Al Kass strengthens OB fleet with 31-camera van

Broadcast Solutions has delivered a 31 camera OB van and a supporting truck to sports channel Al Kass in Qatar. The OB van was designed , built and integrated at the Broadcast Solutions headquarters in Germany. The live production vehicle named OB-10 is the biggest addition to Al Kass OB van fleet and will serve in major live events for the Al Kass sports channel as well as for further TV stations, when Al Kass acts as broadcast service provider. For Broadcast Solutions the Al Kass project marked a further highlight in building live production trucks. The company again proved to have all the knowledge and staff to design and build an OB van for 31 cameras and 29 crew members with special coachbuilding, tailor-made interiors and technological solutions in time and budget and to the customers satisfaction.

Samer Younes, Technical Advisor at Al Kass, commented on the cooperation: This project is the first cooperation between Al Kass and Broadcast Solutions. We were looking for companies that reach our demands for high-quality and specialized OB Vans and who work as a full-service provider we found this here at Broadcast Solutions. The company has a more advanced approach to resources and the number of cameras to include directly in the OB. Broadcast Solutions helped us to reach our design goals for this OB van, which is the biggest one in the Middle East, and we are looking forward to many big productions with this OB Van.

Al Kass can draw on 31 cameras, 9 EVS XT-3 servers (12 channels each), 68 monitors and 240 multiviewer screens for up to 29 operators working in the OB Van. To provide enough space for all equipment and manpower Broadcast Solutions opted for a trailer design with a single expansion (1.6m) over the full length of the trailer. With a length of 16.5m (with tractor unit), 2.5m (expanded 4.1m) width, 4m height and a weight of 37t OB-10 works with maximum dimensions and optimized weight. No additional stands are needed for the OB Van to be in duty and manned. A further topic the customer addressed was the quick setup time, which Broadcast Solutions solved OB-10 is in operation within 20 minutes from driving status.

Since the OB Van is in use mainly in the Middle East area a sophisticated air-condition system is paramount to the vehicles ongoing operation. The German system integrator included a highly efficient and partly redundant cooling system with a maximum cooling capacity for equipment and operators of up to more than 50°C outside temperature.

Besides electrically moving furniture further specialties like modifying the video switcher control surface (Grass Valley Kayenne) were deployed to ensure streamlined and comfortable working conditions for the operators including carbon coated furniture.

Most of the power consuming equipment in OB-10 is located in the main equipment room at the rear of the trailer with separate air-condition circuits and separated from the working areas by low-noise racks for less noise pollution. Due to lack of space the van uses special solutions to include a large number of equipment in the trailer like mounting some of the A/V equipment in a fully air conditioned locker underneath the trailer.

The second part of the project was the related delivery of a supporting truck with the same size as OB-10, but without extension. This second vehicle is the home of all mobile equipment like cameras, lenses, tripods, cable reels etc. plus a maintenance room. The storage room is equipped with a hydraulic platform for easy loading and unloading. Most important the supporting truck provides two generators and an UPS unit. The two generators supply 70 kVA each and feed air condition and equipment circuits separately. A special feature is the additional 900 litre built-in diesel tank which enables the generators to work for a minimum of 24 hours, providing electricity for the OB Van under full load. In case city electricity fails the UPS ensures uninterrupted operation of all technical equipment in OB-10. In such a case both generators start and feed automatically. For equipment operability the supporting truck is equipped with two air conditioning systems.

The Al Kass OB-10 features the following:

Dimensions (l/w/h): 16.5m (with tractor unit) / 2.5m (4.1m with extension) / 4.0m

Weight: 37t

Cameras: 20x Ikegami, 3G/HD

7x Ikegami HI-Motion

2x Ikegami wireless

2x Antelope high-speed

Video Switcher: Grass Valley, Kayenne, 4M/E, 80 inputs / 48 outputs

Video Router: Grass Valley, NVISION, 288×450(576), 3G

Monitors: 68x SONY

Servers: 9x EVS, XT-3, 12 channels each

Control Systems: VSM