Conferencing and WebC@st @ DESY

Outline:

about DESY How VRVS and AccessGrid is used Technical Equipment for VRVS and Webcast Operation

RGB-Switch, Camera Control, Signal Mixing…

DESY

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

High energy physics reserach center

Operating a superconducting proton-electron collider – HERA - for high energy phsics experiments and provide synchrotron radiation for dedicated experiments

3 experiments ZEUS, H1 and HERMES each with more than 150 people

Project for development of a free electron Laser XFEL

Important issues for conferences:

For collaboration meetings:

sound and slides

video of the speaker is less important

different „classes“ of speakers using

chalk on blackboard

plastic transparencies

electronic presentations with PPT, PDF…

Strongly growing need for conference facilities @ DESY

what is used:

ISDN and H.323 conferences via

commercial equipment (Tandberg)

ESNET AdHoc

VRVS --- growing

Usage of VRVS

• Until 2004 1-2 VRVS sessions each 2-3 month

• Own reflector on the campus

• Growing need since about one year

• Today regularly used for collaboration meetings of the particle physics groups

• Both mbone and h.323 in connection with our Tandberg codecs is used

Usage of AccessGrid

• AccessGrid is rarely used

• No multicast support on the DESY WAN router because of lack of experience

• If required, sessions can be provided over the VRVS gateway

Technical Equipment:

Since summer 2005 development of a mobile Media-Rack, equipped with three 19“ PCs, a RGB-Crossbar and an Audio-receiver for mobile microphones.

Advantage: can be used in any seminar room with IP connectivity

Tasks for the 3 PCs (top-down):

Media Control VRVSWebC@st-recording and Presentation

Mobile Media-Rack

Audio Receiver

RGB Crossbar Mixer PC

VRVS PC

WebC@st PC

Cabling Diagram:

Hardware:

Capture devices:

Video: Hauppauge ImpactVCB PCI adapter

RGB: Datapath VisionRGB Pro 2Dual channel PCI adapterResolution up to 1200x1600Support for Microsoft WDM architecture

Advantage: independence of Operating Systems and

presentation applications

Hardware:

Audio System:

Manufacturer: Sennheiser

sender: Sennheiser evolution SK 500 G2  http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm.nsf/root/21632  sender for handmicrophones: Sennheiser evolution SKM 565 G2 http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm.nsf/root/21635 receiver: Sennheiser evolution EM 550 G2 http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm.nsf/root/21650 

Hardware:

RGB Crossbar:

Manufacturer: KOMTECH Kommunikationstechnik GmbH

8 Input channels

4 Output channels for RGB and Audio

Control Interface by RS232 and IP

Operation:

Main concept:

Make everything controllable from remote

Operation:

Mixer PC Applications:

Camera Server application receiving RS232 control commands of the Sony EVI 70 camera over IP

RGB Crossbar Control application for switching the various RGB

signals

Video Mixingapplication for mixing the video source(s) and 2 individual RGB sources,allows resizing, positioning and fading

Operation:

VRVS PC applications:

Remote Camera Control Client:

Application for sending control commands to the Mixer PC over IP

VRVS Session in Dual Screen Mode, vic windows being placed on the second screen

Operation:

RGB-Crossbar Control:

The RGB Crossbar Control is used for switching the Video signals of the 3 rack mounted PCs the signal of the speakers laptop and the video signal of the EVI camera to the 3 PCs and to the beamer(s).

Operation:

RGB-Crossbar Control:

Three standard settings are offered:

VRVS local: Speakers Laptop Signal Beamer Speakers Laptop Signal VRVS-transmission

VRVS remote:VRVS remote site BeamerSpeakers Laptop Signal VRVS-transmission

Local without any VRVS or Webcast:Speakers Laptop Signal Beamer

Operation:

Remote Camera Control:

Buttons for moving horizontally and vertically and Zoom

Buttons for pre-defined positions

Operation

• Mixer Application based on DirectX

• Programmed in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0

• Using Montivision Workbench for creating DirectX Filtergraphs

Operation

• Remote Beamer Control by RS232 over IP in test

• All three PCs can be operated remotely using VNC or Windows Remote Desktop

Thank you for your interest

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