Extron NAV provides AVoIP to UNCW Faculty Center

For the new building of this university, an infrastructure based on the systems has been designed Extron NAV AVoIP.

Although the facilities at Allied Health Veterans Hall included a wide variety of Extron products, like DTP systems, Flat Field speakers and Pro Series control systems, the core of this facility is located in NAV AVoIP systems that allow the distribution of the AV signal by the new building.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) is a university well known for its high research activity. As more classrooms and laboratories were needed, decided to build a new building 13.470 square meters, Allied Health Veterans Hall.

The new building includes the first UNCW educational spaces, designed from the start as active learning classrooms, and also has state-of-the-art laboratories for studies such as anatomy and kinesiology. In addition to the classes, university classrooms and laboratories, the building has conference rooms, informal meeting spaces and learning rooms where communication and collaboration between students and faculty is encouraged.

To ensure that students had every opportunity to reach their full potential, each room required its own AV system. They had to be easy-to-operate infrastructures that could connect to the remote education control room, so that central management could be carried out and allowed the recording of the classes.

UNCW had specific targets for the amount, quality and functionality of the AV technology of the new building, but it also needed to fit a budget set. In addition, wanted a solution prepared for the future, viable for many years.

UNCW hired consultant Affiliated Engineers (IED) to design the facility, and Kontek System for integration.

Although the facilities included a wide variety of Extron products, such as systems DTP, Speakers Flat Field and the control systems of the Pro series, the core of this facility is found in the NAV AVoIP Extron that allow the distribution of the AV signal throughout the building.

AV switching

The building includes 16 university training rooms and an educational laboratory, five active learning classrooms, 29 spaces for collaboration and conferences, and more than 30 digital signage destinations.

The facility incorporates multiple AV switching systems, including PTZ cameras, ceiling microphones in student areas and multiple large format display devices.

Classrooms, conference rooms and collaboration spaces have wireless connectivity to display devices, in order to add flexibility in room layout and ease of use. Where it has been possible, AV components have been installed behind display devices to provide a clear look and avoid the use of AV cars.

UNCW identified several reasons why Extron's AVoIP NAV system was the ideal solution.

The NAV was installed in a variety of spaces that had videowalls and multiple flat-screen display devices, in addition to connecting all rooms to the Remote Education control room. Tests showed that NAV was stable, solid and delivered a lossless visual signal.

The system is easy to operate, so that support staff can manage from the control room, and all its programming could be carried out internally. In addition, NAV provided the ability to control or limit bandwidth, if necessary.

The AVoIP Active Learning Pilot Room was installed by in-house staff a year before the building was announced. This space served as a 'proof of concept' and allowed several teams to be evaluated in a real-world scenario.

The facility included eight networked destination points, connecting to the control room. When the design was approved, the NAV system was staggered to connect in 200 destination points located throughout the building. It was also used to develop the perfect configuration of servers on the network. The pilot room served as a training space for teachers to develop content in the new active learning environment.

To begin training, the teacher starts their own Zoom session and conducts the class while a control room operator captures the content to stream and archive it.

Operators can monitor all ongoing classes and laboratories and correct any problems when they have, or even before the professor knows there's a problem. Two of the many remote operating capabilities facilitated by the NAV system are audio mixing and control of PTZ cameras.

Encoders were installed 1G NAV E 101 and climbing decoders 1G NAV DS 101 Extron in every room, in addition to system with 10G uplinks to added switches Catalyst 9300 Series of culm. These NAV 1G models support 10G target points, eliminating the need for additional devices. System gets the most out of protocol-independent multicast dispersed mode efficiency, or PIM, thus facilitating the relief between spaces.

Two systems manager devices AVoIP NAVigator work together to control the entire NAV system, consisting of 200 destination points. They provide a configuration, Easy monitoring and control of encoders and decoders from the Remote Education control room.

NAVigator uses SSH protocol (Secure Shell) to encrypt your communication with each destination point. The facility remains within UNCW's standard practices of having control devices on a separate network, with IPv4 that routes to the NAV network for control.

In the Remote Education Control Room, NAV components provide an unexpected advantage of saving significant space. The subtle design of NAV technology and the compact size of its components reduced the number of AV racks, of the three completely filled that were planned to a single partially occupied rack.

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