Extron Provides AV Switching to the University of Manchester

Pure AV has worked with the university's computer team to design the AV systems, An infrastructure based on the Extron, Including matrix switches, Audio DSP, control systems and a NAV solution from AVoIP.

the switching systems, Extron AV distribution and control, connected by the AVoIP Professional NAV System, have provided the flexibility, performance and scalability that the university required for the reliable delivery of content to and from each of the connected rooms on campus.

The University of Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD) in the UK provides a wide variety of research spaces, learning and meeting for more than 8.000 Engineering & Science Students.

Two new structures, the nine-storey A building and the five-storey B link to the existing four-storey Oddfellows Pavilion. All three main room types include Meet rooms & Teach (Meeting & Class), Flexible Labs & Workshops, as well as specialised learning spaces such as multi-purpose or divisible rooms.

The university required flexible AV switching systems with solid sound and intuitive control for hundreds of flexible learning and teaching spaces.

The Oddfellows Pavilion required an upgrade to accommodate the technologies of the new buildings. All of the MECD rooms needed to be connected to each other and the AV systems also had to integrate with the university's resource management system, the GlobalViewer Enterprise (GEV) by Extron.

Pure AV (Pure Audio Visual) located in Preston, England, worked alongside the university's computer team to design the AV systems. Both spearheaded the integration of a comprehensive selection of Extron products, including professional-grade AV matrix switches, Switches, Audio DSP & Control Systems, and a professional AV over IP NAV system.

Teaching Station

The buildings of the new engineering campus of the MECD have university classrooms with two levels, Four Teaching Groups, more than 120 Meet Rooms & Teach, An interconnected premises consisting of five large teaching areas, Individual Labs & Workshops, Divisible university classrooms and a unique multi-purpose theatre/dry laboratory.

The Meet Rooms & Teach have replaced traditional classes. The campus includes five buildings, the James Chadwick, York Street and the three connected buildings. The project incorporated approximately 2.200 Learning Spaces, meeting and social gatherings on a combined surface of about 80.000 square meters.

When deciding on the best space for a particular lesson, instructors can search for rooms based on size and AV capabilities in a room catalog on their website. Photographs of each room and any possible configuration of the space are included, as well as information on the provided AV equipment and the auxiliary and connectivity capability of the room.

The Meet Rooms & Teach include a projector Panasonic of 10.000 lumens and a Sapphir Display, one or more capture systems for Kaptivo Slates, interactive whites and videowalls Lg.

Panasonic wall display devices and trolleys increase visibility in medium and large spaces, with portable display devices connected via HDMI.

Room fountains can incorporate combinations of one or more computers, a document camera, PTZ & Network Cameras, Multiple microphones and AV connectivity for wired and wireless devices.

These and medium-sized rooms provide a XTP system or an AV switching system Fixed Configuration, with an appropriately sized switch or matrix switch, depending on the size of the room and the resources available.

The sound system in the room is based on processors ProDSP by Extron, such as the DMP audio processor 128 Plus with AEC, VoIP and Dante, To manage program audio mixing and microphones.

For AV system control, Each room has been equipped with a IP Link Pro Control Processor Extron Button Panels Networked NBP 106 D and the TouchLink Pro touchscreens to provide intuitive control of all system functions.

AVoIP Pro NAV System

To connect each room of the MECD to the rest of the spaces on campus, Pure AV has integrated an Extron Professional AV over IP NAV system.

At the time of installation, this was the largest Extron NAV system created for university education in the UK. Despite the fact that several products and systems from this manufacturer had been used at the University of Manchester, the MECD installation is the first to use a NAV system. The AVoIP system includes 186 destination points, allowing content to be shared between any number of destinations. This is true even when one or more of the divisible spaces are reconfigured.

Pure AV's design and commissioning teams worked with MECD's IT infrastructure team and Extron engineers to evaluate, On-site check and display a large number of network switches.

The goal was to reach a mutual agreement on the switch that would work best with the NAV encoders and decoders. As the vast majority of network switches worked well with the NAV system, The media services team was able to select the switches based on their features and cost.

The Navigator system manager enabled quick and intuitive setup and control of NAV scaler encoders and decoders via the MECD data network. Integrated with the GVE, Linking Campus Spaces.

AVoIP Professional's GVE and NAV system were combined to provide a secure platform for connecting, View status and control devices from the intuitive web pages of this resource management software. In addition, Alerts were created in the GVE to notify the support team of potential changes in device connection status.

This merger of NAVigator and GVE made it easier to remotely monitor and control the system of AVoIP professional NAV encoders and decoders and rooms throughout the MECD.

Switching systems, Extron AV distribution and control, connected by the professional AVoIP NAV system, They offered the flexibility, performance and scalability that the university required for the reliable delivery of content to and from each of the connected rooms on campus. Designed as a result of the collaboration between Pure AV and the university's technical and academic teams, the MECD continues to meet and even exceed student expectations, Staff & Administration.

"We have created inspiring and highly flexible world-class teaching in a research environment that transforms the way the university educates engineers and materials experts for the future.", explains the teacher Martin Schröder, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester.

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