EU Leaders gather at Hampton Court Palace
EU Leaders gather at Hampton Court Palace, London - 27th October 2005
32 Heads of State and officials of the European Union gather at Hampton Court Palace
- Largest ever gathering of EU leaders in the United Kingdom
- Largest ever EU use of remote interpreting
- Another complex challenge solved using Brähler’s DSP based digital conference technology
History was made on an unseasonably warm and sunny day at the end of October when, for the first time ever in the United Kingdom, all the heads of the enlarged EU met together in Hampton Court Palace’s Great Hall – hosted by British Premier Tony Blair.
Having responded to an invitation to tender, Brähler ICS was selected by the UK Government to provide the 22 language channel simultaneous interpretation system.
Brähler supplied their flagship CDSVAN digital system which, unlike competing systems, has a maximum capacity of 32 uncompressed digital audio channels and runs on industry standard CAT5 computer cable.
History was made for the second time at this event due to space limitations in the Great Hall.
For the first time ever at such a high level EU summit the Interpreter booths were located outside the main meeting room. Discreet "Big Brother" broadcast quality cameras were placed strategically in the Great Hall and the images relayed to an adjacent Interpreter Marquee.
Brähler provided a total of 22 interpretation booths in the marquee fitted with 67 CDSVAN digital interpreter consoles.
Simon Sainsbury - MD of Brähler’s UK operation - oversaw the entire project with a team of experienced conference technicians drawn from three different Brähler branches.
"As the largest ever EU meeting of heads held outside a fixed conference centre in Brussels or Strasbourg and the first EU meeting ever to use remote interpreting we knew we were facing some new challenges. I am very proud of my team and of the performance of our outstanding CDSVAN digital system".
CDSVAN Microphone System in the Great Hall:
CDSVAN is a full DSP based system, which means users have a large array of digital processing devices available for immediate use.
CDSVAN Interpreter System in the Interpreter Marquee
Active languages:German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Czech, Estonian, Maltese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish (Guest).
Passive languages:
Romanian, Bulgarian
Interpreter Marquee (L) & Video Marquee (R)
The Interpreter Marquee hosted approx. 140 interpreters from the EU, divided into two teams. "During rehearsals we noticed a slight delay between the camera image displayed to the interpreters and audio signal they were listening to. In seconds Stephan was able to drop in a "virtual" audio time delay and immediately we had perfect lip sync. No other system has the scope and flexibility of our CDSVAN concerning the combination of today’s conference equipment with state-of-the-art digital sound processing technology." "One could always rely on the professionalism of the interpreters from Brussels during this highly complex and challenging event".
In the Video Marquee the pictures of the 14 cameras were produced by Camera Corps. The right pictures, depending on the speaker and atmosphere in the Great Hall were sent to the screen combinations (one Plasma screen & 3 LCDs) in front of each booth.
The conference participants and interpreters were completely comfortable with the outstanding performance of the CDSVAN system. Brähler ICS eagerly anticipates the next challenge.
CDSVAN @ Work:
Overview of the main equipment in both locations:
| CDSVAN Computer/ Control unit: | 2 |
| LCD/ Touch screen | 7 |
| DSP6 EDAT (DSP Card): | 4 |
| DOLV/E (Interpreter console): | 67 |
| DV9 (Delegate unit): | 32 |
| PSU04 (Power supply): | 3 |
| B8 (Audio distribution): | 4 |
| MSI8V (Infrared transmitter): | 3 |
| HLN82B (Infrared radiator): | 16 |
| IRXM (Infrared receiver): | 250 |
| M83D (mobile Interpreter booth): | 22 |
| Cable (CAT5, RG58, etc): | ca. 2,4 km |
Set-up time: 2 Days
The Brähler ICS Crew:
| Simon Sainsbury | Brähler ICS Großbritannien | Leitung |
| Mark Kisby | Brähler ICS Großbritannien | CDSVAN Interpreter Marquee |
| Will Robertson | Brähler ICS Großbritannien | CDSVAN Great Hall |
| René Fassbender | Brähler ICS Deutschland | CDSVAN Great Hall |
| Stephan P. Heß | Brähler ICS Deutschland | CDSVAN Interpreter Marquee, technische Leitung & Planung |
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