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The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is one of the best tertiary education institution in the world. It is also the foremost university in Hong Kong.  Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2012, the university is undertaking numerous enhancements to the facilities within and beyond the main campus in Pokfulam. Amongst the many initiatives, HKU Faculty of Business of Economics’ downtown facilities at Admiralty were recently refurbished and given a fresh new look.

The newly renovated facility is constructed in a 100-seater theatre style setting with state of the art equipment reaching the full potential of rare downtown space.   Mr. Deep Batra, Manager (IT and Facilities) at HKU, says “The challenge was to make use of this space to the best we can. The structural column in the middle, the need to have a flat stage with removable lectern and removable equipment, the lack of IT/AV personnel on site, all amounted to the need to have a highly innovative setup.”

To facilitate the clear and smooth integration of intricate AV technology solutions, HKU needed an integrator who could not only provide a conventional AV set up, but also tailor a solution that would deliver advanced AV functionality over IP technology.  “Not only the integrator offered the best solution, it was also the most economical, having understood our needs,” says Mr. Deep Batra.

To find a solution that would cover the wide variety of advanced technologies and integrate them into a seamless environment that is easily accessible to both technical staff and end users for HKU was a daunting task.

In order to satisfy HKU’s request to simplify the complexity of the control system, BAP designed a system that was centrally controlled and able to run on a platform without programming infrastructure.   The integrated control system not only controlled all the AV equipment, but also the lighting and dimming system.   Users could activate different light scenes according to ambient lighting condition with a single touch of a button on the touch-based control panel.

Control System
The integrated control system composed of Extron TLP 700TV, a 7 inches tabletop touch panel, IPL T S6 IP Link Ethernet control processor and IPL CR48 relay modules.  All AV sources and light dimming control system could be monitored and controlled from a central location.  Through Extron’s touchpanel, user could easily control any device in the lecture theatre, such as projector, projection screen, LCD TV, microphone system, audio mixer, power amplifier, visualizer as well as dimming control system.

The user selected Extron Touchlink™ touchpanel control because of its price, simplicity, stability and ease-of-use.  Another important consideration that the user has taken into account is the simplified configuration scheme, making it affordable for customers who might not otherwise be able to budget for a touchpanel and its associated programming expenses.    No more proprietary program source, user can configure the Extron’s touchpanel for upgrade or replacement purpose in the future which highly increased the effectiveness and efficiency.

Audiovisual System
The lecture theatre had been installed with three front projection systems, 4500 ANSI lumens projectors from Mitsubishi XD600U and Da-Lite 100 inches Slimline electric screens.  A 42 inches LCD panel from LG was used on the structural column as a preview for instructor.

Wireless handheld and tie-clip microphones (Sennheiser EW135 & EW112G2) were used for the stage application.  Full range JBL powered ceiling speakers were used for sound re-enforcement.  Extron XPA 2001-70V power amplifiers, DMP64 audio mixer with feedback suppression and HAE100 audio de-embedder were used for audio management and equalization.

A 4x4 VGA matrix switcher from Extron (MVX 44 VGA A) was used for switching multiple inputs from various floor boxes and wall plates, while a HDMI to VGA converter (DVI-RGB200) was used for converting HDMI signal to computer signal for presentation.  Extron EDID 101V is employed in the system to enhance VGA signal quality from notebook, it ensured that the louboutin sandalen schoenen source powers up properly and reliably outputs content.

Dimming Control
The customers hoped that the dimming control was not only for functional use, but also facilitates management and saves energy.  In order to meet customers’ requirements, the control system should be simple to operate and easy to control, and maintain, and scalable to achieve energy saving and cost reduction.

Dimming control (Lutron GXI-3104) with RS232 interface (GRX-CI-RS232) was taken on for intelligent dimming control management.  Types of dimmable light sources were zoned in the lecture theatre.  Lights on for those areas where there was audiences, while switch off for those areas not frequently occupied.  The operation shall be realized by user on stage, so  BAP designed a touch screen control page that shown a detailed floor plan with clear zoning indication on it.  It provided a successful operation guide for user.