Defense Technology International - May 2008 - (Page 46)

CARL PEETERS FIRST PERSON PICTURE PERFECT Barco Group of Belgium recently merged its defense and security business into the new Security and Monitoring Div. The strategy for the defense business, which has development, engineering and production activities in Europe (Belgium, France and Germany), the U.S. and India, is to be the preferred supplier of visualization systems to C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) integrators worldwide such as Lockheed Martin, Israel Aerospace Industries, Bharat Electronics of India and ST Engineering of Singapore. Barco also has programs with other companies including leading U.S. and European contractors. The division’s turnover in 2007 was €250 million ($375 million), 30% of Barco Group’s sales of €747 million. Carl Peeters, division president, spoke to DTI Senior European Editor Joris Janssen Lok about the unit’s products and plans in his office in Kortrijk, Belgium. Defense Technology International: How would you describe Barco’s defense and security activities? Carl Peeters: Barco is a visualization company. We specialize in systems that provide our customers with the best possible visual interfaces with their information sources. Barco provides highly reliable hardware and software visualization technology so operators can make the best use of critical sensor information, including camera, radar, sonar and thermal imagery. Our systems present imagery and other data directly or indirectly from the source, to ensure that what the operator sees is accurate. Image management is made possible by solutions that we provide in digital recording, networked distribution and display of radar and other video information. We’re the market leader in supplying a wide variety of products for defense and security needs, ranging from 7-65in. rugged displays and high-end rugged workstations and consoles to complete visualization systems for command and 46 control centers, brieﬁng rooms and mission systems. In defense, our focus is on land and naval applications, although we also have programs with mission systems installed in large aircraft and helicopters. In the security market, we’ve built up a strong reputation in homeland security systems, which we have provided to national, regional and local governments in many countries. We’re also selling control-room systems to industrial customers, such as oil reﬁneries, network managers and pipeline companies. The technology used here has a lot of overlap with that for defense, so we have been able to create synergies between the two. The demand for advanced command-center and control-room systems continues to grow at a fast pace. I believe that in terms of market focus, we have found a sweet spot. What direction is product development taking? In visualization we’re moving more toward systems that go beyond merely a direct-view display. This includes a variety of electronic, optical, environmental and video-processing features and options. Controllers, both hardware and software, provide functions such as multisource video streaming and options for users to conﬁgure various displays, projection screens and video walls. We have software that allows multiple users operating multiple displays to share identical video streams or data. This is critical for crisis management. For example, we have collaborative visualization solutions that significantly increase the speed and quality of command decisions. This delivers a clear advantage to mission-critical decision-makers, such as the offi cers in an air-defense ship-command team or BARCO a joint operations center. The technology we’re working on is all about providing up-to-the-minute, dynamically tailored access to a common operational picture. This is a key enabler of shared situational awareness, allowing simultaneous sharing of information among many people at the same time, and facilitating rapid collaborative planning, decision-making, execution, communication and monitoring. Our new line of local situational awareness systems for combat vehicles is another example of where we integrate sensors and displays via a network to capture imagery of the immediate surroundings, process it and visualize it so the crew can understand exactly what is going on outside the vehicle. This is where we are currently focusing our research and development: not just to ensure that we offer the latest and best in terms of displays, but to develop the wider visualization concepts that are required by our customers. Barco survived the technology shift from CRT displays to LCDs. What AviationWeek.com/dti DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MAY 2008 http://AviationWeek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - May 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Learn and Live Think Again Vive la Difference En Route Out of the Box Package Deal On Watch Inside Job Programs Update The Net Back to the Future Busy Signal Mighty Mites Hull of an Idea Tough Enough Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - May 2008

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