Recognition Award by the BMBWF

The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) gave away this year’s recognition awards for academic final theses.

One of them went to Johannes Schmidt for his master thesis in the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences’ degree programme Digital Media Production. In his work, Schmidt addresses the development of a bi-directional streaming system for the implementation of decentralised theatre productions.

Studying in Hamburg and St. Pölten Simultaneously

Johannes Schmidt was the first student to make use of the dual degree programme jointly offered by the St. Pölten UAS and HAW Hamburg, which makes it possible to obtain two master’s degrees at the same time. Schmidt studied Digital Media Production in the Audio Design master class in St. Pölten and was simultaneously enrolled in the programme “Sound – Vision – Games” at HAW Hamburg.

Streaming without Latency for Theatre in Multiple Production Sites

In his master thesis, Schmidt addressed the evaluation of low-latency streaming technologies for audio and video signal transmission between geographically distributed and interacting venues. The thesis was supervised by UAS Lecturer Andreas Büchele and Academic Director Franz Fidler.

Next to transmission security and quality, latency in transmission is a central problem in the streaming-based transmission of audio and video signals between two geographically distant production sites. The award-winning master thesis explored this aspect for the concept of an innovative theatre production – called “Theater ohne Bühne” (theatre without a stage) – that is performed in several places at the same time. The idea is for the venues to visually and verbally interact and merge into a connected production and a joint send screen, coordinated by a central audio and video direction.

The associated demands in terms of signal quality and security rule out commonly used video conference systems. Within the framework of his thesis, Schmidt developed a technical solution for practicable, cost-efficient, and low-latency signal transmission and distribution between the separate theatre venues.

“As a participant of the dual degree programme between the St. Pölten UAS and HAW Hamburg, it was a unique opportunity and honour for me to be able to spend a semester at the UAS, to learn new things, and to engage in international exchange. This recognition award marks the great finale of an extraordinary time in my life. It makes me proud and grateful for the development opportunities that I enjoyed here in St. Pölten”, says the graduate.

Dual Degree and High Quality of Teaching

“With the dual degree, we offer the students of both our institution and HAW Hamburg a one-of-a-kind chance to obtain two master’s degrees at once. It makes me very happy that the great thesis of Johannes Schmidt has received this award, and I congratulate him cordially”, says Academic Director Franz Fidler.

“I am very glad that once again, a graduate of the St. Pölten UAS is among the winners of this award. This confirms not only the enormous commitment and achievements of our students but also the high quality of teaching here at our university of applied sciences”, emphasises Alois Frotschnig, Chairperson of the UAS Board.

• Study programme Digital Media Production
• A portrait of Johannes Schmidt in the St. Pölten UAS’ “Future” magazine (in German)
• State Prizes of the BMBWF (in German)