Bahiana and UFRGS consolidate partnership in innovative project

With each passing day, professionals seek technologies that meet emerging needs, based on changing paradigms.

In the healthcare sector, telemedicine is a concept that has been addressed for several years. But, despite being a recurrent theme, this technology is still very expensive and provided only in some places in the world, being used by few institutions – such as the Albert Einstein Hospital, which has been using it since 1998. To give you an idea, one telepresence room has values ​​around R$ 1,5 million.

With this in mind, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) started a project in order to bring to the market not only a lower cost solution, but also something hybrid, which could integrate with various platforms, facilitating user interaction with technology.

“We had at URFGS a web conferencing project known as MCONF. We also had a smart operating room system. We realized that the market solutions, in addition to being very expensive, are very rigid. We became aware that we had technology in Brazil to develop a project of this size, even more complete, as we could integrate web conferencing, mobile devices, videoconferencing systems using traditional hardware, telepresence rooms and collaboration systems”, says professor Valter Roesler, project manager in Brazil. 

Nelson Simões, General Director of RNP, Guilherme Longoni and Valter Roesler, Project Manager. 

In a nutshell, telepresence technology allows you to chat only between telepresence rooms. With this project, there will be the possibility of interaction between users in possession of notebooks or cell phones, with telepresence points, using available resources, through the concept of multipresence. With this, it allows the interoperation, in a transparent way, between different technologies and communication standards, such as: 

• High definition telepresence room (Full HD);
• Ultra-telepresence room in ultra high definition; 
• Exchange of content between participants; 
• Access via legacy videoconferencing systems (Polycom, Cisco and others); 
• Access in high definition via application program on the personal computer; • Access via web conference; 
• Access via mobile devices and SIP phones".

The approximation of Bahiana with UFRGS came after Prof. Antônio Carlos Costa, manager of the Educational Technologies Development Center (CEDETE), participate in some lectures on the subject. “We have always been close and motivated with the project, seeking to interact with UFRGS, leaving us available to encourage and collaborate as needed”, quotes Prof. Antonio Carlos. THE Bahiana was responsible for investing in the pilot and carrying out the necessary tests so that there was a technological evolution. From this partnership, the school brought OptiPortal. 

Claudio Santos (IT Manager at Bahiana), Valter Roesler, Guilherme Longoni and Prof. Antonio Carlos Costa.

 OptiPortal is a visualization tool that can be used for teaching, research and communication activities between two or more geographically distributed institutions. It consists of a panel of monitors (also known as video-wall) and videoconferencing equipment connected to a high-capacity network and controlled by a specific middleware (SAGE) that allows the execution of multiple applications. SAGE was developed by the University of Illinois at Chicago. The "basic kit" offered by RNP consists of a small video wall with four 47" full HD monitors, which allow the visualization of images in a resolution close to 4K. With the system, it is possible to visualize complex data, simulations, high resolution time series, maps and videos from a remote or local source, in addition to enabling videoconference meetings while viewing multiple data, maps, simulations and/or presentations, students can even remotely display their screens laptops on the video wall". The project currently has seven national institutions, each with an OptiPortal with 4K resolution (Ultra High Definition). 

Collaboration and Visualization Dashboard

A very important pillar in the evolution of this project is the participation of the National Research Network (RNP). In addition to having a direct impact on investing in technology, it is also a fundamental part of providing the infrastructure necessary for the system to establish itself. “RNP fundamentally adds to this entire process. The gigabit link is extremely important for us to put these ideas into practice. In addition, RNP provides some fundamental resources for the integration of our solutions”, says Claudio Santos, manager of the Information Technology Center at Bahiana.

Check out the demonstration of the project in practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lud2KwzstCM


Source: Victor Mansur - MaisTI A Tarde