When the first ten of the 29 stations
on the new Dubai Metro Red Line
opened on September 9th last
year it marked a major achievement for
public address/voice alarm specialists ATEIS
MIDDLE EAST.
The high-tech driverless rapid transit
system — one of the most advanced urban
rail systems in the world — spans 74km
between the terminals of Al Rashidiya and
the Jebel Ali Free Zone and was developed
at an overall cost of around US$7.6bn.
It was the task of Major Ibrahim Abdulrahman Bin Saif, Dubai
Civil Defense’s executive for Dubai Metro, to design and approve
the drawing of the fire safety and security system. Once this had
been done, contractors JTMJV awarded the contract to ATEIS
MIDDLE EAST following a competitive bid.
In recognising the scale of the challenge, ATEIS general manager
Hussam Al-Haddad knew that while this could be accomplished
by integrating existing ATEIS products on a common platform, a
more compact and efficient omni-directional system would
broadcast emergency messages into the concourses with the
introduction of a new column system. Dubbed the Orbit, this
line-array, with steerable radiation pattern,
designed to meet architectural requirements,
was developed specially for the project at
ATEIS headquarters in Switzerland.
He also knew that ATEIS could provide
a programmable, integrated digital audio
platform that would create an advanced, fullyredundant/
fully-monitored transportation
solution... offering all the audio routing,
processing and control while retaining high
speech transmission index (STI).
Due to their reduced 5m ceiling heights as the Metro heads
into the sub-terrain, Khalid Bin Al Waleed and Union Square
Stations — the latter one of the biggest underground stations in
the world — is where the ten lobe DSP based line array Orbits
have been sited (four in the former, six in the latter). These are
18-channel devices measuring 1.36m, with built-in 2.5" driver and
amplification (with external DSP control).
Finally, in the seven storey car park at the Al Rashidiya terminus
ATEIS MIDDLE EAST have installed 115 horns on each level.
Once in full operation, the Dubai Metro is projected to carry
approximately 1.2 million passengers on an average day, and 355
million passengers per year. ■