bus, Power Bridges were installed. These power bridges enhance the coverage of the DSS Bus and refresh its power supply and were installed throughout the building, away from the central technical area, across the building.
Bridging the 100 V Gap
Line Managers are the intelligent interface to 100 V technology. Installed in the central technical area, they link 48 analog speaker lines to the VARIZONE 
Matrix Controller and monitor the “Powersoft” amplifiers as well as the speaker lines in accordance with DIN EN 60849. A pulsed pilot tone is used to monitor the speaker lines. It is energy efficient and cannot be heard by the human ear. The Line Manager automatically notifies the VARIZONE Matrix Controller in cases of short circuit or other system failures. The DSS Bus also feeds the Line Manager with 8 audio channels and additional control data via one single CAT5 cable. In case of amplifier failure,
the Line Manager automatically switches the transferred audio signal to an emergency channel.
Enhanced security for the parliamentary facility
North Rhine Westphalia’s parliament’s citizen-friendly and transparent attitude is not solely communicated through the building’s architecture. The parliament has a number of organized events for interested citizens, keen pupils and students as well as public hearings and regularly held public parliamentary meetings. During peak period, up to 1800 registered visitors are guided through the parliamentary building to take a closer look behind the scenes of political decision making. A further 187 parliamentary members and around 300 administrative staff work at the facility on a daily basis. For a building with such high traffic, it is crucial to have a reliable and proven evacuation system to quickly and systematically evacuate the building in case of emergency. VARIZONE is therefore also used for Voice Evacuation and seamlessly fits into the existing security concept and fire detection system.
What happens in an emergency?
The porter is in charge of voice evacuation and in case of an emergency will activate the evacuation signal via the paging panel at the citizens’ gate. He can choose to make a personal announcement via the microphone or use an automated announcement from the message memory. Furthermore, the fire detection system can activate the Voice Evacuation, which communicates via trigger inputs (General Purpose Interfaces) with VARIZONE. VARIZONE and the PA system are interfaced in the plenary hall which allows for a coordinated evacuation; e.g. a strobe light warns the members of the parliament in an emergency. All announcements, including emergency announcements, which are initialized via the paging panel at the main entrance, have priority. This means that they dub all audio signals such as default audio. The volume in different areas of the facility can be individually controlled and automatically change to the standard evacuation volume.
As mentioned, the VARIZONE installation in North Rhine Westphalia’s parliament facility is in accordance with DIN EN 60849. The complete system, including the 100 V speaker lines, continuously monitors itself. The system diagnoses faults, detects malfunctions, interprets error messages and signals them in the form of accumulated and single error messages, e.g. via log files, LED signals at the Matrix Controller or via the PC’s TFT screen. Via GPI contacts, third party equipment is also monitored. Amongst others, VARIZONE monitors the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the temperature of the racks in central technical areas and the message memory’s mode of operation. If a failure is detected, the server initiates an emergency phone call via a GPI/trigger output. As such the responsible engineer is quickly alarmed and can take corrective action. Important system components, such as the control PC, are redundant.
Pictures: Parliament Düsseldorf, Plenarsaal, Equipment Racks