Apps can be a life-saver for AV systems designers, allowing them to answer technical questions about the spaces they’re outfitting on their smartphones and tablets. Here are some highly useful apps we’ve found this year, based on what AV professionals have told us.
Check network connections with PingTools
Today’s AV is traveling over IP. Hence it is vital for AV systems designers to be able to check the networks they’ve built for clients, to ensure that traffic is moving as specified and expected.
This is where StreamSoft’s PingTools Network Utility app helps out. Designed for Android devices, PingTools provides the user with information about the local area network being checked and all devices on that network; can monitor remote devices on the network, and can check signal paths using ICMP, TCP and HTTP pings. PingTools also comes with scanners for TCP ports, UPnP\DLNA devices, subnets, and Wi-Fi.
Apple’s ManageEngine Ping Tool (made by Zoho Corporation) offers similar capabilities for iOS devices.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ua.com.streamsoft.pingtools&hl=en_CA
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/manageengine-ping-tool/id460362949
ProjectorPro resolves projection dilemmas
Choosing the right projectors and screens is a big responsibility for AV systems designers. Helping them to make the right choice is ProjectorPro’s job. Created for iOS devices by ProjectorCentral, ProjectorPro can ensure that the projectors selected are able to fill the space optimally, and that the screens will contain those images properly. ProjectorPro does this by giving the user access to every projector in the ProjectorCentral database with throw distance specifications.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/projectorpro/id542534287
Augmented reality makes tape measurements easy
Using a tape measure to take physical measurements can be a pain. Thankfully, as the saying goes, ‘there’s an app for that’. Actually, there are many such apps, including Apple’s Measure app for iOS mobile devices and the AR Ruler app for iOS and Android.
Apple’s Measure app uses the mobile device’s camera plus augmented reality (AR) technology to turn your device into a tape measure. The user points the camera at the object to be measured (height or width), and the measurement comes up on the viewscreen. Measure can also be used to map, measure and shoot rectangles; and to serve as a level. The best news: Measure is included in Apple’s iOS 12; there’s nothing to download!
For the rest of us, there is the AR Ruler app made by Grymala. It can be used to take linear measurements of physical objects, determine distances from the viewer to a fixed point, and calculate a room’s height, perimeter and volume; among other things. Like Apple Measure, AR Ruler uses augmented reality and the mobile device’s camera to do the job.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ar-ruler-app-tape-measure/id1326773975?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grymala.aruler
Check the output with RTA Spectrum Analyzer
How good is the actual frequency response from the loudspeakers you’ve selected; both back at the office and in the client location? This is an easy question to answer using the RTA Spectrum Analyzer app made by RadonSoft for Android devices. This app uses bar graphs to display overall Peak and RMS value for acoustical measurements. It supports one, ½ and 1/3 octave filter and calibration, and can be used to identify tones and noises.
The Audio Spectrum Analyzer dB RTA app made by Elena Polyanskaya performs similar functions for iOS devices.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=radonsoft.net.rta&hl=en_US
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/audio-spectrum-analyzer-db-rta/id1281873790
AudioTools for multiple audio/acoustic testing
This is the second year that Church.Design is featuring StudioSixDigital’s AudioTools, simply because “this is the big one,” said one of the pros we asked for recommendations. The reason: AudioTools enables an iOS mobile device to conduct a host a wide range of audio/acoustic test measurements at the client’s location. The basic app comes with SPL, RTA, FFT, Speaker Polarity Test, Generator, Audio Scope, CLF Viewer, and Recorder included. Meanwhile, users can purchase additional features within the AudioTools app as they need them.
Since AudioTools uses the iOS mobile device’s built-in microphone for measurements, the readings they take do not comply with ANSO and ISO specifications. No problem: StudioSixDigital sells an iTestMic2that plugs into an iOS device to deliver this level of quality. (You can also plug a Type 1 microphone into the company’s iAudioInterface2, which connects to an Apple mobile device, to achieve these specs as well.)
The Audio Tool app (made by jjbunn) offers much of the same functionality as AudioTools, but for Android devices.
https://studiosixdigital.com/audiotools-modules-2/the-audiotools-platform/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=jjbunn&hl=en_CA
