BARCO Presents Complete Line of ECDIS-Compliant Monitors

BARCO’s line of maritime displays addresses the quickly changing environmental conditions on board ships. At the same time, they provide the required color stabilization and calibration capabilities to perfectly render the ECDIS colors, comparable with the fixed colors on nautical paper charts. The user-friendly ICD 319, ICD 321 and Orion 16 all feature calibration and stabilization capabilities, ambient light control and quick degauss functions, along with an advanced electronic monitoring facility (AKB), which stabilizes the black level displayed on the monitor’s screen.

On standard displays, colors may change so much during their lifetime that a consistent color reproduction becomes impossible, especially on board ships where environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, change so rapidly. BARCO’s maritime displays have been tested and approved to be both IEC 945 and Germanischer Lloyd conform, i.e. designed and tested to operate in harsh environments.

With the monitor’s aging process, the phosphors of a CRT lose their efficiency, resulting in a greenish or reddish image on maritime displays (as the blue phosphor is degrading much quicker than the green and red one). Needless to say that, if the color reproduction and brightness of the display are not calibrated correctly, the information on the screen may be misinterpreted by the navigator.

BARCO’s line of maritime displays is designed for total lifetime ECDIS compliance. As yearly check-ups for ECDIS compliance may become obligatory, the displays include an automatic alignment feature. With this feature, it takes ship personnel only five minutes to realign the ECDIS installation.

Up to now, night colors represented on monitors have been a real nightmare, as most electronic charts suppliers switch to a dimmed color table during the night (and thus reduce the color palette). As a result the ECDIS installation can not produce the right color value. To solve this critical issue, BARCO’s maritime displays have two calibration points: a day calibration of 80 Nit and a night calibration of 2 Nit, resulting in perfect color perception during night and daylight conditions.

Since the early nineties, BARCO has been providing 29’’ monitors for maritime applications. With the introduction of the Orion 16, BARCO strengthens its position of major large screen manufacturer in the maritime business. Moreover, the Orion 16 features a unique BARCO designed Digital Converging Correction System, rendering the sharpest image possible.

About BarcoView:
BarcoView with operation facilities in Kortrijk (Belgium), Toulouse (France), Atlanta, Georgia and Portland, Oregon (USA) designs and manufactures high-resolution display systems, displays, graphics controllers and display subsystems for highly demanding niche markets such as C4I, avionics, vessel and air traffic control, vehicle electronics, and medical imaging applications.

Alongside Barco Projection Systems and BarcoVision, BarcoView is one of the three strategic activities of the BARCO Group, which are all active in Image Processing. Barco Projection is in various markets of large screen visualization, whereas BarcoVision develops systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2000, the entire BARCO group delivered a turnover of euro 751 million. BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries throughout the world. BARCO has been quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.

For more information, please contact

Inge Govaerts
Public Relations Manager
Barco Security & Monitoring

Telephone +32 56 36 8052
inge.govaerts@barco.com