The re-vamped Adelaide Convention Centre features Riedel’s MediorNet device, which provides a cost-effective and easy to use media signal distribution and processing solution. Andy Ciddor reports.

It may surprise you to learn that the Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC) was the first convention centre in the country when it opened in 1987. Like all such centres in Australia, it periodically undergoes upgrades, refurbishments, technology refreshes, renewals and extensions as the major cities continue their ever-escalating facilities arms race in bids to win major conventions and events.

In 2010, a major $397m renewal plan was initiated for the venue, with the first stage, the West Building, completed in 2015. The second stage, the East Building, which opened in August 2017, includes a new 3,500 seat plenary hall that occupies the site of the centre’s original plenary hall.

Plenary halls always present an interesting challenge for conference centre designers. These halls need to be high capacity theatre-style auditoriums with stage production facilities and the seating capacity (usually raked) to accommodate all conference attendees at the few plenary sessions. But, as another large space is required with a flat floor for major banquet functions, there is sometimes a notion that a single space could possibly fulfil these two conflicting roles with the aid of some inspired mechanical transformations.

Even with dual-use, such a large space is only infrequently required during the frantic life-cycle of a conference. As a result, there is often a temptation to use even further clever mechanical transformations to divide the plenary/banquet space into several minor conference and banquet spaces for the plentiful smaller sessions that form the beating heart of most conferences.

The ACC’s new East Building is the latest example of using this mechanical jiggery-pokery to transform its plenary hall. There are raked seating banks that hinge upwards to reveal a 3000m2 flat floor space for banquets and exhibitions, an acoustically-isolating operable wall that can divide the plenary space into two independent venues and two seating blocks that can be revolved through 180° to create a further pair of 320-seat raked presentation spaces at the rear. The space can actually be subdivided into more than 15 configurations.

Of course, all this flexibility of venue sizes and room functions throughout the revitalised convention centre requires extensive technological infrastructure that can be readily reconfigured and adapted to the vast combinations and permutations of configurations required over the lifetime of the centre. At the ACC, flexibility has been baked in by the decision to carry all data, communications, audio, video, lighting and control signals over a federated MediorNet fibre backbone from Riedel.

This network serves all facilities across the ACC site, including a 48-fibre single mode (OS1) trunk link between spaces in the West building and spaces in the new East Building. Any data stream can be routed from any one point to any other point across the entire ACC site through Mediorworks, a desktop control interface.

At each the end of the fibre trunk, the East and West buildings have a central MediorNet Modular mainframe paired with a 64 x 4.25Gbps port MetroN fibre router for data distribution within that building. The majority of data is carried on quad-core single mode fibres terminated in standard Neutrik OpticalCon Quad connectors. To increase the efficiency of the fibre network the outputs of the MetroN router are combined via Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) modules to triple the data carried in the fibres up 12.75Gbps, sufficient to carry three uncompressed 1080p video streams. WDM increases the data throughput by pushing three separate wavelengths of infrared laser pulses, at 1310nm, 1490nm, and 1550nm down the same optical fibre. Riedel also makes a more sophisticated WDM module that can push up to 18 wavelengths (between 1271nm and 1611nm at 20nm spacings) down those same OS1 single mode fibres.

MediorNet Compact Pro frames are used throughout the ACC for data distribution, at points such as stage floors, grids and FOH positions. The 18 Compact Pro 3RU frames with their 51Gbps throughput and broad range of inputs and outputs are used as the ‘stage boxes’ of the ACC network.

The basic Compact Pro unit comes capable of four SD/HD/3G-SDI ins and outs, four analogue XLR mic/line audio ins and outs with preamps and phantom power, two Displayport video outs, four AES3 digital audio, two MADI digital audio, three Gigabit Ethernet, two Serial (RS 232/422/485), 10 GPIO (contact closure ) ins/outs, genlock in and out, a RockNet port, single or multimode fibre selection, frame synchronisation and frame stores on all video outputs, 16-channel audio embedder/de-embedder, test signal generation, sample rate converters, audio and video delay lines, internal signal routing and many monitoring, analytical and reporting functions. There are also option slots that allow up to eight additional SD/HD/3G-SDI video ports in various combinations of inputs and outputs and additional fibre ports with optional WDM.

Video is transported around the ACC in Serial Digital Interface (SDI) format, while the last leg of video distribution from the Compact Pro frames to HD displays and projectors is handled by a fleet of Lynx Technik Yellobrik CDH 1813 SDI over fibre to HDMI converters. The 4K projectors in the plenary hall are fed via a pair of MediorNet MicroN frames, with the capacity for eight 10Gbps links and enough for six 4k streams, as well as gigabit Ethernet and a pair of MADI audio ports.

Lighting (DMX512) data is carried via ArtNet, a lighting control protocol carried over gigabit Ethernet channels. Production audio is primarily transported in Dante format over gigabit Ethernet streams, while background music is carried as AES/EBU (AES3). Talkback/communications signals are carried in Multichannel Audio Digital Interface (MADI) streams then output as AES/EBU or directly onto a partyline system via a Performer C22 interface or to a mixed matrix and partyline system via a Performer C44plus interface. The system also includes Dante to MADI bridges, which allow channels to be migrated between formats and networks as required.

The intercom system is based around a 128-port Riedel Artist matrix connected to an Acrobat cellular wireless system with 24 full duplex wireless beltpacks. These communicate via a network of 24 cellular antennas to provide coverage for the entire ACC site. A further 24 Performer wired dual-channel digital beltpacks can be connected at any point in the MediorNet system and be assigned to any partyline or point-to-point network.

The MediorNet network includes a Riedel STX-200 broadcast-quality Skype gateway, which allows a conference session to be integrated into any meeting or event in the ACC as HD-SDI video and balanced line-level audio.

What the MediorNet system provides to the ACC is the capability to route any signal of any type, from any point in the venue to any other point or points in the convention centre, without touching a single cable or patch panel. It can also do this as often and as quickly as the need arises. Not only is this almost infinitely flexible and much faster and cheaper to execute than a hard-wired system, it also contains the capability for vast capacity expansion and reconfiguration without replacing any cable plant.