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Videoconferencing and IoT: the future of virtual meetings

Covid-19 has spread in almost all the countries, surpassing all the human boundaries of a provincial, spiritual, and social being. To slow down and control the spread, several nations have imposed countrywide lockdown and travel bans to avoid huge gatherings and to restrict human migration. This situation has put a halt to all the physical meetings, (if not all) for e.g. day-to-day meetings at work, loved ones in the family, conferences, studies, etc. People are looking for or adopting the new normal way of meeting (virtual meeting).

Since after the COVID-19 outbreak the usage of video communication has abruptly increased among the people. According to the report from A Berkshire Hathaway Company, video conferencing software and video chat application have seen a record of 62 million downloads. The video conferencing market was worth USD 14 billion during the year 2019 and is anticipated to grow at over 19% CAGR between 2020 and 2026.

We are on a paradigm shift towards the digital age. It is very important to develop digital solutions, keep them running 24/7 as it gets very crucial in times like a crisis. Internet is one of the transformative and fast-growing inventions, that lead to creating a revolution of new technologies like mobile Videoconferencing and Telepresence. Internet of Things (IoT), plays the main role in developing the connected world, when brought together with the Videoconferencing, has the potential influence in effectively managing the several virtual activities across the world.

It is equally important that the video conference products and the solution we are addressing are quickly scalable yet highly secured and packed with the latest technology (both in terms of top-quality video, audio, and the interactive/feasible user interface). This is certainly not easy, but we guarantee our solution is worth a try. It supports several features and mainly it is not limited!

Google Hangouts, Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom are the corporates providing the cloud and software-based video-communication services. While Cisco Systems Inc., Polycom Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd is focusing on offering a wide range of IoT powered video conferencing products and services.

Video Conferencing: Why It Is A Preferred Communication Tool

Understanding the video conferencing itself and its market

Video conferencing is the visual communication technology that involves the audio and video data transmission, taking place in two-way between single or multi-party users wherever they are geographically located. For effective video conferencing solution software, hardware and several peripherals such as external webcam, microphones, speakerphones, etc. play a crucial role. This requirement changes based on the application ranging from simple pc-based video conferencing to the telepresence system.

Industry players in this sector of video conferencing market include its main components, type and application.

Market by component

  • Hardware

Peripheral devices, Codecs, Multipoint Control Unit (MCU)

  • Software

On-premise, Cloud

  • Service

Professional, Managed

Market by Type

  • Room-based
  • Telepresence
  • Desktop

Market by Application

  • Corporate Enterprise
  • Education
  • Government
  • Healthcare

Time to discuss some key elements need for a smooth video conference experience. When it comes to video conferencing products, the first essential thing is a good camera along with the audio as an essential entity. Let’s see how IoT could push the traditional boundaries of Videoconferencing.

Audio Component’s powered by IoT – Apart from looking great you have to sound great too

When it comes to the audio components it constitutes of microphone and speakers. While the microphone helps to carry the audio signal from the user, all the way around the speaker is used to deliver the audio signal to the user. The audio signals look great in rooms, but when it is processed for online transmission it gains static or breaks up making it hard to hear the people online speaking. These units (mic and speaker) can be brought together and could be integrated with the video conferencing main unit with the help of IoT technology wirelessly.

There are three main types of audio products used that include desktop audio, tabletop audio, and microphone array audio. The microphone array audio is the best solution for many use cases to produce the premium audio experience. This device uses the microphone beamforming technology to pick up the sound waves. Microphone beamforming technology uses digital signal processing algorithms to deliver professional audio experience.

Managing the connected devices (IoT) during videoconference

IoT is known for sharing the information, when it is combined inside with video conferencing could open a new way of remote works and presentation. IoT allows the sensory data, on/off status and several other information to be shared between them for remote management. Consider a manager working remotely could deliver a presentation and control the connected devices around the room such as speaker volume, room temperature, etc. For another occasion like inside healthcare, a physician working remotely could possibly perform a robot-assisted surgery.

The successful product up running with in the field of teleconferencing and IoT connected devices are voice-activated Artificial intelligence (AI). This kind of device with the IoT can help the users to no longer pause during the presentation, searching for a file or information. With the help of AI, the visual-based emotion-sensing can be made possible which gives the perk of analyzing the emotion of the participants on the other side of the videoconference. It highly helps the remote service providers or supervisors in handling the annoyed and angry customer. This report on leading a better life gives the impact of emotion-sensing in the real world.

Connected sensors on the other hand help in tracking the movement and presence of the people inside the room. This information could be used by the managers to schedule the meetings with the near resources and location, saving time. This system can alert the remote managers or controllers when the employees start gathering in for a video conference. Thus, IoT and videoconference together can have a huge effect on several industrial sectors and business around the world.

How videoconferencing can enhance the different sectors

Education:

In order to gain rich knowledge, students have to meet a collaboration of good teachers and experts around the world. This is possible only when the students understand out-of-class learning. With the help of Videoconferencing, a seat for all the students in the world’s best classrooms around the world can be reserved. This feature could bring out the best in students with several features like show-and-tell scenarios. During such a time of pandemic where all the universities and schools adopting virtual class, video conferencing plays a crucial role in the field of education.

Healthcare:

The main theme of healthcare is to reach out and serve people. With the video conferencing and IoT technology, this could be made easy with little to no mobility need by either party. With the help of video conferencing the travel barrier between physicians (healthcare workers) and patients can be easily solved. High-quality medical services can be delivered with interactive multimedia medical services. This article on wearable healthcare unit assisted by IoT states the importance of the IoT in day to day life of elder and disabled people.

Consider an emergency situation, where the time saves the life of the patient. The only solution was healthcare workers in video conferences could guide for the necessary first aid. Video conferences could not only provide a secure virtual environment but also helps save lives.

Corporate:

In the field of corporate business, video conferencing with the integration of IoT has opened a better scope to have an interactive videoconference and telepresence with the customers, partners, and employees at a remote location. It is on the other hand is a powerful way to enable presentations and conferences to be live-streamed and made accessible to all the members around the world. Apart from all the main services, integrating all the workers under one roof whatever the location it may be. During such a time of COVID-19 pandemic, major global companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook are recommending their employees to adopt the work from home. This situation has led the corporate employees to use video conferencing and telepresence as the mode of communication between them.

Government & military sector:

When it comes to good governance and military action communication between the officials is the essential factor. When it comes to communication in these sectors of government and military there is a flow of highly sensitive information and data between end-to-end. The advancement in the video conference and digital era had made the government engage in the use of video conferencing solutions. Secure video conference and video communication eliminate the need to travel, operational cost, time management, and inter-operations.

The extra-secure software for video conferencing that meets all the levels of government security protocol and secure performance was only the solution in this application.

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