Global recognition for IBES/ Ericsson 3D IPTV NBN application

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 16:05

Business IT - Networking

The Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) and Ericsson have received Global Telecoms Business's 2011 Innovation Award in the remote education category for UniTV, a project that explores the use of an IPTV platform to deliver educational service in a number of fields such as medicine, chemistry and engineering by developing 3D content.

Ericsson's Broadband Strategy Manager Colin Goodwin said: "The essential innovation with UniTV, was to take Ericsson's standard IPTV product which delivers video entertainment to TV sets in countries around the world, and customise it for education use'¦As Australia rolls out the NBN, Uni TV will provide the basis for other educational services, such as professional development of doctors in remote locations." (UniTV delivers its 3D content to a standard domestic 3D TV receiver.)

According to Goodwin, "While this could have been done on today's broadband networks, the delivery of 3D and haptic elements demonstrated with IBES require the very high speeds the NBN will deliver." According to IBES, "Uni TV is looking to be rolled out to a number of sites in the near future and is currently seeking second round funding through the Victorian Government's Collaborative Internet Innovation Fund."

The project was launched last December with Professor Steven O'Leary, William Gibson Chair of Otolaryngology (the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders) at the University of Melbourne saying the new technology would improve surgical training for students. "Instead of learning from a book, tomorrow's surgeons will be able to experience their teachers' surgical expertise first-hand and in 3D, via hooking up to their televisions."

He added: "The University of Melbourne has shown that early surgical training is improved by the addition of virtual reality to the training program, and it is becoming clear that 3D TV is a way of getting the message across to young surgeons from around the county."

According to a paper in a recent edition of the Ericsson Business Review, co-authored by IBES director, Kate Cornick and communications manager Adam Lodders: "The use of 3D imagery is likely to become increasingly popular, not just for the next generation of movies and computer games, but also in educational settings to assist with the visualisation and manipulation of complex shapes, data sets and objects.

"For example, 3D imagery can assist students to visualise a protein molecule and see the way it folds, or examine the intricacies of a piece of ancient Minoan pottery. Clearly, this mode of teaching and learning has important pedagogical implications, providing new ways to educate and inform students across a variety of skill sets and interests."