Media Production Show 2018

Introduction to AoIP

June 12th 2018

Speakers

Joffrey Ghiringhelli Head of Business Development – Jigsaw24

Simon Short Business Development Manager – Focusrite Pro

Agenda

• A bit of Background

• AoIP - What is it and what does it mean?

• How does it work? What are the requirements?

• Challenges/benefits and how it affect us as Audio Professionals

• Protocols

• AES67 – Interoperability Protocol

• Latest Developments

A bit of BAckground

Point to Point topology

• Classic analog studio takes much of its inheritance from the telecommunications industry

• AES3 (AES EBU), AES10 (MADI), AES50 (Super MAC / Hyper MAC)

• Transition from Analogue structure to IP audio network driven by cost

5 Things to consider in an audio networked world

1. Distribution

2. Communication

3. Generalised Infrastructure

4. Managing Delays

5. Circuit Switched vs Packet Switched

So what is AoIP ?

IP Basics

• Proven Technology

• Widespread and supported by commodity, low cost hardware

• LANs are everywhere

• Scalable

• RJ45 Standard format

How does it work?

• AoIP is intended to run exclusively on a controlled local network infrastructure (LAN)It replaces much of the dedicated broadcast infrastructure such as routers, distribution and patching systems that have traditionally been used for managing multiple audio signals as they pass through a production or broadcast facility.

• Audio sources are connected to an audio I/O device and the baseband toAoIP interfaces convert the audio to uncompressed, 24-bit/48 kHz digitalaudio and then packetize the audio into RTP streams.

• Each audio source is given a channel number and each interface is assigned an IP address for identification and routing purposes.

• The interfaces are networked to each other over a standard Ethernet IP network

Requirements for Pro Audio

•The network must have high bandwidth in order to carry multichannel, uncompressed audio

•It must have low latency

•Its performance should be both deterministic and reliable in terms of latency and channel count

•Increase channel streams (512 at 24bit/48khz on a single cat5e and cat6)

Bi directional

Many channels on a single cable

Audio routing at the IP layer

Supports enterprise-level solutions

Commodity Hardware – Easy Integration

Consolidated Clocking Architecture

Automated Device Discovery

MORE COST EFFECTIVE

MORE FLEXIBLE / SCALABLE

Benefits

Potential ChallengesTiming? / clocking?

Re-training Staff

Retaining compatibility with Analog & AES3 Digital

SCARY!

Protocols

Comparison of Network Audio Protocols

Technology

Purveyor Introduction Date

Synchronisation Transport

Layer Discovery

Livewire Telos / Axia 2003 Proprietary RTP 3 Axia Discovery Protocol

Wheatnet-IP

Wheatstone 2005 Proprietary RTP Wheatstone WheatnetIP Discovery Protocol

Dante Audinate 2006 PTP v1 UDP 3 mDNS, DNS-SD (SAP**)

N/ACIP EBU 3326 2007 Adaptive (per stream)

RTP SAP

Q-LAN QSC 2009 PTP v1 UDP QDP (Q-Sys Discovery Protocol)

Ravenna ALC NetworX 2010 PTP v2 RTP 3 mDNS, DNS-SD (zeroconf), DNS

AVB IEEE, AVnu 2011 IEEE 802.1AS Ethernet, RTP

2 IEEE 802.1BA

Dante

• Open (Used by AVID, Sennheiser & TC Electronics)

• Layer 2

• needs switches which specifically support AVB

• Difficult to implement within existing IT infrastructure

• Application wider than Pro audio & Video (Automotive, Industrial Control)

AVB (AVNU alliance)

• Proprietary (Audinate)

• Layer 3

• No switch compatibility constraints

• Easy to implement within existing IT infrastructure

• Highly visible audio solution (REDNET, SSL,

Livewire

• Open

• Layer 3

• Primarily targeted at the broadcast market

• Seen as the direct rival to Dante

• AES67 based on Ravenna

Ravenna (Lawo, Genelec, Merging Pyramix)

• Proprietary (Axia audio)

• Layer 3

• Extensively used in radio (US)

And more…

HyperMac/SuperMac/AES50 - Layer 1, SuperMac is the 100 Meg AES50 specification. HyperMac is a newer Gigabit implementation. It is proprietary to Klark-Tecknik and is used by Midas, AES50 is used by Behringer

Cobranet - Layer 2, Proprietary, Cobranet has been around since 1996 and although it has relatively long latency, is popular for distribution around large installed sites. BSS soundweb is a popular system using it

Ethersound - Layer 2, Proprietary, has been around since 2001. Low latency and widely supported in PA and studio systems by manufacturers such as Digico and Yamaha.

A-Net - Layer 1, Proprietary, familiar to many studio users as the format used by Aviomheadphone systems

And more…

A-Net - Layer 1, Proprietary, familiar to many studio users as the format used by Aviomheadphone systems

REAC - Layer 1, Proprietary (Roland) for use in their V mixer system and with Cakewalk.

Q-LAN – Proprietary (QSC)

UMAN - Layer 3, Proprietary, this system is a professional media network designed for a wide range of uses, one of which is audio.

Waves SoundGrid - Layer 2, Proprietary. Well known to the Pro Tools community. it is an example of Cat5 audio being put to a slightly different use. This gigabit only system enables extremely low latencies between host and the sound grid server.

AES67 – The AoIP Standard

Introduction to AES67 - Uniting Separated Ecosystems

What Is AES67?

• It is an interoperability standard

• It is for audio transport only

• It is deployable

• It isn't a complete system. AES 67 is a feature or option in awider audio system which can fulfil other tasks such asrouting, monitoring, discovery or system control.

How Does AES-67 Work ?

• Network Synchronisation - Distribution of a common wall clock time to all participating nodes. PTP achieves further accuracy in the sub-microseconds range

• Multicast packet Transport - AES67 also requires multicast support for audio stream packets. Achieved with managed switches through IGMP

• Quality of Service – Achieved with managed switches. Deals with packets prioritisation

• Session Description Data , Discovery and Connection Management

AES67 key fundamentals summary

• Precision Time Protocol (PTP) - Equivalent of word clock in a digital system

• Quality of Service (QoS) - Assigning levels of priority to different types of network traffic

• Session Description Protocol (SDP) - A way of connecting up audio streams between devices. Essentially technical information about the stream

• Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Snooping – A way of making sure that traffic intended for several users doesn't go to every user and cause a network traffic jam.

• multicast Domain Name System/Real Time Streaming Protocol (mDNS/RTSP) are the two systems used by RAVENNA (which AES67 is based on) to discover and connect devices to the network. Dante uses another system called SAP (Session Announcement Protocol)

Looking ahead: Future proofing workflow

• AES67 now has a means to provide interoperability for high-performance, professional digital AoIP networking

• Operate as a “Glue” between networking solutions

• IP audio networks provide broadcasters the flexibility to grow and change at will

• Worth noting AES67 does not cover AoIP node advertisement and discovery: This functionality is typically specified to the networking solution or technology of the individual system

Looking aheadThe non-profit Media Network Alliance has been formed by manufacturers and technology providers to promote and support the adoption of AES67 in the industry. The intention is not to invent new protocols or technologies, but to define how use existing protocols as a system in an interoperable way.

Other trade organizations like Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) have defined a roadmap to common standards for IP media, recommending AES67 as the format for ‘discrete audio’ in a video/audio media and broadcast environment which is also specified in the VSF TR-03 and TR-04 technical recommendations.

Latest Developments

AES70 standard for audio applications of networks –

Open Control Architecture

AES 70 is an open control and monitoring standard for professional audio and AV media network devices.

It can be used with any transport protocol (Dante, AVB etc…) enabling complex system integration and flexibility with network device deployment and operation.

Enables monitoring and changing of all operating parameters of a network devices including adding / removing signal paths, adjusting parameters, network device firmware updates and management of access control.

• The SMPTE ST-2110 standards enable traffic within and beyond a facility tobe all-IP, allowing organizations to rely on a single common data-centerinfrastructure and giving broadcasters greater confidence in theinteroperability of their equipment.

• With a unified approach to internal and external transport, workflows aresimplified and consistent regardless of the physical location of equipment,and the number of encoders and decoders is reduced.

SMPTE ST-2110