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McGill University and University of Victoria Use HaiVision MAKITO™ to Enable Interactive, Internet-Based Seafloor Exploration
Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Low-Latency HD Encoder Allows VENUS and NEPTUNE Projects to Deliver Fast,

High-Quality Seafloor Video to Scientists, Students, and Other Internet Audiences

MONTREAL and CHICAGO

 

Oct. 21, 2009 — HaiVision Network Video today announced

More…

Using the VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada observatories, scientists will gather continuous

information on ocean change, seismic activity, fish and marine mammal movements, and

seafloor ecology. The projects are unique in that, for the first time, researchers will receive data

from instruments, continuously and in real time. The VENUS project deployment will also inform

subsequent HD video camera deployment on the NEPTUNE Canada network, comprising 800

km of powered fiber optic cable, connected to a number of seafloor “laboratories” or nodes, on

the seabed over the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. The interactive instruments linked to the

NEPTUNE Canada network will empower scientists to respond immediately to events such as

storms, plankton blooms, fish migrations, earthquakes, tsunamis, and underwater volcanic

eruptions.

“The exceptionally low latency of the MAKITO makes it an ideal fit for demanding real-time

video delivery and interactive applications, and its deployment as part of the VENUS and

NEPTUNE Canada projects is an exciting demonstration of its value in extending the technical

boundaries of scientific exploration and the geographic boundaries of innovative teaching

opportunities,” said Mirko Wicha, president and CEO at HaiVision Network Video.

The MAKITO is based on the highly efficient H.264 compression standard, encoding video up to

1080p60 resolution in under 70 milliseconds and saving more than 50 percent of the bandwidth

and disk space required by MPEG-2 IP video deployments. The HaiVision encoder is equally

proficient at SD (composite and s-video) as it is at all HD resolutions and frame rates up to

1080p60, and it can comfortably address video-over-IP encoding anywhere on a

resolution/bandwidth scale from CIF as low as 150 kbps to full HD at 15 Mbps.

Complete information on HaiVision products, including recent case studies and application

notes, is available within the download center at www.haivision.com.

# # #

About HaiVision Network Video

Based in Montreal and Chicago, HaiVision Network Video is a private company and a world leader in

delivering the most advanced video networking technology and IPTV solutions. HaiVision’s products are

deployed worldwide within the foremost Fortune 100 companies, in the most rigorous military and

defense applications, in healthcare facilities for video collaboration and training, for education and remote

learning, in interactive broadcast applications, in IPTV applications, and within the world’s leading

TelePresence suites. HaiVision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators,

distributors, and OEMs worldwide.

ENDS

All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

For further information, please contact:

HaiVision Contact:

Peter Maag

Senior Vice President of Marketing & Business Development

HaiVision Network Video

Tel: +1 (514) 334-5445

E-mail: pmaag@haivision.com

Agency Contact:

Netra Ghosh

Wall Street Communications

Tel: +1 (801) 266-0077

E-mail: netra@wallstcom.com

that its MAKITO™ HD video encoder will be used to enable delivery of live video from two

pioneering interactive seafloor observatories off the coast of British Columbia. First the VENUS

(Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) and then the NEPTUNE Canada (North-East

Pacific Time-Series Undersea Network Experiments) observatory will use the MAKITO to deliver

high-quality, low-latency video to laboratories, classrooms, science centers, and homes around

the world via the Internet.

The two undersea projects are led by the University of Victoria, with HD video-delivery

technology, dubbed “Undersea Window,” guided by John Roston and Jeremy Cooperstock of

the Ultra-Videoconferencing Research Group at McGill University. Deployment on VENUS is

underway now, and the expected result is that scientists will be able to control their own view of

the undersea environment from wherever they are. Installed at the University of Victoria, the

MAKITO encoder will receive HD video from a shore station, which is connected to a camera

100 meters below the ocean surface of the Saanich Inlet on Vancouver Island. As video is

encoded for broader distribution, the MAKITO’s exceptionally efficient video compression and

low latency will allow educators and the public to observe in real time the research work of

scientists operating the camera.

“Our goal is to give viewers the feeling of sitting on the ocean floor, and the MAKITO is a neat

little unit that provides the quality, compression, and speed we need to provide this immersive

experience, as well as the flexibility to output dual data rates simultaneously and offer video in

multiple resolutions,” said Roston. “Paired with a two-way link for conversations between

students and scientists, the low-cost, low-latency MAKITO encoder will allow scientists to talk<

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