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CRCA Researchers Lead Ground-Breaking Audio/Cinema Stream at Calit2 hosted iGRID 2005 Conference

Peter Otto, Director of Music Technology at UCSD, led a faculty, student, and staff team of audio researchers to prepare and present a demonstration of distributed audio and video content to a localized audience at the iGRID conference in late September. The project, called "Soundscape", was part of the International Real-Time Streaming of 4K Digital Cinema demonstration at iGRID's opening event.

The CRCA research team with their partners: Skywalker Sound (a division of Lucas Films), and Keio University (Research Institute for Digital Media and Content) – succeeded in synchronizing 24-channels of 24-bit/48ksr (sample rate), uncompressed digital audio via a high performance network between San Francisco/Bay area, Tokyo, and San Diego where it was screened by an audience in the new tele-cinema auditorium of Calit2.

The undertaking is ground-breaking in that it represents a 20-fold leap in audio networking bandwidth and performance. The real-time demonstration has many implications for both production and delivery of super-high resolution of video, audio and cinema content. The video feed from DMC at Keio University was provided via the global Lambda Integrated Facility using the new 4K cinema standard, which offers four times the resolution of current high definition video. Otto and his team analyzed and selected technologies and protocols for interfacing and IP packeting of digital audio streams in new digital audio labs between Calit2 and UCSD music department.

Some of the music produced for Soundscapes included compositions by UCSD music faculty Phillipe Manoury and Roger Reynolds, and ICAM researcher Stefan Vankov as well as sound designers at Skywalker Sound. They further experimented with synchronization and latency correction, which was successfully integrated into the demonstration. Multi-channel mixing and sound motion control was supported by custom software developed at industry partner Immersive Media Research labs. Skywalker contributed equipment, audio engineering, networking expertise and real-world production experience in managing the assembly of a digital audio workstation streaming host providing the audio feed from the Bay area. The original idea for the demonstration was initiated by engineers at Skywalker Sound working with Loren Herr of Pacific Interface, Inc. They approached CRCA at Calit2 to evolve the idea and confirm its' feasibility in time for the iGRID convocation. In fact the project was developed and demonstrated in less than two months. Otto and the other CRCA researchers look forward to future collaborations to futher this technology for research, production and industrial applications.

Thanks and acknowledgements go to UCSD Music department faculty, staff and student researchers: Peter Otto, Trevor Henthorn, Tom Erbe, Stefan Vankov, Grace Leslie, Roger Reynolds, Phillipe Manoury, Todd Margolis; technicians from Skywalker Sound; facilities and research staff from Calit2; and Lorin Herr of Pacific Interface, Inc.