ACCESS GRID

Group to Group Collaboration

Gurhan Gunduz Computational Science and Information Technology.

Florida State University

What is AG?(1)

The Access Grid is a system that enables group to group collaboration across the internet by providing multiple video and audio streams among them. It is designed in Argonne National Laboratories.

The Access Grid consists of many AG nodes around the country.

Currently there are almost 20 nodes in US.

What Is AG?(2)

The access grid project focus is to enable groups of people to interact with grid resources and to use the grid technology to support group to group collaboration at a distance

Improved the user experience Provide a sense of presence Support natural interaction modalities

Ambient mic(tabletop)

Presentermic

Presentercamera

Audience camera

Access Grid Basics

Designed spaces for group interactions

Hands free high quality audio

Multiple video and audio streams

Large format displays Shared PowerPoint

Networking

Wide-area IP multicasting. Four video and one audio streams from

each AG node. Network monitoring is crucial

AG Node

Access Grid nodes are "designed spaces" that explicitly contain the high-end audio and visual technology needed to provide a high-quality compelling user experience.

Sound Echo Cancel box speakers (2) Microphones

Cameras Projectors PC’s

AG Node Equipment – PC’s

4 PC’s Display Machine Audio Capture Machine Video Capture Machine Control machine

Components of an AG Node

DisplayComputer

Video CaptureComputer

Audio CaptureComputer

Mixer

EchoCanceller

Network

RGB Video

NTSC Video

Analog Audio

Digital Video

Digital Video

Digital Audio

Shared App,Control

ControlComputer

RS232 Serial

References

http://www.mcs.anl.gov/fl/accessgrid/