Taiwan・Government & Council・2021

BXB Electronics empowers the Presidential Hackathon, demonstrating solution capabilities

The Presidential Hackathon convened by Audrey Tang, Digital Minister of the Executive Yuan

, now in its fourth year, is held from the perspective of national sustainable development. Through public-private collaboration and leveraging Taiwan's digital advantages, it calls on the public to make wishes on issues such as energy transition, circular economy, sustainable agriculture, and smart cities and towns. Hackers solve the problems, and the government implements the solutions, demonstrating Taiwan as a 'Sustainable 2.0 Resilient Island'. The second workshop of the Presidential Hackathon was held in mid-November at the Taipei International Convention Center, serving as the climax of the entire hackathon event. In this event, the 20 teams shortlisted in the preliminary review had the opportunity to propose face-to-face to government heads at all levels, sharing their views and solutions on the issues they care about.

BXB Electronics was invited by the event organizer to assist with the video conferencing and on-site AV equipment engineering for the second workshop. This highly challenging task once again demonstrated BXB Electronics' powerful solution capabilities, built on 30 years of accumulated professional AV know-how and technology.

Customer Requirements

Over the years, officials from the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, and various ministries have attended the Presidential Hackathon to listen to proposals from talented civilian hackers solving problems, serving as an important reference for sustainable development. In addition, in response to pandemic changes and epidemic prevention requirements, several breakthroughs and demands never before attempted in past event rental scenarios were proposed in the planning:

This year's Presidential Hackathon second workshop had 20 teams, with 10 people per team, totaling 200 people. In response to epidemic prevention regulations and venue limitations, the 20 teams had to be distributed across 8 different conference rooms.

The main event venue, the banquet hall, will host government officials from various departments, judges, team representatives, and staff, with an expected attendance of 100 people. In response to epidemic prevention regulations, the layout must also comply with social distancing requirements.

Networking tables are set up in the banquet hall to conduct presentations, discussions, and group photos with 20 hackathon teams via Microsoft Teams video conferencing.

Representatives from 20 teams took turns visiting the banquet hall exchange tables to present briefings to officials from various ministries. At the same time, the images of the team members had to be displayed on the large video wall for video conversations.

During video conferences, the system needs to focus on the speaker with a close-up shot, creating an experience like face-to-face communication.

20 teams, with each team's presentation time limited to 150 seconds. Immediately after the presentation, networking tables and team photos take place, requiring extremely fast, smooth, and stable switching, including multi-channel video, presentation files, event CI and layout designs, as well as live stage lighting and sound.

At the end of the event, officials from various ministries at the banquet hall networking tables took a group photo with the 20 hackathon teams.

Due to venue rental arrangements, there were only 8 hours available for equipment setup, environmental testing, and rehearsal.

The client hoped to achieve the above requirements with minimal engineering manpower.

Technical Difficulties & Constraints

After receiving this highly challenging task, BXB Electronics helped the organizer complete this grand event with a "begin with the end in mind" attitude and methodology. We analyzed customer needs, broke down the event process, and identified practical challenges and corresponding solutions: Time challenge:

AV and network cable installation, testing, and dress rehearsal must be completed within 8 hours, so setup work needs to begin before entering the venue.

Equipment and Manpower Challenges:

According to user requirements, the main event venue's banquet hall needed to be equipped with three cameras, and each team needed to be equipped with one camera and a laptop for video conferencing. If each camera required a dedicated camera operator, a large crew would be needed. Therefore, alternative solutions had to be sought.

Online-Offline and AV Integration:

Technically, it requires integrating the conference system, multi-channel high-definition cameras, IP cameras, and cloud video/audio sources, and then interfacing them with the stage lighting and sound mixer, large LED displays, and the venue's existing PA system. This series of scenarios spanning multiple heterogeneous systems and AV signal formats requires real-time signal format conversion and seamless connection of heterogeneous systems, which highly tests integration experience and equipment stability.

Critical Events with Zero Room for Error:

The Presidential Hackathon is an important event showcasing Taiwan's digital advantages, and there is absolutely no room for error. The operation of various equipment must strive for stability, speed, and zero errors.

BXB's Solution 1) Conference System:

To meet customer needs, provide close-ups of speakers, and create a face-to-face communication experience, we planned to use BXB's Taiwan Excellence Award-winning

FCS-6350 Fully-Functional Conference Main Unit

as well as the FUN desktop conference microphone, which won both the German iF and Japanese G-Mark design awards. The overall design is elegant and high-quality, presenting a national-level conference experience.

(Image source: Presidential Hackathon) 2) Live Streaming & Recording System:

Each team has only 150 seconds of presentation time, requiring immediate switching of multiple audio/video channels and presentation files, as well as rapid application of the event's main visual CI and layout designs. In addition to the major challenge of switching between more than forty layouts, the speed and stability of layout windowing and switching must also be maintained, with no signal loss or screen flickering during the switching process. This event used the IP streaming and recording host that won the 2020 Taiwan Excellence Award...

, taking on the crucial task of ensuring a flawless and smooth event.

3) AV Signal Transmission Solution:

Often unseen during events, the audio-visual signal converters and extenders—housed in black boxes inside equipment racks—play a crucial role in determining the success of an event. This event required the integration of cloud video, HDMI high-definition video, and conference microphone audio, as well as interfacing with the stage lighting and sound mixing console and large LED displays. This event utilized BXB Electronics VDM Distributed AV Solution.

, utilizing AV over IP technology to provide stable, high-performance, ultra-low latency, and infinitely scalable audio-visual network solutions. It simultaneously supports 4K video/audio/RS-232 / IR / USB, allowing easy management and deployment of audio-visual network construction through a standard 1Gb network.

4) Automatic Video Tracking Video Conference

To address equipment and manpower challenges, the main event hall (ballroom) is equipped with three high-definition PTZ cameras

and paired with the winner of the 2019 Taiwan Excellence Award,

Automatic Video Tracking Video Conferencing Solution

. No need to hire an additional cameraman; simply operate the camera control keyboard

, allowing control of three PTZ cameras at once. At the same time, each team uses network cameras to connect directly to Microsoft Teams, achieving the best benefits through technology while saving labor and equipment costs.

Final Results & User Feedback

This event once again demonstrated BXB Electronics' strong solution capability and event execution power. With thorough pre-planning, the equipment was pre-configured before entering the venue. The deployment of audio-visual and video conferencing systems for the main banquet hall, 8 meeting rooms, and 20 teams was completed within 8 hours. During the event, the VIP interaction tables, 25 multi-point video feeds, and rapid window switching of over 40 main visual CI layouts ran as smoothly as flowing water throughout the 8-hour duration from morning to afternoon, successfully delivering a high-quality, perfect live video event.

We are very grateful to BXB Electronics this time. Despite a short preparation period of only three weeks, and having to adapt to pandemic changes, meet epidemic prevention and security requirements, and work with a limited budget, they still provided full support. By using a series of products recognized by the Taiwan Excellence Award over the years, they demonstrated a high degree of flexibility and stability. They are truly Taiwan's hidden champion and the pride of Taiwan! — Yi-Chia Shih, COO of National Association of Small & Medium Enterprises

BXB's accumulated experience in on-site event deployment and support can help various organizations successfully complete various conferences, seminars, and live video streaming events. If you have equipment rental and event planning needs, please contact us!

(07) 970-3838；bxb@bxb.tw