Extron NAV Pro AVoIP, DTP, Audio, & Control Systems Empower Innovative Learning Across Kenyon College’s New West Quad

We evaluated various technologies and brands with Kenyon’s representatives for their new West Quad buildings and determined that AV over IP using Extron’s NAV system was the right solution for this particular project and client.

Kenyon College is a four-year Liberal Arts college located on a hilltop in Gambier, Ohio. Surrounded by vistas of natural beauty, this 200-year-old school is among the top 25 of the ‘new ivies,’ a nod to the traditional ivy league institutes of higher learning. The most recent addition to this prestigious campus is the West Quad, which consists of three new multi-story buildings that are enhanced with advanced AV technology.

One of the West Quad buildings is Oden Hall for interdisciplinary social sciences. Near it is Lowell House, consisting of admissions and financial aid on the ground floor, with traditional and unique learning spaces on the upper levels. Each building has four stories. They flank the quad’s cornerstone structure, the state-of-the-art Chalmers Library. This building serves as the nexus for undergraduate research, along with academic and career advising. While it is visually the same height as Oden Hall and Lowell House, the library has two basement levels and four stories above ground that include a central atrium that opens to each floor.

CHALLENGES

West Quad spaces include active learning, immersive, and traditional classrooms, lecture halls, labs, workshops, conference and meeting rooms, and studio-size to large presentation venues. Each building required flexible, professional-grade AV systems to support a select set of basic and specialized functionality across a wide variety of environments. The spaces needed to offer the capability to be linked for shared resources and overflow.

AV components had to be standardized to other campus buildings, with a variety of additional AV system capabilities in certain rooms. System requirements ranged from in-room presentation with intuitive control to linked and overflow spaces. Easy HDMI and USB connectivity for mobile devices was also mandatory throughout the three buildings. These digital connections, as well as power, would be available at lecterns, credenzas, tables, walls, and/or floors, depending on the room.

Each room was slated to include at least one ceiling-mounted projection system and/or a wall-mounted display. A substantial collection of displays mounted on mobile carts would be available to augment visibility when requested. Other requirements included paging capabilities and digital signage throughout each building. For control, use of the same system interface or similar screen layouts would allow faculty, staff, and students to transition smoothly between rooms without needing assistance from IT.

Anticipating heavy use of the West Quad, the installation had to provide local room occupancy data and scheduling of individual to groups of spaces using the campus’ existing reservation system software.

Finally, the installation had to be expandable without having to replace existing system components. Future system expansion would incorporate the capability to link additional rooms and buildings. Also, integration of the same gear was desired to accelerate expansion timelines, as well as help the college manage costs and streamline system maintenance.

Kenyon College brought in NV5 for system design and Radiant Technology for integration. Working together, the college and NV5 agreed that the designs would be based on a range of Extron technologies including NAV^® Pro AV over IP, DTP^®, and control.

Extron helped with ensuring excellent flexibility; moving equipment or displays around on stands and plugging into different areas of rooms over NAV was the best possible solution.

DESIGN SOLUTION

Throughout the West Quad, Extron NAV Pro AV over IP systems link rooms over the campus network and Extron AV switching solutions present high-quality video with crystal-clear sound and user-friendly operation. Kenyon maintains presentation equipment in over 100 classrooms, as well as other learning and meeting spaces. These AV systems include one or more computers, at least one video projection system or large screen display, and AV connectivity available on walls and furniture. Many rooms are equipped with additional sources, such as an optical media player, a document camera, one or more Smart Pen displays, webcams, and Apple TV^® with screen casting. The AV system components are most often secured in a local rack.

Some of the rooms with specific needs include the auditorium in Oden Hall and various presentation venues and seminar rooms in all three buildings. Another such space is the presentation recording studio in Chalmers Library, which required capabilities such as automated recording initiation and environmental control. These AV systems support selectable distribution of video and audio for live presentations and panel discussions where microphone feeds and program audio can be routed via AES67 to the Dante^® network for distribution.

While uses vary by building and space, the flexibility and dependability of the Extron systems allow the same types of products to support the wide variety of environments and meet the technology requirements.

There was definitely a little concern about constantly plugging and unplugging devices, but the connections are solid, and the high quality of the video and audio never wavers.

NAV System is Game Changer for Delivering Content

Extron’s NAV Pro AV over IP system was selected because it provided superior system flexibility, signal integrity, and video scalability in a high-performance solution. Within each room and space, NAV encoders and scaling decoders run through local switches, with the decoders distributing content at the native resolution for each display device. Learning space arrangements change regularly; thus, the NAV endpoints are installed throughout the rooms. Connection points are on walls and floors and within furniture.

The auditorium, seminar rooms, and presentation venues have the same type of flexibility using more of the standard products and connection options. The additional NAV endpoints support auxiliary displays on mobile carts and provide AV connectivity for personal devices, such as a guest presenter’s laptop or source equipment brought in by panelists.

For overflow purposes, a number of rooms and spaces are linked over the NAV system. For example, a presentation in the auditorium can be shared with secondary meeting and presentation rooms. Also, popular events held in the Chalmers Library Special Collections space can be sent to a selection of classrooms, allowing students to share in the experience. It includes presented content, live camera feeds, and audio.

Live & Programmed Sound with Extron ProDSP Mixing and Processing

The system designer at NV5 selected Extron DMP Plus Series DSP processors paired with XPA Series power amplifiers for in-room installations, stating that these products streamlined mixing operations for the instructor and maintenance for the support team.

The selected models include up to twelve channels of acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and/or Dante. AEC ensures pristine sound quality during lectures and presentations and for archive. To route a Dante channel in place of a local mic/line input, the mixer’s FlexInput capability processes audio from Dante-enabled devices. This allows incorporating the full range of DSP capabilities, including AEC, for incoming Dante channels.

Professional-grade AV over IP is practical for active learning environments, and implementing NAV systems throughout the academic, administrative, and library buildings for classrooms, meeting rooms, and general-purpose spaces made the most sense.

Control and Scheduling

Intuitive AV system control is provided by a variety of TouchLink^® Pro touchpanels in a range of sizes and form factors. They are mounted on lecterns, walls, and/or other furniture and provide a user interface customized to the type of space. The touchpanels work in conjunction with an Extron IP Link® Pro control processor that monitors and controls the AV system, with some facilitating environment control such as room lighting, window shades, and/or projector lifts and screens.

Certain control processors include the LinkLicense^® for User Interface upgrade, which enables personal devices to perform as the primary control interface for the AV system. The faculty and staff appreciate this flexible control option.

To manage bookings for reservable spaces, an easy-to-use TouchLink Room Scheduling Panel is installed outside of the door. Professors and staff can view room availability in real-time and reserve the classroom, meeting room, or presentation venue by following the on-screen prompts. Extron’s TouchLink room scheduling panels connect directly to the college’s existing calendar and reservation system. The integration team used Extron Room Agent™ software installed on their computers to quickly and easily configure the scheduling panels. Kenyon’s support team is in the early stages of integrating Extron’s GlobalViewer® Enterprise for remote system monitoring and control across the full campus.

One-button Presentation Capture

Among the unique West Quad spaces, Chalmers Library features the Digital Collaborative Studio. It is a presentation recording studio with one-button recording and storage to a user-provided USB flash drive.

An Extron SMP Series streaming media processor is the heart of the AV recording system. It and the other AV system components are installed within the credenza. Mounted to the surface of the credenza is an Extron remote control panel designed for the SMP Series. The panel includes the Record/Start and Stop buttons, as well as Pause and Chapter Mark buttons. The panel also provides the USB input slot.

RESULTS

Kenyon’s West Quad multi-phase project was completed in approximately three years, from construction and bidding processes to system commissioning across the three buildings. The NAV and DTP systems and other Extron products are performing as specified. The staff and students are using the technology as the college administrators had envisioned and Radiant Technology delivered with Extron.

Kenyon College is using their new campus buildings with enhanced technology to embody their approach to solving problems from multiple angles, crossing disciplines to make connections. The West Quad is helping to prepare their students to meet and even lead the way in today’s complex and ever-changing world.

The NAV AVoIP systems are solid and do everything that Kenyon College wanted to do in their new West Quad buildings. The encoders and scaling decoders are always up, despite the constant unplugging and re-plugging of various sources and cart-mounted displays.

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