Lexington Blue Grass Airport

Project Snapshot

At a glance: An efficient system designed to simplify audio and visual announcements with increased flexibility and easy expansion for the high potential of future growth
Completed in 2008
Select Equipment: (1) 510ACS mainframes, (24) Titan Amplifier Channels, (2) Titan DSP Mainframes, (250) Atlas Sound FAP42T speakers

Less than 100 miles from IED headquarters in Louisville, the Lexington Blue Grass Airport represented a different set of challenges for the IED team altogether. Compared to the larger international base in Honolulu with its near 900 flights a day, Lexington is a regional hub supporting an average 200 flights every day. Just four miles from Lexington’s central business district and as a major connection point for many U.S. Southern and East Coast cities, Lexington Blue Grass is an expanding airport especially for business and commuter passengers.

Efficiency is key in this environment and was the major objective when IED updated its old paging and display technology. The new communication system needed to be flexible for the many operating airlines and it needed to be easily expanded as an airport of less than 1000 acres grew to meet future demands.

Lexington Blue Grass had these specific and customized requirements that could develop as they did, but not overcomplicate a modest design with complex features, overstated equipment, or a budget that was beyond their means. By utilizing a single Ethernet network over standard structured cabling, the IED system eliminated proprietary cable and non-standard equipment. Out of date technology was replaced with a 510ACS and Titan DSP amplifiers to control the new paging stations and zones to match the systems current needs with the ability to quickly add others during the scheduled expansions. By using IED’s network solution, Lexington Blue Grass was able to interconnect the audio and visual paging over the entire airport. This provides automated flight announcements tailored to each airline, synchronized visual paging, and common gate information displays with up to four flights – without rigid airline specific displays. After the paging system was installed, the airport proceeded to replace their Multi User Flight Information System as well by simply installing PRIZM MUFIDs software on the IED server and adding groups of LCD displays to the network.