USPNet

• What is USPNet
• USPNet - 2000
• The Project's Funding Donors
• USPNet and Data Services
• USPNet and Audio
• USPNet and Video

What is USPNet

The USP Communications Network was established in 1974 to provide a communications system to help bridge the vast distances between the main campus in Suva, the other USP campuses in Samoa and Vanuatu, and the 11 centres delivering USP's distance education services throughout the South Pacific countries including Fiji. Communications and educational support services to these countries underwent many variations. This evolved from the use of radio communications, to itinerant use of the PeaceSat satellite and finally to 64kbps leased lines to Lautoka (Fiji), Cook Is, Solomon Is, Tonga and Vanuatu, together with an upgraded HF radio communications system linking Suva to Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, and Tuvalu. However these services, particularly the HF radio system, had become mostly unreliable and unusable for tutorials and other teaching and administrative functions.

USPNet - 2000

USPNet-2000 is a new USP-dedicated VSAT telecommunications network funded by the Governments of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, together with the USP member countries. The University owns and operates this private network, purely for USP use. For USP's distant students, USPNet provides for the opportunity to participate in audio tutorials, (conducted from any campus), communicate by e-mail with a lecturer/tutor or another student; access the World Wide Web, watch a live video broadcast of a lecture from any of the three campuses and take part in video conferences (and tutoring) with the Laucala Campus in Suva. Also, University administration becomes more efficient with e-mail communication via USPNet to all USP locations. Access to video conferencing saves time and travel in many cases.

The USPNet satellite earth stations are designed with different capabilities to meet the requirements of the University in an efficient way. The "Hub" is at the Laucala Campus in Suva with a 7.6m antenna with a transmit power of 100 watts and is the master station. The "Mini-Hubs" at the Alafua Campus in Samoa and the Emalus Campus in Vanuatu, with 6 and 4.6m antennas  have reduced transmission capacity of 50 watts, thus lessor video broadcast transmission capability. The "Remotes" at the University Centres have 4.6m antennas with a transmit capacity of 20 watts to participate in audio and video conferencing and receive video broadcasts.

So, the upgraded network has:

• provision for permanently assigned 64kbps two-way data circuits between the Hub earth station and all Mini-Hub/Remote earth stations for data and audio services, as well as
• provision for a maximum of three simultaneous 128kbps video transmissions for lectures from the Hub earth station and single lectures from Mini-Hub earth stations,
• or a maximum of two simultaneous video conferences between the Hub earth station and Mini-Hub/Remote stations 

The following channelling provides these capabilities:

The 64kbps data channels are connected to multiplexers which dynamically adjust the bandwidth required for audio, e-mail, web and data transmission. This means if a particular circuit is used for an audio conference there is less capacity left of the 64kbps for e-mail, web and other computer data with the result that data transmission could be quite slow. At times when audio conferencing is not being used, faster download times are possible between sites.

The Project's Funding Donors

The principal donors to the project were Japan, New Zealand and Australia, providing funds of approx. US$6 million.  The funds provided the satellite earth stations in each country (with associated electronic equipment), fully installed and commissioned for operation with the satellite provider INTELSAT.  The funding also provided multiplexers and audio systems for a number of Centres, and comprehensive spare parts for the satellite earth stations.

In addition the University  itself, provided funds (over US$1.25 million) to supply and install all the video, audio, telephony and data systems required for connecting the campuses and the centres to the satellite network. 

USPNet and Data Services

The 64kbps circuits are connected to FPX multiplexers at each location. These multiplexers manage the network's data and audio capacity for the computer data, e-mail, web traffic and audio using the Information Technology Services (ITS) facilities in Laucala as the central controller. ITS also manages e-mail and web services and the help desk services for staff and students.

An important function of the data network is to facilitate a wide range of information transfer between computer systems throughout the USP campuses and centres. A good example of this is  the progress made by the School of Law in Vanuatu where Professor Hughes has transferred a great deal of lecture and support material into electronic form for transmission via data networks. Also, USPNet is used by the University's main administration system (called Banner) for communication between Laucala and the other campuses and centres. The administration of the University is streamlined further with USPNet where communications between the campuses and centres is by e-mail, together with transfer of financial and other management information.

 Currently being studied  is use of the 64kbps channel to transmit telephony and on-line distance learning materials, including digitised documents from USP's library collection. The availability of sufficient bandwidth on the data channel is a key factor in this study.

USPNet and Audio

 USPNet-2000  audio conferencing capability connects all the USP campuses and centres into the network. The Laucala campus satellite studio has been upgraded to link all the Campuses and Centres for audio conferencing. Audio conferences take place between or among any campuses with the call itself set up and managed from the Laucala campus.

The production of audio material continues to provide support material for distance education courses. The audio section of the USP Media Centre is equipped with a modern recording studio that can accommodate up to 15 people. It is used to record talks, interviews, discussions and occasionally musical groups i.e. bands and small choirs. All audio is recorded on either DAT or sound computer and finally mastered to audiocassette.

USPNet is a private network so is required to be independent of the local operators of  telecommunications services in each country (i.e. no audio conference calls to connect from USPNet into local telephone networks)

USPNet and Video

 USPNet  introduces video capability in two modes: video broadcast and video conferencing.

Video Broadcast: This provides the transmission of live or pre-recorded course material from either of the three campuses, to be received at any regional USP location. A simple analogy of this is the reception of satellite TV programmes where the broadcaster prepares the material and sends (uplinks) the programme from the studio to the satellite which then transmits to all authorised or correctly equipped receivers for viewers to watch. USP has studios (lecture theatres) in each campus to produce the lecture prior to uplinking the material to the satellite for transmission to USP sites. Lectures can be broadcast real time with audio feedback from students. In this case the audio and video broadcast is sent over the 128kbps channel and the audio feedback from students is carried on the  64kbps audio channel.

Video Conferencing: Small conference rooms are equipped for groups of participants to see and talk to each other. Mostly used for tutorials, counselling, discussion groups etc. this service is also used by University administration for meetings, interviews, etc.

An important point to note is that while we can use the TV analogy to describe the video broadcast service, USP's video design is not based on the high picture quality demanded in the world of television. Because USPNet uses 128kbps circuits on the satellite for transmission, it is necessary to digitally compress the source video before transmission through the satellite. The quality is 'video conference' standard where fast motion content of the picture is not reproduced faithfully and pictures sometimes appear "jerky". This is usually not a problem for the majority of educational material produced by the University and so is a practical trade off against cost and quality to produce a cost effective approach for USP's video services.

For video services, four 128kbps channels are allocated permanently on the satellite for use by USP. A scheduler selects one or more 128kbps channels to provide video broadcast or video conference services between the campuses and centres. This scheduler, which is essentially a time-tabler, is part of the network management system in the main Hub in Laucala. Scheduler inputs are prepared for the network according to requests for video lecture broadcast and video conference bookings made from within USP.

The video services are scheduled and managed by the Hub station.

This diagram illustrates both modes of video service.  Here a video broadcast is transmitted from Vanuatu to Samoa and Niue, whilst a Fiji to Kiribati video conference takes place.

There is therefore a choice of configurations for the two modes of video service, ranging from just one 128kbps channel (video broadcast); utilising all the channels for either mode of video service; or the (simultaneous) combination of both types of services.

For further information please contact:

Mr. Keith Moala

Manager USPNet

Tel: (679) 3313900 ext. 2649

or 3309273 (Direct Line)

Email: moala_k(at)usp.ac.fj

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