Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Ross MacDonald 

BSc [Hons] Creative Computing

I am a final year Creative Computing student. Throughout my 4 years in iadt, I have developed knowledge and skills in a wide range of technologies, problem solving and team work. Have a look at my website for more info on my work.

Drop-In: Peer-To-Peer remote working in the browser

Drop-In is an online video conferencing application aimed at remote workers. The application is peer to peer meaning that that the contents of the call are not run through a middleman server. This means that calls are faster and more private than on competing services. There are multiple channels in which conferences can be held with multiple callers on different networks participating. The application also has group text chats where conversations can be held, these messages are delivered instantly through the use of WebSockets.
Admins can create and manage the text and video channels.

The Peer-To-Peer connections were made using WebRTC technology. The Rust language was used for the backend, this is a systems level language which provides memory safety without a garbage collector, meaning that the application will have less bugs and security problems, while still being incredibly fast.
Other technologies used were PostgreSQL, Docker, Redis, Actix Web, Typescript, React and Nginx.