Seamless collaboration for remote students around the world: Q-SYS supports the transition to remote operations during the pandemic. Within only 4 weeks, the first lecture hall was equipped with an AV system allowing students to access lectures from anywhere, with other university areas following suit shortly after.

“The main requirement was to keep the Microsoft Teams ease of use and familiarity and not overcomplicate the technology for the user. At first, this was a big technical challenge, but we soon realised that the Q-SYS solution easily solved the problem. “

The project at a glance

The challenge

Is it possible to guarantee 100% of the university’s operation with only 50% of the premises, and still give the participants the feeling that everyone is sitting together in one room?

That was the big question facing WU Vienna at the beginning of 2020.

To resume teaching as quickly as possible despite access restrictions on campus, the implementation of the first hybrid-capable room was to be delivered within just 4 weeks.

In addition to the tight deadline and technical requirements for remote learning, the existing user interface was not to be changed, and the complexity of the solution was to be hidden from the user as much as possible.

The solution

After a concise planning period, the first room was equipped with a classic AV system consisting of network cameras, loudspeakers and microphones. The cameras respond to the signal transmission of the ceiling microphones with directional recognition of the sound source. A Q-SYS Core in the university’s data centre processes the signals centrally so that the person speaking is always in camera focus.

After the successful installation and commissioning of the first room, three further rooms with the same technical equipment were implemented.

In addition, campus-wide audio streaming was set up, allowing transmissions from each building to another.

The university also had a green screen studio that allowed lecturers to stream or record lectures live and then relay them to remote students.

Solution components

• Core 510i
• Core 110f 
• Core 8 Flex 
• IO Frame

The result

The result is a system that gives lecturers maximum freedom in designing seminars and lectures while being as simple and user-friendly as possible. The system complexity behind the fully automated lecture halls is not noticeable to the user. Peripheral signals from the rooms, which are distributed throughout the campus, are transmitted to the central Core in the data centre and then back to the respective spaces to control the cameras.

It’s not just the user interface that’s been kept simple. There’s no extra effort involved in the maintenance and servicing of the system either. The system does not require on-site technicians and can be controlled and managed remotely.

Vienna University of Economics continues to focus on digitisation: The streaming studio created during the pandemic is in regular use, and additional rooms are continuously equipped with AV technology.

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