BACKGROUND

The Chancelry Tower is the highest profile building on the ANU campus. It is used to host meetings with the ANU Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and other dignitaries, with it comprising four rooms: the Mills Meeting Room, Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room, Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room and Ross Hohnen Meeting Room.

With the spaces having become outdated, and amid a campus-wide shift to unified communications using Zoom, MNGD was tasked with delivering a complete network-centric AV-over-IP (AVoIP) solution, designed by Christopher Watson from Alder Technology Consulting, drawing on our previous experience rolling out AVoIP-based rooms across the ANU campus.

Extreme attention to detail was required in undertaking installation of the system and software deployment, with MNGD utilising its Software Deployment Procedure (SDP), developed during the previous deployment of AVoIP systems, outlining key milestones, the technical direction and collaborative workflow between all stakeholders working on a project.

System Overview

Central AV Rack

The central AV rack, located in the complex’s main communications room, houses:

• A shared QSC Q-SYS Core 510i processor, which delivers audio to each room through a Dante network.
• Two Crestron DM-NVX card frames, sending and receiving video from each of the rooms.
• Three Crestron AM-200 AirMedia Presentation Systems.
• Three Crestron UC Engines, providing Zoom functionality across each meeting space.
• An Amino IPTV decoder.

Mills Meeting Room

The Mills Meeting Room is the main meeting room used by the university executive, council and board, with it consisting of an inner board table (seating 24 persons) and an outer horseshoe table (seating 30 persons). In addition to this, there are bench seats, spanning the length of the room, which are used for support staff, particularly during council meetings.

With meetings held in different configurations, flexibility was required, while the finish quality of the works needed to be very high, reflecting the importance of the venue, which is often used by external guests and dignitaries. Although the room is not heritage listed, its location, importance and significance meant there were also some sensitivities around potential alterations.

The room is equipped with several table box input locations, a resident computer, a software conferencing solution, teleconferencing systems and a wireless presentation system.

A highly functional and robust solution, controlled via two Crestron 10” touch panels, was designed with ease of use in mind, comprising:

• Dual Panasonic UHD 98” displays installed on the front wall, supported by four fallback 55” displays, which maintain sight lines for all seating positions.
• All displays receive network video through Crestron’s DM NVX.
• Video conferencing is provided via a Huddly IQ camera and Crestron UC Engine located in the central AV rack.
• Renkus Heinz IC8-RD Digitally Steerable Line Array Loudspeaker Systems were used because of their discreet design and ability to provide clear and even coverage across the unique table layout and room shape. These speakers are Dante network audio-enabled, receiving network audio from the shared QSC Q-SYS Core 510i processor.
• Five Shure MXA310 table array microphones on the main inner board table.
• Speech reinforcement is delivered via a Shure Microflex Wireless system using 30 boundary microphones, and handheld and lapel microphones.
• Wireless microphones, including the presentations and events handheld and lapel microphones, send audio to four 8-channel wireless access point transceivers, sending 32 channels of audio to the Dante network, with the five table array microphones sending another 20 channels of audio to the Dante network, providing a full AVoIP microphone solution.

The audio in this room was tuned by acoustic experts Gilfillan Soundwork, with David Gilfillan undertaking several tests to optimise the electroacoustic system, which was extremely important in tuning the system to use 40 microphones without fixed positions.

MNGD also worked closely with Hindmarsh Constructions to ensure the structural integrity of the front wall was sufficient enough to hold the 90 kg displays.

The Mills Meeting Room alone comprised a $250,000 upgrade, and was delivered in a month, with all work carried out on site (nothing in factory), undertaken by a dedicated team of six.

Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room

The Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room system was designed to be consistent with the upgraded network-centric AVoIP designs previously rolled out across the campus, and to operate in a similar fashion to the Mills Meeting Room.

The system, controlled via a Crestron 10” touch panel, comprises:

• A single 86” Panasonic display, receiving video from a Crestron AM-200 AirMedia Presentation System, Crestron UC Engine, and set top box via Crestron’s DM-NVX system.
• Video conferencing through the Crestron Flex system is made easy via a Crestron UC Video Conference Smart Soundbar, shared QSC Q-SYS Core 510i processor and Dante microphone audio from a Shure MXA910 ceiling array microphone.

Ross Hohnen Meeting Room

The Ross Hohnen Meeting Room is used by ANU executives, senior staff and staff, along with external parties. This room’s system was designed to be consistent with the upgraded network-centric AVoIP designs rolled out across the campus, and to operate in a similar fashion to the Mills Meeting Room and Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room, providing a similar experience across all rooms.

The system, controlled via a Crestron 10” touch panel, comprises:

• A single Panasonic projector, receiving video from a Crestron AM-200 AirMedia Presentation System, Crestron UC Engine and set top box via Crestron’s DM-NVX system.
• Video conferencing is provided via a Huddly IQ camera and Crestron UC Engine located in the central AV rack.
• Renkus Heinz IC8-RD Digitally Steerable Line Array Loudspeaker Systems were used to provide clear audio and coverage across the unique room shape.
• The audio is received from the shared QSC Q-SYS Core 510i processor, which also receives Dante microphone audio from a Shure MXA910 ceiling array microphone.
• Addition of soft conferencing solution as a Zoom room, with the solution based on the Crestron Flex UC Engine.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Meeting Room, controlled via a Crestron 10” touch panel, comprises:

• A single UHD 65” Panasonic display, receiving video from a Crestron AM-200 AirMedia Presentation System, Crestron UC Engine and set top box via Crestron’s DM-NVX system.
• Video conferencing via a Crestron Flex solution, with a Shure MXA910 ceiling array microphone.