Kortrijk, Belgium, 8 July 2016 – Norway-based Sikkerhetssenteret (Rørvik Safety Center) announced it can now provide shipmasters with a significantly more realistic training experience than in the past. The center recently completed a major upgrade to its MarinSim navigational and bridge simulator. It includes nine Barco F22 WUXGA projectors using a camera-based auto-calibration tool from German company domeprojection.com. “The images are unimaginably sharp, providing users with a very realistic image,” says Helge Svein Gåsvær, CEO at the Rørvik Safety Center.

The Rørvik Safety Center has been providing education and training to shipmasters and personnel of fishing vessels since 1994. At the heart of the training sessions is the MarinSim simulator, where seafarers hone their skills in controlling vessels in extreme conditions like snowstorms or hurricanes in the highest possible state of realism. To make the training even more authentic, the Safety Center has swapped its previous main simulator for a more advanced training device from simulator developer Transas Marine International. Both Transas and display systems integrator project:syntropy, who delivered the fully integrated display including a large spherical screen, have a long history of working with Barco solutions. They were confident that Barco projectors would ensure the image quality, performance and reliability that an advanced installation like the MarinSim simulator needs.

More precise navigation
The 50m² room that houses the Transas simulator features a 4m x 12.6m spherical screen. Nine compact Barco F22 WUXGA projectors display the most high-precision, realistic images of nautical routes and waters. To ensure a perfectly matched projection geometry and color reproduction as well as a uniform picture quality across the visual display system, project:syntropy installed a camera-based auto-calibration solution from domeprojection.com. “We suggested installing a 240° spherical screen as that would give users the feeling that they’re really surrounded by the imaging, when standing on the bridge. The training thus allows for a more precise navigation closer to objects in the water like the fish harvesting cages. Barco’s F22 projector series is ideal for technically challenging and demanding applications like this set-up,” said Malin Hallbeck, key account manager project:syntropy.

Lifelike digital experience
“Never before has the bridge appeared sharper than this! The combination of the spherical screen and Barco projectors provides a lifelike digital experience,” added Helge Hestø Andersen, CEO at the Rørvik Safety Center. “Both Transas and project:syntropy are long-term Barco partners and it’s good to see them reaffirming their trust in our simulation projectors,” said Espen Olsen, Sales Director Training and Simulation Western Europe for Barco. “The Rørvik Safety Center is considered a true center of academic excellence that offers high-quality courses. We are proud that we can help them take their training to the next level.”

About Sikkerhetssenteret Rørvik
Established in 1994, the Rørvik Safety Center is as a center of academic excellence in the education of seafarers. Great efforts are taken so that the instructors are well qualified to ensure high quality of the courses offered. Staff includes navigators, engineers, telegraph operators, people with experience in fisheries or with a military background, nurses and firefighters. In addition; they cooperate with competent specialists working in the oil industry and marine industries; paramedics and healthcare professionals.

About project:syntropy
project:syntropy (Magdeburg & Berlin/D, Gothenburg/SE and Shanghai/CN) creates technologies and display solutions for professional Simulation- and Training Environments, interactive, immersive attractions and dome cinema as well as multimedia experiences. Our technologies and products are customized turnkey solutions (visual display systems / media based attractions), system replacements, dedicated hard- and software products (SYNtouch Multitouch / RADAR) or available as rental solutions (next generation immersive fulldome entertainment). We are integration partner for users of professional simulation environments as well as for themed entertainment, brand experiences, leisure parks, science centers, events, trade shows, museums and exhibitions. We are implementing projects all over the world – from Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East to Asia.

About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops networked visualization products for the Entertainment, Enterprise and Healthcare markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and APAC. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 1.029 billion euros in 2015.

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