By Ram Bhavanashi
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) – Government of India’s apex body to keep a vigilant eye on State-owned institutions against corruption – recently refurbished its old, existing meeting room into a modern and sophisticated AV conferencing room. Televic Conference played central to what came up as a minimalist yet optimally multi-functional communication system, with New Delhi-based Shree Info Solutions Enterprises taking the honours of integrating the AV in a blend of multi-brand AV network.
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CVC – an autonomous body, free of control from any Executive Authority, tasked with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Union Government – has a very haughty objective of preventing corruption in government institutions.
That the old, existing communication infrastructure was not meeting the increased intensity and complexity of CVC’s job, the management decided to upgrade the facility to state-of-the-art AV set-up with seamless collaboration amongst various means of communication.
“The intent was to install state-of-the-art conference system that has a crystal clear video conferencing capability with precision speech intelligibility,” informs Suneel Chauhan, Director of Shree Info Solutions Enterprises, the AV systems integrator who landed the project for design-build contract.
“One of the key parametrics was employing CVC’s colour palette and logo placement in key areas in sync with the interior design,” elaborates Chauhan. “Amidst all that, it had to be optimally user-friendly with easy interface and access to controls.”
That was by no means an ordinary task, given the structural characteristics of the space. It involved a big set of potential challenges.
Challenge Potential:
That the existing conference room was characterized by a low ceiling apparently posed a big challenge both in terms of structure and texture. For structure it meant that the HVAC ducting had to be done within the limited ceiling space without interfering with audio and video system components. A potentially bigger challenge was to ensure that the HVAC noise does not interfere with microphone sensitivity and audio clarity. It also had to balance the airflow, and maintain room temperature without affecting the sensitive AV gear.
For texture, it meant placement of AV gear- loudspeakers, microphones, and video displays with the given hardware architecture.
Says Mohan Hamal, Vice-President of Sales at Televic India, who played central to the installation: “The redevelopment of CVC conference room was a complex and large-scale project. It needed a thorough understanding of the specific functional needs of both the Chairman and Delegate units while preserving the integrity of the room’s design.”
Solution Ingenuity:
The design team – comprising professionals from both the integration team, and solution vendors – through constant and close collaboration with the Client evolved a design that essentially comprised:
- Acoustic treatment by employing noise-absorbent panels as well as noise-dampening material and strategic vent placement
- Concealing wiring, speakers, and other hardware within the ceiling without compromising access for maintenance
- Integration of Televic’s Low Profile Microphone (LPM) and Plixus AE-R Audio Engine, to ensure high quality audio performance and seamless integration;
- Employing Televic’s short microphones which are less than 4 inches in length & USB-C based microphone system
- Confero software suite to simplify meeting management and system configuration
- Multi-Functionality ability to switch between physical and virtual conferencing seamlessly
- Unified automated control to interface audio, video, lighting, and display functions through a single touch panel
- Televic Dante-based conference control system with individual microphone management
“Choosing Televic’s LPMs, Plixus AE-R Audio Engine, and Dante-based conferencing system was a very intelligent move,” says Suneel. “It not just met the client’s expectations to the precise, but made the install unique in its own right.”
According to him, use of these Televic systems brought multiple benefits to the space. A frequency response boost starting from 4 kHz ensures increased clarity and intelligibility and low susceptibility to interference from mobile phones. The LED indicator on top of the microphone turns opaque (dark) when switched off.
“Integrating LPM into the overall AV system was a critical task; a highly tailored technological solution was necessary to ensure seamless compatibility with the existing AV infrastructure,” explains Mohan Hamal. “This required precise logistical coordination to meet tight timelines while ensuring continuous operation.”
The install has an overall numbers of 48 short microphones (less than 4 inches long), and 43 Confidea F-DM Delegate units, besides five units of Confidea F-CM Chairman units.
Other Audio brands in the Install included Audac, AMX, Behringer, Harman, Sennheiser & Xilica.
Video Sync:
Then, there are three units of 81-inch PANA LCD Display units from Jupiter Systems complemented by three 43-inch Samsung displays.
The Jupiter 81-inch PANA LCD come with an awe-inspiring 5K resolution display with 21:9 aspect ratio that ensures an ultra-wide field of view- which, according to the SI, is ideal for low ceiling environments and still needing display of multiple content sources simultaneously.
The video-conferencing system is configured employing one unit of Poly G 7500 VC System, along with one unit of Poly G7500 IP Table Microphone. Feeding the VC system and the video displays are four Lumens VC-A 61P 4K PTZ cameras with look at me feature that automatically turns to the speaker the moment he/she begins to talk.
The video set-up also features one unit of Harman Netlinx NX Integrated NX-3200 Controller, and an AMX Multiview Processor to augment the video, while network switching is handled by a Netgear 48-Port PoE network switch for AV over IP control, and two Netgear wireless access points for networking tasks.
“We were able to complete the project from concept to commission in 75 days,” prides Suneel. “The client was extremely happy for not only finishing the job within the time-frame, but also the finesse we crafted out of the challenging space that it was.”
The client’s commendation, according to him, was expressed in their issuance of the appreciation letter.
A well-deserved commendation for an ingenious job.
