USA - Newark Airport’s new Terminal A is now open. The one million square foot facility with 33 gates represents the largest single investment in New Jersey in the Port Authority’s history. The terminal boasts 21st-century technology, inspiring public art, world-renowned retailers, and locally inspired concessions.
Complementing the public art programme is an immersive digital journey that captivates passengers with the Garden State's renowned landmarks, art, and innovations through a series of permanent large-scale multimedia installations designed to prioritise the New Jersey sense of place that is distinct to the aesthetic and design of Terminal A.
Completed in 2023, Newark's Terminal A now joins LaGuardia's Terminal B as the only two airport terminals in North America awarded the highest Skytrax rating. The terminal served 15m passengers in its first year, outperforming yearly passenger totals from the previous Terminal A, and part of what makes Terminal A stand out is the quality audio served from AtlasIED’s Globalcom communications platform.
When the Port Authority began planning the renovations for Terminal A, they turned to long-term integration partners MKJ Communications to help design the complex paging system that would serve the massive complex. MKJ had previous experience outfitting airport terminals as part of LaGuardia Terminal B’s AV overhaul.
“Airports generally have very high noise floors,” said Ylli Dika, project manager for MKJ Communications. “From travellers to vehicles to machinery, it adds up to significant audio fatigue in a short amount of time. We knew we needed a system that would provide the necessary audibility and intelligibility for sharing critical travel announcements, which is why we recommended Globalcom.”
MKJ’s implementation team chose the AtlasIED TitanOne T112 smart mainframe power amplifiers to provide signal automation, processing, and amplification in a single modular solution.
The T112 is also equipped with SystemAssured Supervision for entire system monitoring and fault detection to ensure worry-free 24/7 operation. It incorporates AtlasIED’s patented smart technology called AlwaysHear, which ensures that the audio levels are automatically adjusted to the perfect sound level. 48 TitanOne T112s were used to power over 2,300 in-ceiling, pendant, and surface mount loudspeakers installed throughout the terminal.
Paging throughout Terminal A is initiated from any of the 120 Dante-enabled AtlasIED IED570DDT-H digital communication stations deployed at the gates, ticket counters, and central operations. The devices have a fully programmable touchscreen user interface and a handheld microphone.
The Port Authority also wanted to integrate the Globalcom platform with the airport fire evacuation and alarm system to better coordinate communication activities with passengers. Whenever a fire alarm is triggered in the terminal, the paging system is muted with the exception of the fire command mic station in central operations. MKJ used IP-1522LR logic/relay modules to integrate the fire alarm and paging systems together.
“Integrating the fire alarm and paging system was challenging, but the Globalcom platform helped simplify the installation while also making it easy to create and modify paging zones as requirements evolved,” said Dika.
