In astronomy, a "singularity" is the center of a black hole. At the University of Rhode Island (URI), “The Singularity” is the name of a massive AV installation project. The Singularity's goal is to standardize and upgrade AV equipment in 150 classrooms and 14 auditoriums at URI’s main Kingston campus.
This ambitious project, which is now being executed by URI’s five-person Information Technology Services (ITS) AV department, was inspired by the university’s struggles to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. “When COVID hit, almost none of our classrooms were hybrid capable in any way, shape or form,” recalled Jeffrey Levesque, URI’s lead information technologist. “The non-standard solutions we managed to patch together served their purpose back then—but we knew we needed to come up with an approach that was consistent campus-wide, easy for staff to operate using a consistent touchpanel interface in each room and capable of being supported remotely from our office.
"This is why we decided to standardize our AV equipment campus-wide. I wanted equipment that I could put into every room no matter what it was, whether it was an auditorium, an active learning, or standard classroom, a meeting room—all of them.”
AVoIP for All
To manage the entire system, URI selected Epiphan’s Pearl Nexus AV over IP content playout and lecture capture solution. This included using Pearl’s Panopto for content management and Q-SYS Core Nano platform for control. The result is a fully automated AV environment in each classroom that allows instructors to walk in, make a few connections, and teach.
“I really enjoyed programming in the Q-SYS environment,” said Levesque. “Our rooms use Core Nano so that we don't have to run audio ins and outs into those spaces. Instead, everything is running on a Dante network."
URI uses NETGEAR AV line switches and network power supplies to run its internal AVoIP multicast network. In each upgraded room, URI installs an Apple Mac Mini computer, QSC TSC-70-G3 touchscreen controller, Q-SYS NV-21-HU ingest and receiving device, QSC SPA-Qf 60x2 audio amplifier, and two QSC AD-S8T loudspeakers. There is also one QSC NC-20x60 PTZ conference camera with audio tracking. Each lecture is captured using an Epiphan Pearl Nexus that supports automated recording.
Video is displayed in two ways in URI’s classrooms and auditoriums. Each space is equipped with Sony laser projectors (the VPL-PHZ60 and VPL-PHZ61 are the main models) and Da-Lite Model C with CSR pulldown screens. Select rooms also include Sony 4K BRAVIA monitors, which are typically 65 inches but can be as large as 85 inches.
To ensure accurate, clear, and echo-free audio capture, each space features an Audio-Technica ATND1061DAN beamforming ceiling array microphone, which can automatically focus on designated zones for audio pickup, such as the lectern or areas where students are speaking. At the same time, this system prioritizes the instructor and follows them as they move, so the lesson’s audio never gets missed.
The ATND1061DAN shares its voice tracking information with the QSC PTZ cameras in real time. This allows the cameras to automatically adjust and follow whoever is speaking, resulting in human-level tracking quality without requiring an actual operator. Plus, the ceiling mic can support up to 32 user-defined pickup zones, which are configured using Audio-Technica's Digital Microphone Manager (DMM) software. This also includes defining exclusion zones near doors and other problematic areas to block unwanted noise. For instructors who are still not ready to rely on ceiling mics, URI also has a Catchbox Plus wireless lavalier mic system available.
URI supports a BYOC (Bring Your Own Conference) approach, where users can access platforms like Zoom, Teams, and WebEx. For those instructors and students who want to plug their own devices into the classroom AV system, URI provides HDMI, USB-C, and Barco ClickShare wireless connections.
In fact, the only thing that URI’s standardized AV rooms don't have is their own scheduling system. “This is because room bookings are handled by our scheduling department on campus,” said Levesque.
Working Ahead
Installing a standardized AVoIP network to 164 locations is a tall order for any IT department, especially one with only five employees. To handle the challenge realistically, Levesque and his people resorted to intensive planning before a single cable was cut.
“Our philosophy is to do all your prep work ahead of time and get all of the parts in house before you do anything,” Levesque shared. “Once you have what you need on hand, it is time to put a prototype system together and try to break it—in other words, try to figure out what things can go wrong in the installation and what can be done to fix it. We applied that philosophy to this new install, and that's what helped make it go really seamlessly.”
That said, challenges did arise once the actual installation began. “One of the biggest challenges was learning to stand up and manage the dedicated, internal AV over IP multicast network that we needed, which is isolated from the main campus network,” said Levesque. “Luckily, the NETGEAR switches made it really easy thanks to their intuitive interface, while their support has been top notch.”
The URI IT team also had some issues when it came to adding AVoIP into larger rooms where a typical 48-port switch wasn’t enough. The solution was to start stacking switches. “That's been a little bit of a challenge to execute, but it's actually not that bad," Levesque said. "Frankly, once we had the AV over IP networks up, the subsequent issues we’ve faced are really trivial.”
Lessons Learned
Since starting The Singularity AV standardization upgrade project in Spring 2024, URI’s ITS department has completed more than 30 rooms. Because the university operates on a seven-year planning cycle, its goal is to transition the remaining rooms within the next three to four years, pending annual funding allocations.
Providing URI with a standardized AV infrastructure is proving to be a shrewd move. As for lessons learned from the project? As outlined above, extensive upfront planning and prototyping results in fewer problems during installations and faster overall delivery times. “Putting together a fully working classroom in my office first really paid off,” said Levesque.
It's also vital to have the professional installation team do all of the work themselves, rather than solicit support from people who could do some of it for less. “We’ve learned that we can't ask our student population to help us install things,” he said. “We had issues when we tried to do that.”
The third and final lesson: “While we can stand up our own networks, we're slowly reaching that point where we do need to expand our team, especially now that we’re moving to more network-based classrooms,” said Levesque. “The trend in AV these days is to put everything on the network. As a result, we really do need to hire somebody full time to help manage the AV over IP network that we're standing up all over campus.”
