DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY

State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia

DIGIMIC and brählerOS perfectly matched!

Plenary hall of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, Germany

The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia wanted to upgrade the conference technology in the plenary hall. Together with our partner, Protones GmbH & Co. KG, and under the direction of WSDG Berlin, we were able to fulfill this request in spring 2025.

Initial situation

The existing technology should be completely modernized to meet current technical and parliamentary requirements.
Current standards such as RFID identification at the workstation and electronic voting were not feasible with the previous system.
A circular hall with space for 195 members of parliament, divided into “pie slices” for the individual parliamentary groups, as well as the state government and spectator area.

Customer requirements

The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia was looking for a modern, high-quality, and future-oriented conference system.

The system should be designed in such a way that, for example, personalized lists of speakers and electronic voting by name are possible. The software should be functional and visually consistent with the state parliament’s guidelines and style. The hardware and software should be designed so that both the president of the state parliament and the technicians can manage and control the conferences via a touch display. In addition, the new conference system should be able to be integrated into the state parliament’s media system, which is also being updated.

Due to tight time management and a short conversion phase, the technology had to be prefabricated outside the plenary hall and installed in a “plug and play” style within a very short time.

The solution from Brähler System in collaboration with WSDG Berlin and Protones GmbH & Co. KG

Tailored to customer requirements, Brähler Systems offered its proven DIGIMIC system in combination with brählerOS software as a basis. All units – especially those for the podium/presidium – had to be adapted to the requirements of the state parliament or redesigned. The brählerOS software also had to be expanded to include special functions such as specific speech time specifications.

In order to meet the tight deadline for conversion, installation, and commissioning, Brähler Systems suggested manufacturing special mounting plates that would contain all the necessary electronics and connections and could be easily connected to the existing electronics in the plenary hall. The plans also included custom-made floor distribution plates to ensure smooth and rapid installation of the technology.

The concept has proven successful: since January 2025, the plenary hall of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament has been equipped with a new Brähler Systems conference system.

From initial planning to final acceptance, the teams at Brähler Systems, WSDG Berlin, and Protones GmbH & Co. KG worked closely together, constantly exchanging ideas and coordinating their efforts. Project responsibility lay with certified acoustician Enno Finder, planner at ADA-AMC, a WSDG company (an internationally active company specializing in acoustics and technology integration in construction).

The details

Presidium/Podium

New multimedia units were created to meet the requirements of the meeting management. The SMic special unit has an 18.5-inch touch display with a brightness of 1000 nits. The particularly bright displays are necessary because the hall ceiling contains a lot of glass and standard displays with a brightness of 300 nits are not sufficient. The SMic unit, milled from solid aluminum, features RFID recognition and three voting buttons on the front. The software for each individual unit is designed to meet the specific user requirements of meeting management, minute-taking, and administration.
The lectern was designed so that the microphone technology and the existing electronic loudspeaker system and microcell microphones work together perfectly and are perfectly coordinated. In addition, a special speech time display (6.2 inches) was developed, which shows the individual speech time of the speaker.

Delegates

Our DIGIMIC technology was customized to fit the existing tables. Each seat now has two round table units with a microphone jack and button on one side and RFID recognition and three voting buttons on the other. RFID recognition is achieved by placing the personalized RFID card on the table.
Appropriate cabling in combination with an installed QSys system (Protones) made it possible to meet the requirement for directional sound reinforcement from nine sectors.
Each faction has an individual speaking time display where faction leaders can see how much speaking time their own faction has left.

Software

The basis of the software solution for the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament is brählerOS. However, the brählerOS Conference Operator has been expanded with numerous features for the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament.

Speaker time manager: This tool allows you to assign specific times for different speaking blocks to each faction, insert short interventions, and display the respective times on special speaker time displays (each faction only sees its own time).
In live operation, speaking times can be easily extended using a specially programmed tool and adjusted to individual time blocks.
Function buttons: Special, pre-installed function buttons are used, among other things, to select the software operating pages or to control external systems, such as the start of acoustic signals.
The panel sessions feature an integrated video tool. This displays the current speakers in real time.
Seating overview: The individual seats have been displayed based on the original seating plan of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament. In addition, a colored border has been programmed to visualize party affiliations.
User interface: The software was designed to meet the state parliament’s visual requirements, with the colors and shapes of the individual tools adapted accordingly.

Miscellaneous

Upon request, Brähler Systems created two special wall displays. These 27-inch displays are particularly bright at 1000 nits and show the current synchronized time, among other things. They are designed so that they can also display voting results in the future.
The entire conference technology system was integrated into the state parliament’s media system. This makes it possible, for example, to stream audio signals externally or automatically print voting results.

Time management

Plug and play: In order to meet the tight installation schedule, all installations were planned and prepared in advance. All connections required for the electronics were prefabricated in special table or floor distribution panels so that they could be inserted in a few simple steps and all components could be connected.