UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Courtesy of UG

T h e fou r t h o ld e s t E ng l i sh - sp e a k ing Univ e r s i t y in t h e wor ld a nd r a nke d in t h e top on e p e r c e n t o f h igh e r e du c a t ion ins t i t u t ions g lob a l l y, m a in t a ins h igh s t a nd a rds fo r i t s

f a c i l i t i e s t h a t s e r v e i t s 2 5 ,0 0 0 s t ud e n t s a nd 5 ,0 0 0 l e c t u r e r s . T h e v e n e r a b l e ins t i t u t ion h a s m or e t h a n 8 0 0 t e a ch ing sp a c e s sp r e a d a c ro s s s e v e n c a m pus e s in S c o t l a nd .

Education

BUILDS NEW TEACHING SPACE

2 Atlona—University of Glasgow

U nivers i t y of Glasgow, the four th o ldest Engl ish-speak ing Univers i t y in the wor ld and ranked in the

top 1 percent of h igher education inst i tut ions global ly, mainta ins h igh standards for i ts fac i l i t ies that ser ve i ts 25,000 students and 5,000 lecturers. The venerable inst i tut ion has more than 800 teaching spaces spread across seven campuses in Scotland.

Recently, a surge in student admiss ions created the need for an addit ional teaching space that could accommodate up to 600 students and of fer the latest AV presentat ion capabi l i t ies for lectures, graduations, exams, conferences and specia l events. Histor ic Bute Hal l, a majest ic fac i l i t y that was designed by Sir George Gi lber t Scot t and completed in 1878, was chosen to house th is mult i-purpose space.

The new design plan ca l led for an inspirat ional atmosphere for students to be created with in th is bui ld ing that mainta ins the sense, look and fee l of i ts her i tage. I t a lso inc luded the latest state-of-the-ar t technology to suppor t teaching and learn ing exper iences. Tak ing on the task of rea l iz ing th is dual-purpose v is ion was Univers i t y of Glasgow’s AV Manager Br ian Husband.

“For th is project, equipment per formance and re l iabi l i t y is a 100 percent key requirement. A l l gear must work ever y day, hour and minute for the 50 weeks a year that c lasses are in session,” sa id Husband. “At the same t ime, i t was impor tant that we did not lose any of the hal l’s grandeur or take away f rom Bute Hal l’s esthet ics in any way.”

In fact, due to str ict ly enforced cr i ter ia for h istor ic bui ld ings, Husband and his

team needed to transpor t a l l v ideo s ignals over Cat6 cabl ing, which, a long with the AV equipment, was not a l lowed to be permanently af f ixed to the inter ior of the structure. In addit ion, i t was imperat ive that the robust

“WE CHOSE ATLONA GEAR BECAUSE IT NOT ONLY ACCOMMODATED OUR PERFORMANCE NEEDS, BUT THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF THIS PROJECT.”

–Uni v e r s i t y o f G l a s g o w ’s AV M a n a g e r, B r i a n H u s b a n d

3Atlona—University of Glasgow

system take up a min imal footpr int and be as “mobi le” as possib le, as i t would have to be reconf igured or d ismantled and stored e lsewhere dur ing specia l events.

Addit ional design chal lenges inc luded the need for a tota l of four screens to be insta l led to accommodate the ex tended width of the presentat ion area. Because of th is setup, i t was crucia l that the same image be presented to each screen s imultaneously and without d istract ing latency or de lay. As professors, instructors and students br ing mult ip le dev ices to c lass f rom which to share content of var y ing formats, i t was impor tant that ever y th ing could be correct ly projected on each screen with the h ighest possib le qual i t y.

Last ly, the new AV system would a lso have to be integrated into an ex ist ing audio loudspeaker system and of fer monitor ing over the univers i t y’s LAN.

These factors, as wel l as the need for super ior per formance, va lue or iented pr ice points and an assurance of re l iabi l i t y, led Husband and his

univers i t y AV staf f to choose an array of At lona gear—including switchers, ex tender k i ts, scalers and audio de-embedders—as the crucia l connectiv i t y components for th is project.

“This was a unique and complex integrat ion, tak ing into account the h istor ic venue and layout of the space,” sa id Husband. “We chose Atlona gear because i t not only accommodated our per formance needs, but the specia l needs of th is project. A lso, by us ing Atlona products on a system-wide approach, we minimized incompatib i l i t y issues.”

Adding the Latest AV Presentation System to a Historic VenueThe Bute Hal l design plan not only ca l led for an a l l-d ig i ta l v ideo matr ix ing and ex tension system, but for a smal ler HDMI distr ibut ion system as wel l. Here, Husband’s team se lected the AT-HDDA-8 HDMI distr ibut ion ampl i f ie r system. One output would prov ide a s ignal to the main v ideo switching system.

4 Atlona—University of Glasgow

For the cr i t ica l centerpiece of the system, an Atlona HDMI matr ix switcher was chosen, which enables presenters to quick ly share the ir content f rom v i r tua l ly any dev ice to any or a l l the room’s mult ip le screens. The same, or mult ip le presenters, are a lso able to share di f ferent content s imultaneously on the screens.

The HDMI matr ix switcher suppor ts HDMI s ignals with fu l l 3D pass-through and embedded mult i-channel audio. I t features an ex tensive internal l ibrar y of EDID set t ings, p lus EDID learn ing, to ensure compatib i l i t y between sources and displays. The switcher is a lso able to be operated by the Univers i t y-wide standard AMX contro l system, and i ts 8-channel input and output capaci ty a l lows for easy future system expansion and the integrat ion of conf idence monitors to a id presenters.

Matr ix outputs were routed to f ive At lona HDMI ex tender k i ts that prov ided re l iable and economical means of convey ing 1080p/60Hz v ideo s ignals, contro l s ignals and embedded mult i-channel audio up to 330 feet (100 meters ) , which easi ly spanned the distance between the switcher and the projectors. Each rece iver is remote ly powered f rom the transmit ter enabl ing a s impler insta l lat ion with fewer wires.

A lso integrated in the Bute Hal l system is the Atlona AT-HD-SC-500 VGA to HDMI scaler, which takes the v ideo s ignal f rom presenters’ and students’ PCs or Laptops and upscales i t to d ig i ta l HDMI

output for d isplay on a wide range of HDT V and PC resolut ions (up to 1080p or WUXGA 1920×1200 ) . The Atlona AT-HD-570 HDMI audio de-embedder de-embeds the audio s ignal to e i ther Optica l or Mult i-Channel analog audio outputs.

Look ing back on the project, Husband and the Univers i t y of Glasgow AV team are proud and amazed at what they accompl ished at the h istor ic venue.

“The system was insta l led and commissioned in a wor ld-beating 14 days, which min imized downtime, and the ent i re system can be removed and insta l led in a couple of hours, depending on the needs of specia l events,” sa id Husband. “ I t has now been in use ever y day for many months with no major issues, prov ing that we found a good and re l iable solut ion, wi th the r ight gear, bef i t t ing th is prest ig ious inst i tut ion.”

* S o m e p ro d u c t s u t i l i z e d in t h i s c a s e s t u d y h a v e b e e n u p d a t e d .

S e e t a b l e f o r c u r r e n t p ro d u c t s .

“THE SYSTEM WAS INSTALLED AND COMMISSIONED IN A WORLD-BEATING 14 DAYS, WHICH MINIMIZED DOWNTIME, AND THE ENTIRE

SYSTEM CAN BE REMOVED AND INSTALLED IN A COUPLE OF HOURS, DEPENDING ON THE NEEDS OF SPECIAL EVENTS.”

–H u s b a n d

PRODUCTS FEATURED

F o r m or e s o lu t io n s , s e e h t t p : / / a t lo n a . c o m / s o lu t io n s - to u r /

F o r m or e a p p l i c a t io n s , s e e h t t p : / / a t lo n a . c o m / c a s e - s t u d i e s /

Model

1×8 HDMI Distribution Amplifier

8×8 4K/UHD HDMI to HDMI Matrix Switcher

4K/UHD HDMI Over 100M HDBaseT TX/RX

with Ethernet, Control and PoE

Three-Input HD Video Scaler for HDMI and

VGA Signals

AT-HDDA-8

AT-UHD-H2H-88M

AT-UHD-EX-100CE

AT-HD-SC-500

Descr ip t ion More In format ion

http://atlona.com/product/at-uhd-h2h-88m/

http://atlona.com/product/at-uhd-ex-100ce-kit/

http://atlona.com/product/at-hd-sc-500/

http://atlona.com/product/at-hdda-8/

HDMI Audio De-Embedder with 3D SupportAT-HD-570http://atlona.com/product/at-hd570

© 2 0 16 A t lo n a I n c . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . “A t lo n a” a n d t h e A t lo n a lo g o a r e r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k s o f A t lo n a I n c . A l l

o t h e r b r a n d n a m e s a n d t r a d e m a r k s o r r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k s a r e t h e p ro p e r t y o f t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e o w n e r s .

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