AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University Vít Rusňák rusnak@ics.muni.cz Brno, April 15, 2015 Agenda Introduction Videoconferencing Infrastructure Support for lecture and event recordings Research and development activities VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 2 / 32 Agenda Introduction Videoconferencing Infrastructure Support for lecture and event recordings Research and development activities VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 3 / 32 AV use cases at university — Regular lectures and seminars at university buildings — On-line meetings and conferencing — Ad-hoc events (e.g., guest presentations) at university buildings — Ad-hoc events (e.g., conferences) outside the university — Recording and streaming support for these events — Research in (advanced) collaborative technologies and multimedia transmissions over high-speed networks VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 4 / 32 AV infrastructure at MU — Seminar rooms — projector (+ optional audio) — no AVT — Lecture halls — multiple projectors and audio, multiple inputs (NTB, PC, camera, VCF) — Conference and meeting rooms — projector or LCD, audio, VCF or webcam (small rooms) — Videoconferencing server infrastructure — included in national infrastructure for R&D — multiple technologies for different needs VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 5 / 32 Roles of ICS MU — Strategy of AV technologies at MU — definition of AV standards — participation on design and installation of AV technologies — coordination of services and activities (2nd level support) — Videoconferencing infrastructure management — one of the key AV services — H.323/SIP infrastructure — SW platforms for collaboration — User support and consulting — Research in advanced collaborative environments VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 6 / 32 Strategy of AV technologies at MU — Common definition of standards for audio and video distributions — Cooperation during design phase — CARLA (Faculty of Arts) — Supervision of installation phase — University campus — Complete analysis and design of AV related tenders — CESEB, CEITEC (University campus), KYPO — 2nd level user support (AV specialists) for complex issues VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 7 / 32 Agenda Introduction Videoconferencing Infrastructure Support for lecture and event recordings Research and development activities VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 8 / 32 Videoconferencing universes — Skype — H.323/SIP videoconference — Webconferences – Adobe Connect VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 9 / 32 Reservation system — Online reservation system for — virtual meeting rooms for videoconferences — physical rooms at CEITEC and ICS — Integrated with Czech academic identity federation eduID.cz — Single login for all services — Supports for H.323/SIP and Adobe Connect — Provided by CESNET — https://meetings.cesnet.cz VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 10 / 32 H.323/SIP Videoconferencing — Up to 1080p audio and video transmissions — HW clients — endpoints of H.323 infrastructure — user interface — enable point-to-point connection — SW clients — SW terminals for PC and mobile platforms (iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone) — MCU (Multipoint Control Units) — provide multi-point tele/videoconferencing (3+ participants) — virtual meeting rooms VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 11 / 32 H.323 infrastructure at Masaryk University Terminals — SW clients for individual users (LifeSize ClearSea) — VCF terminals integrated in meeting rooms and lecture halls (e.g., FI, ICS, UCB) — Mobile VCF units (CESEB, CARLA, CEITEC, CERIT) — single-display solution (CESEB, CARLA) — dual-displays (CEITEC) Infrastructure — Multi-Point Control Unit for group collaboration — Content-Server for video streaming and lecture recordings VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 12 / 32 H.323 infrastructure at Masaryk University VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 13 / 32 H.323/SIP Use-cases at MU — Lecture recordings at UCB — Remote lectures and consultations at Language Centre MU — Conferences and ad-hoc events streaming — Acute medicine issues portal – Akutně.cz — Invited speakers (Madeleine Albright, Andrej Borisovič Zubov, Mendel Lectures series ...) — Surgery operations (gynecology, opthalmology) VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 14 / 32 Adobe Connect — Flash-based system for team collaboration and e-learning activities — Server is managed by CESNET — Key features: — chat, tele and videoconferencing — desktop, document and application sharing — virtual whiteboard — session recordings — user roles — questionares and short surveys — Requires Adobe Flash Plugin — iOS and Android clients VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 15 / 32 VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 16 / 32 Agenda Introduction Videoconferencing Infrastructure Support for lecture and event recordings Research and development activities VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 17 / 32 Lecture and event recordings — Regular lectures — distributed encoding environment — two use cases – FI and UCB — Linux-based vs. H.323/SIP — Ad-hoc events — off-line recording AV teams at faculties (FSS, FF, FI) — recording and streaming – provided by ICS with H.323/SIP or UltraGrid VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 18 / 32 Regular lectures — Distributed encoding environment — Used mainly for regular lectures — since 2001 at Faculty of Informatics — from student activity to production service — last couple of years also from the University Campus (using videoconferencing infrastructure) — infrastructure for video encoding. — available via university IS and http://www.video.muni.cz (with secured access and user roles) VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 19 / 32 Ad-Hoc events — Off-line recordings — manual post-processing — small autonomous teams — e.g., Theater Play at FI, habilitation talks, Science week events — On-line recording with streaming — using H.323/SIP infrastructure — automated processing with minor post-processing by user (video segmentation) — E.g., Conference on Acute Medicine, Mendel Lectures series — Published at http://www.video.muni.cz or other portals (free access) VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 20 / 32 Events with special demands — When H.323/SIP solution is not enough... — UltraGrid – software for low latency and high-quality video network transmissions — FullHD, 4K, 8K (both compressed and uncompressed) — support for H.264, JPEG, JPEG2000, DXT — Use cases: — regular cooperation with cardiology department — ad-hoc transmissions (e.g., gynecology) — pilot adaptation for teaching (general surgery, cardiology) VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 21 / 32 VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 22 / 32 VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 23 / 32 Agenda Introduction Videoconferencing Infrastructure Support for lecture and event recordings Research and development activities VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 24 / 32 Topics — High-quality multimedia transmissions — Self-organizing collaborative environments — Advanced group collaborative platforms VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 25 / 32 Research and development partners — Laboratory of Advanced Network Technologies (SITOLA) — CESNET z.s.p.o. — Various research partners worldwide — EVL, University of Chicago, IL — i2cat, Barcelona — ICT companies settled in CERIT-SP (DAITE, Comprimato Systems) — Movie post production studios VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 26 / 32 High-quality multimedia transmissions UltraGrid — Up to 8K (16× HD resolution) — Focus on low-latency and high quality multimedia transmission — Research in parallel encoding and decoding of video formats — JPEG, JPEG2000, DXT — Joint project of CESNET and MU (Laboratory of Advanced Network Technologies) — http://ultragrid.cz VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 27 / 32 Self-organizing collaborative environments CoUniverse — Framework for self-organizing collaborative environments — Research in scheduling strategies for multiple data stream transmissions — Use case: Infrastructure for remote sign-language translation in seminars and lectures VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 28 / 32 VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 29 / 32 Advanced group collaborative platforms — Visualization cluster-based display walls and large tabletops — Scalable Amplified Graphics Environment (SAGE2) — MUSE Framework — Research in multi-user interaction methods and visualization — Development of applications for specific purposes — Visualization of network flows, cyber-crime training platforms etc. VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 30 / 32 VR ·AV Technologies and Collaborative tools at Masaryk University ·April 15, 2015 31 / 32 Thank you for your attention! Vít Rusňák rusnak@ics.muni.cz