US Army Joint Readiness Training Center

Fort Polk is the premier live fire training facility for America’s Armed Forces.  This large site contains many AAR Theaters, both stationary and mobile.  Total Video was commissioned by Video Visions of Philadelphia to utilize its systems integration skills to rebuild the MOUT Theater with all new equipment, displays, and an AMX control system.

MOUT is a full scale Iraq-like neighborhood including a school, city hall, houses and apartments, gas station and other buildings. Although the room is called an After Action Review Theater, the MOUT site is unique in that it is also a Live Action Review Theater located in a control center right on the site.  Day and night vision equipped cameras are located inside and out, to monitor all military training activities as they occur, or for recording for after action review.  Ranking military staff can monitor live training activity and communicate with the attacking or defending teams in the field.

Forty-eight live or recorded video feeds can be viewed in the theater simultaneously on two Panasonic 103” plasma screens controlled by two Miranda Kaleido video processors.  Using a wireless mouse from in the theater, any of 24 images on either plasma may be selected and sent to the left or right 100” rear projection screens with audio.  Using an AMX wireless touch panel, the displays can also project any of 3 computers, 3 DVD players, or any source as it is controlled by the Echolab Opera 3932 video switcher.

The Theater has an enhanced ability to record presentations using four ceiling mounted Hitachi cameras on Pan-Tilt heads integrated into a central controller and into the Echolab switcher.  The control room, located behind the displays, contains a large L-shaped Winsted rack which houses all the equipment, and is staffed by a 3 to 4 man team which monitors the presentation, and can produce professional recordings of any presentation in the room, as well as control the displays via communication with the presenter and a 17” AMX touch panel at the Winsted rack.  Audio is controlled by a Mackie TT24 digital live console, which has selectable, programmed snapshots for the various presentation, and recording uses of the room.  While the Mackie board is in the control room, it is connected to a PC via USB, allowing Mackie control software to operate the board very easily by the operator.  A series of 10 PZM, hanging, and podium microphones provide voice lift, and presenter and audience audio feeds for recording.

Close coordination with the Raytheon Services staff and the Fort Polk military staff was required to provide a smooth and timely transition from old system to new system.