Rave on Air

Engineering Page

The engineers at Ravensbourne are responsible for making sure the Rave on Air event is as smooth running and technically professional as any industry broadcasting house. Our team looks after all the technical aspects of Rave on Air, from racking in the studios to building a fly-away. The aim this year is to show delegates the work done by the engineering department on the day of and in the lead up to Rave on Air.

The engineers will not only be using the facilities installed at Ravensbourne, but also equipment outsourced from partners in the industry. The various companies that help us through sponsorship or loan of equipment can be found on the sponsorship page under People.

The plan this year is to be broadcasting over digital to the local area as well as live on our IPTV channel RaveTV. Information on the development and progress of the engineering projects for Rave on Air will be posted here. For further information on the engineering department and how you
can get involved please contact Hannah Chambers, Head of Engineering at h.chambers@rave.ac.uk

The Virtual Studio
The team has been hard at work constructing and verifying the entire system in the newly relocated virtual studio. The camera is keying successfully and is ready for the virtual backgrounds to be designed and implemented.

Click for a larger picture

The Virtual Studio Team
The engineers have been working since the beginning of the year rebuilding the studio. The relocation was part of the second year engineering project, and has involved engineers who have various roles in Rave on Air. You can see the virtual studio in use on the ROA 1 news bulletins.

RaveTV
RaveTV is our IPTV service which will not only be playing out our channels live on the day, but also will provide an on-demand service for all the programmes after the event, so you can catch up on any shows you missed on the day.

The rebuild of the player was a second year engineering project using the TelvOS IPTV system. To achieve this the students have worked on system administration, encoding and uploading content, configuring the Final Cut Server to automate media encoding and ingestion, creating sequences and schedules, embedding the player within other web sites and setting up live video streams.

mobile RaveTV
mobile.raveonair.net
Another Second year engineering student project which was built from scratch using HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. It includes a content management system an can integrate with other systems using XML metadata. Enter the raveTV URL into your mobile browser to see the On-demand Rave on Air programmes. This project also features a custom built iPhone application, which can be found in the Broadcasting Exhibition space at Rave on Air.

Outside Broadcasts
We have three outside broadcast areas at Rave on Air. OB1 serves the show ROA:access, and is supported by the truck donated by our sponsors Telegenic HD for the duration of the event. OB2 serves the Fashion Show which is sponsored by SIS Live Outside Broadcasts, from whom we are being supplied a truck. OB3 is a fly-away rig located in the staff canteen to serve the lecture theatre.