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Pioneer experiments join states through RNP2

RNP2 backbone made it possible to carry out nationwide experiments among its users - rather than local ones, as it happened in the High Performance Metropolitan Networks (ReMAVs). Some projects derived exactly from the integration among these ReMAVs. The first experiment worthy of note was the TV transmission via ATM network between Natal (RN) and Florianópolis (SC).

Jointly produced by the University TV of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and TV Cultura in Santa Catarina , the program " Brazil discovers the Internet2 " was broadcast from the ReMAV in Natal to the ReMAV in Florianópolis and retransmitted by optical fiber cables to TV Cultura-SC, being subsequently broadcast to all the population of Santa Catarina by means of a TV signal. In order to make it possible, RNP made a 6 Mbps link between the PoPs in Rio Grande do Norte and Santa Catarina.

The experiment between Natal and Florianópolis happened in May and served as an ATM interconnection pilot between ReMAVs, one more action in the research project Network Services for Innovative Internet Applications. The ReMAVs in Recife and Fortaleza, which together with the ReMAV in Natal carried out a pioneer experiment on telemedicine in Brazil, also benefited from this project.

Natal, Recife and Fortaleza together in prenatal exam

Between July and August 2001, the ReMAVs in Natal, Recife and Fortaleza got together to participate in an integrated telediagnosis experiment. An exam called fetal ecocardiography - a kind of ultrasonography of the heart of a baby still in his mother's womb - was made in Recife and transmitted to the cities of Natal and Fortaleza, from where doctors specialized in this field participated in a real-time diagnosis.

In order to carry out this experiment, RNP configurated an exclusive 10 Mbps line joining the three cities. The tools used for the transmission and telediagnosis were developed respectively by the ReMAVs in Natal and Recife. The experiment was also shown to the participants of the XXI Congress of the Brazilian Computing Society, in Fortaleza, on August 3rd.

III RNP2 Workshop held a number of experiments

The III RNP2 Workshop happened in Florianópolis in May. During all the event, its participants could watch the programs of Natal's University TV. The transmission was made by means of the same 6 Mbps link used in the experiment with the TV Cultura-SC.

The workshop also served as a testbed. Part of the lectures which took place there were broadcast by RNP2 in unicast and multicast modes. The transmissions, pioneer in terms of academic events, were made on an experimental basis. Its highlights include the official opening of the event, which had the remote participation of the executive secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Carlos Américo Pacheco, directly from Brasília, and a duo of musicians who played a "choro" (a popular Brazilian rhythm) at a distance.

International videoconference in Rio Grande do Sul

In November, RNP established another exclusive connection so that an experiment could be carried out. This time, a 10 Mbps line between the PoPs in Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro permitted the Computer Science Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) to participate in a videoconference with six more countries. It was the first time that a framework called Access Grid was used to make a global conference through the network.

The videoconference happened during the Supercomputing 2001, which took place in Denver, in the United States. The participation of the UFRGS in this experiment was meaningful to the history of the Brazilian academic network. First of all, because RNP's connection to the Internet2 was used so that the UFRGS could have access to the conference center, in Denver. Second, because, in order to participate in the event, the Institute of Computer Science created the first Access Grid site in Brazil.

[RNP, 12.21.2001]