Birmingham City University – Simulation Flat

Requirements

Birmingham City University required an expansion of their existing CSKILLS system to support their newly developed Sim Flat facility within the Seacole Building at the City South Campus. Designed as a realistic home based simulation environment, the Sim Flat includes a Kitchen/Living Area, Bedroom, and Bathroom. The university asked us to integrate full video and audio capture across the space to support teaching, assessment, and debriefing. Their key requirements included

• Cameras positioned throughout the Sim Flat to capture activity in each room
• Dropdown microphones to ensure clear audio pickup across all area
• Ability to view live feeds and play back recordings anywhere within the facility
• A communication solution enabling two way interaction between the control room and the simulation space

The Solution

Kitchen / Living Area

• 2 × CSKILLS 1080p Cameras providing wide angle coverage of the main activity space
• 4 × Dropdown Microphones installed to ensure clear audio pickup regardless of student positioning or scenario layout
• Phone System installed to allow clear, reliable two way communication between the control room and the Sim Flat, enabling facilitators to interact with participants during scenarios
• Talkback Speaker installed to allow communication from the control room and the ability to play in sound files to enhance the immersive experience within scenarios

Bedroom

• 1 × CSKILLS 1080p Camera positioned for full room visibility
• 2 × Dropdown Microphones to capture dialogue and interactions during simulated assessments

Bathroom

• 2 × CSKILLS 1080p Cameras configured to cover the compact but high activity environment
• 2 × Dropdown Microphones to ensure reliable audio capture despite the acoustically challenging space

Summary

With the existing CSKILLS infrastructure already in place across the campus, integrating the Sim Flat into the system was a smooth and efficient process. Cat 6 data cabling was installed by the main contractor as part of the refurbishment, enabling all new devices to be connected directly back to the main network switch.

Once connected, the CSKILLS management software allowed us to quickly configure a dedicated recording and streaming group for the Sim Flat. Users can now select and record any combination of the installed cameras, while the communication systems provide seamless interaction between the control room and the simulation environment. This ensures flexible and comprehensive support for teaching, simulation, and debriefing activities.