IPShowcase

Video: Using AMWA IS-06 for Flow Control on Professional Media Networks

Posted on by Adam K

In IP networks multicast flow subscription is usually based on a combination of IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast) protocols. While PIM allows for very efficient delivery of IP multicast data, it doesn’t provide bandwidth control or device authorisation.

To solve these issues on SMPTE ST 2110 professional media networks the NMOS IS-06 specification has been developed. It relies on a Software-Defined Networking, where traffic management application embedded in each single switch or router is replaced by a centralised Network Controller. This controller manages and monitors the whole network environment, making it bandwidth aware.

NMOS IS-06 specification provides a vendor agnostic Northbound interface from Network Controller to Broadcast Controller. IS-06 in conjunction with IS-04 (Discovery and Registration) and IS-05 (NMOS Device Connection Management) allows Broadcast Controller to automatically set up media flows between endpoints on the network, reserve bandwidth for flows and enforce network security. Broadcast Controller is also able to request network topology information from Network Controller, which can be used to create a user friendly graphic representation of the flows in the network.

In this presentation Rob Porter from Sony Europe explains the basics of NMOS IS-06, showing in details how setting up media flows with this specification fits into the IS-04 / IS-05 workflow. Rob emphasise that all AMWA NMOS specifications are completely open and available to anyone, allowing for interoperability between broadcast and network devices from different manufacturers.

The next speaker, Sachin Vishwarupe from Cisco Systems, focuses on the future works on IS-06, including provisioning feedback (such as insufficient bandwidth, no route available from sender to receiver or no management connectivity), flow statistics, security and grouping (similar to ”salvo” in SDI world).

There is also a discussion on extension of IS-06 specification for Network Address Translation (NAT), which would help to resolve problems caused by address conflicts e.g. when sharing resources between facilities.

You can find the slides here.

Watch now!

Speakers

Rob Porter Rob Porter
Project Manager – Advanced Technology Team
Sony Europe
Sachin Vishwarupe
Principal Engineer
Cisco Systems

Video: The Good and the Ugly – IP Studio Production Case Study

Posted on by Adam K

What’s implementing SMPTE ST-2110 like in real life? How would you design your network and what were the problems? In this case study Ammar Latif from Cisco Systems presents the architecture, best practices and lessons learned they gleaned in this live IP broadcast production facility project designed for a major US broadcaster. Based on SMPTE ST-2110 standard, it spanned five studios and two control rooms. The central part of this project was a dual Spine-Leaf IP fabric with bandwidth equivalent of a 10,000 x 10,000 HD SDI router with a fully non-blocking multicast architecture. The routing system was based on Grass Valley Convergent broadcast controller and a Cisco DCNM media controller.

As the project was commissioned in 2018, the AMWA IS-04 and IS-05 specifications providing an inter-operable mechanism for routing media around SMPTE 2110 network were not yet available. Multicast flow subscription was based on a combination of IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast) protocols. While PIM is very efficient and mature, it lacks the ability to use bandwidth as a parameter when setting up a flow path. Ammar explains how Non-Blocking Multicast (NBM) developed by Cisco brings bandwidth awareness to PIM by signalling a type of data (video, audio or metadata).

The talk continues by discussing PTP distribution & monitoring, SMPTE 2022-7 seamless protection switching and remote site production. Ammar also lets us see how the user interfaces on the Cisco DCNM media controller were designed which include a visualisation of multicast flow, network topology and link saturation of ports.

You can find the slides here.

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Speaker

Ammar Latif
Principal Architect,
Cisco Systems

Video: NMOS IS-07, GPI Replacement and Much, Much More…

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones

GPI was not without its complexities, but the simplicity of its function in terms of putting a short or a voltage on a wire, is unmatched by any other system we use in broadcasting. So the question here is, how do we do ‘GPI’ with IP given all the complexity, and perceived delay, in networked communication. CTO of Pebble Beach, Miroslav Jeras, is here to explain.

The key to understanding the power of the new specification for GPI from NMOS called IS-07 is to realise that it’s not trying to emulate DC electronics. Rather, by adding the timing information available from the PTP clock, the GPI trigger can now become extremely accurate – down to the audio sample – meaning you can now use GPI to indicate much more detailed situations. On top of that, the GPI messages can contain a number of different data types, which expands the ability of these GPI messages and also helps interoperability between systems.

Miroslav explains the ways in which these messages are passed over the network and how IS-07 interacts with the other specifications such as IS-05 and BCP-002-01. He explains how IS-07 was used in the Techno Project – tpc, Zurich and then takes us through a range of different examples of how IS-07 can be used including synchronisation of the GUI and monitoring as well as routing based on GPI.

Watch now! | Download the slides

Speakers

Miroslav Jeras Miroslav Jeras
CTO,
Pebble Beach Systems

Video: The Rise of IP in Remote Production Networks

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones

Like all good ideas, remote production is certainly not new. Known in the US as REMIs (REmote INtegrations) and in Europe as Remote Productions, producing live events without sending people there has long been seen as something to which most broadcasters have aspired. We’re now at a tipping point of available techniques, codecs and bandwidth which is making large-scale remote production practical and, indeed, common.

Carl Petch took to the podium at the IBC 2019 IP Showcase to explain how telco Telstra have been deploying remote production solutions by looking at three case studies including the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, and the technology behind them. Highlighting TICO, SMPTE ST 2022-6 uncompressed and VC-2 compression, previously known as the BBC’s DIRAC, we see how codecs are vital in underpinning successful, low latency, remote production.

Encoding and decoding delay aren’t the only delays to consider, simple propagation time for the signal to travel from one place on the earth to another have to be considered – including the lengths of your different paths – so Carl takes us through a table of real-world measurements between a range of places showing up to 280ms one-way delay.

Much of the success Telstra has had in delivering these solutions has been anchored on their dedicated remote production network based on the Open Transport Network principles which allows them to carve up parts of their bandwidth for different protocols which Carl covers in some detail and allows them to scale in 100Gb increments.

Watch now! and download the slides.
Speaker

Carl Petch Carl Petch
Principal Solutions Architect,
Telstra