SyntroSpaces, a sort of skunkworks project within Pansenti, is being put to good use to keep me up to date with my two houses which are an inconvenient 1500 miles apart! Since I bounce backwards and forwards at random intervals between the two places, it’s nice to be able to keep up with events at both houses whichever house I happen to be in at that moment. SyntroSpaces solves this problem nicely. Each house has a VPN router that provides communications between the two locations. Syntro is able to build an overlay network (using Pansenti’s ICOCO (Integrated Connectionless Over Connection-Orientated ) technology) that completely eliminates distinction based on location. To do this requires just a simple configuration entry in one of the SyntroControls in one location that establishes a tunnel to a SyntroControl at the other location. This can be made fault-tolerant by specifying a backup SyntroControl.
Once this basic tunnel is established, other Syntro apps can be run in either location with full access to the resources in either of the sub-clouds. In this case, a total of 18 cameras are distributed between the two locations, a mix of network cameras and webcams. SpacesStore apps at both locations record all video feeds at all times, providing redundant storage of the video. SpacesView is an app that can be used to display all of the available video feeds simultaneously, using the classic split-screen format. Any number of SpacesView apps can be in use at one time with stream multicasting being performed at the SyntroControl nearest to the SpacesView app to minimize network traffic.
Speaking of traffic minimization, the video source apps – SpacesNetCam and SpacesWebCam – use various techniques to minimize unnecessary traffic. They generate MJPEG to allow for easy single frame and reverse viewing and only send frames when motion is detected or else on a heartbeat basis. Viewers extrapolate this data to provide a continuous video stream when necessary. They also produce two different streams: a high rate stream for local use and a low rate stream for transmission across the internet (this is to avoid upsetting my ISPs). The result is a stream of manageable rate even without using more complex compression. Using SyntroAV apps, MPEG-4 can be used if desired – especially convenient for viewing data on smartphones. In fact, any stream can be converted to MPEG-4 within the Syntro cloud (using the SyntroAVXCode app) in order to get the best of both worlds.
SpacesReview (as shown in the screenshot above) is a simple app that allows review of stored video using the Syntro Cloud File System (CFS). SyntroCFS apps are run at both locations to allow efficient access to video streams stored by co-located SyntroStore apps. SpacesReview apps can access these stores over the Syntro cloud using the resources provided by the SyntroCFS apps. Streams can be selected and then viewed at various speeds, single images and video clips saved locally as required.
The system described is in full-time operation and has been totally reliable, even in the face of some nasty power events caused by storms. The plan is to extend this system to include environmental and PIR motion sensing using custom Syntro sensor bugs designed for this purpose. In addition, rather than using desktop PCs and notebooks to access the system, it will be possible to access and control the SyntroSpaces system using an AR headset and Pansenti AR/VR gloves, creating a SentientSpaces system designed to give a more telepresent sense to the user experience.
