Scope
The IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme aims to solve complex media and entertainment business and technology challenges, providing a framework for agile, collaborative, and fast-track innovation. The programme offers a unique multi-company project-based approach focused on hands-on experimentation. It chooses and supports 8 projects per year that will dig deep into problems faced by the M&E sector and explore hands-on achievable solutions.
Summary
We highlight two projects that could be relevant to EXIGENCE.
ECOFLOW: Energy conserving optimisation for future ready, low impact online workflows
This project addresses the environmental impact of media consumption by creating consolidated metrics for energy consumption at major steps of the end-to-end technological supply chain. It integrates best-in-class energy-saving technologies into a unified user experience. It will primarily identify and illustrate opportunities to make processing, streaming, and media consumption more quantifiable and sustainable.
One of the challenges and objectives is to simplify the measurements, provide automated measures across the supply chain, establish a framework accessible to the whole industry setting for impact analysis, ensure the usage of the right tools and right measurement techniques, and articulate the environmental impact of streaming across all levels of the business.
The ECOFLOW project aims to provide a media-centric, unified measurement approach to address sustainability in streaming. It plans to equip the industry with tools to measure and reduce environmental impact, encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices. To promote sustainability, the project will provide education and feedback to all stakeholders, including media companies, tech/cloud vendors, and viewers.
Connect and produce anywhere
The “Connect and Produce Anywhere” project is part of the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme. Below, we summarise Phase I and Phase II of the project.
The primary objective of Phase I was to develop a robust, flexible and scalable testbed environment capable of supporting diverse media production workflows. Phase I integrated environmental monitoring tools to track energy consumption and carbon footprint, emphasising sustainability in media production practices.
The primary objectives of implementing environmental monitoring tools are to enhance sustainability, improve operational efficiency, ensure compliance with environmental regulations, and raise awareness about sustainable practices in media production.
Key Components and Technologies
Environmental monitoring within the project is achieved through several integrated components and technologies. Central to this effort are energy monitoring sensors that measure the energy consumption of various devices in real time. These sensors are designed to provide detailed measurements, including voltage, current, and power factor, ensuring accurate data collection.
The collected data is aggregated and stored on data collection platforms, typically cloud-based, for scalability and accessibility. This approach allows data to be processed and accessed anywhere, facilitating comprehensive analysis. Analytics and reporting tools play a crucial role in interpreting the collected data. Utilising machine learning algorithms and big data analytics, these tools identify patterns and inefficiencies and provide actionable insights. Visual reports and dashboards are generated to help stakeholders understand energy consumption and its environmental impact.
Carbon footprint calculators quantify the environmental impact. These tools estimate the carbon emissions associated with energy consumption by applying standardised conversion factors, offering a clear picture of the environmental footprint of production activities.
Energy Management Systems (EMS) integrate all aspects of energy monitoring, control, and optimisation. EMS automates processes to adjust power states, implement energy-saving policies, and optimise overall energy use based on real-time data. Integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) further enhances monitoring capabilities. IoT devices and sensors, connected through wireless networks, enable real-time data collection and control, providing comprehensive coverage of the production environment.
Phase II will aim to push the boundaries of remote media production further by implementing the developed technologies in real-world scenarios and enhancing the capabilities of the test bed environment. To do so, real-time monitoring tools will be used to dynamically manage and optimise energy consumption, contributing to sustainable practices.
Relevance for EXIGENCE
ECOFLOW started on March 2024, so there is not enough information available for their results and impact. The only available information was related to their goals and the challenges they have to face.
The “Connect and Produce Anywhere” project could be relevant to energy metrics since it includes metrics for energy consumption and dissemination, since they have established a testbed to validate their solution.
