Industrial PC reduces lifeboat muster times!

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems 'Survivor-WildCat' industrial flat panel PCs have proved the ideal, rugged solution as part of an AND Group 'Crusafe' system, reducing lifeboat muster times by around 70%

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems 'Survivor-WildCat' industrial flat panel PCs have proved the ideal, rugged solution as part of an AND Group 'Crusafe' system which has reduced lifeboat muster times by around 70%.

Located outside in all weathers at each lifeboat station on a North Sea accommodation platform, the Survivor-WildCats provide the muster station system control and act as a central panel providing information about the location of personnel.

The AND Group has developed Crusafe, in conjunction with partners, to meet the growing demand in the offshore and onshore industries to track personnel in dangerous and hazardous areas and to supply information on safety aspects of the site or plant.

Crusafe uses GE Fanuc Embedded Systems Survivor-WildCat industrial PCs supplied by UK distributor ACAL Microsystems, a company that brings over 20 years of experience supplying embedded and bus based computer products to OEMs and systems integrators.

Contained in a NEMA 4, environmentally-sealed, aluminium-fabricated enclosure, the Survivor-WildCat flat panel computer is able to meet the harsh environmental challenges of exposure to salt spray in gale force winds, as well as being suitably sealed and protected for use in a potentially explosive atmosphere.

The standard unit has Class I/ Division 2, Group ABCD, Temp Code T4A, Zone 1, Zone 2, CE, UL, ATEX 3 and CSA approvals and operates at -40C to +50C.

An Ultra-HiBrite display provides sunlight readability with minimal temperature rise by utilising a patented backlighting system.

During an incident, whether a trial muster or a real scenario, it is vital to have knowledge of where the site staff or visitors are located and to inform the staff of the status of the emergency.

Crusafe monitors personnel throughout a site or plant and includes access control, which is interfaceable with CCTV, Public Address and alarm systems.

The system communicates via CAN technology with many different devices, including card readers, flat screens, alarm inputs and Web cams, and can be connected to the site LAN enabling remote monitoring onshore.

The Survivor-WildCat central control displays where personnel are located during the event and can monitor their movements through the site in real time.

Information can be relayed to the staff or visitors via information panels and by the PA system.

Designed for unparalleled computing in harsh conditions, the Survivor-WildCat features a 1GHz Intel Pentium III with up to 512M SDRAM, a 40 gigabyte hard drive, Compact Flash, ATA, Disk on Chip, two Type 2 PCMCIA expansion slots, external PS2 keyboard/mouse ports, 2 RS232 serial ports, PC104 expansion and a 100dB alarm horn.

The Survivor-WildCat also offers onboard 10/100BaseT (fibre optic, wireless, RJ45 or coax with lightning/surge arrestor) and is compatible with Windows 2000, Embedded NT, WIN 9x and Linux.

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