The Future of Ethernet Transport by Sistemas Digitales en Audio y Video

Video over Ethernet in Broadcast applications AVB based live production network Jan Eveleens - CEO Jan.eveleens@axon.tv

Live Production as we know it

Key challenges in current infrastructures 

(lack of) flexibility  Topology (central router)  Supporting new standards



Cabling  Specific for our industry  Dedicated  one cable per signal (type)  Uni-directional

 A LOT……

A typical example 

Green-field installation (UK):   

157 x 78 x 410 (!) x



1018 (!) x

Analog audio distribution amplifiers Digital audio distribution amplifiers Analog CVBS distribution amplifiers

 Mostly for reference distribution



Digital video (SDI) amplifiers

Total required rackspace = 

93 x 4RU frames = 372 RU  approx. 10 x full-height 19” Racks !!!



Plus many, many kilometers of coax cable, thousands of BNC connectors



And this just for signal distribution……..

Increase of bandwidth is spectacular 4K 12000Mb/sec

1080p 3000Mb/sec 1080i 1500Mb/sec B&W 3,5Mhz 56Mb/sec

Composite 5,5Mhz 100Mb/sec

SDI 270Mb/sec

Live Production infrastructures: the next wave ! today Ethernet 3 Gbps HD-SDI SDI Composite

Why going Ethernet in Live Production (1) ? 

Required link speed available now 40.000 10.000

Mbps

1.000 100 10 1 1989

1994

1999 VIDEO

2004

2009

2014

ETHERNET

 and affordable: A 10Gbps ethernet port is already cheaper than a 3Gbps SDI I/O



Sheer size of ethernet industry drives innovation and cost erosion  Ethernet switch market > $20B (10Gbps switch market already > $10B)  Compare this to: total SDI router market: ~ $300M…… or even total broadcast equipment market: ~$16B .  Another interesting datapoint: revenu of Cisco (2013): $48.6B….

Strong Ethernet roadmap going forward ď&#x201A;§

Ethernet (backbone) speed expected to hit 1 Tbps (!) in the next decade !!

Why going Ethernet in Live Production (2) ? 

Allows distributed architectures  Including easier remote production



Full bi-directional/duplex connections



Multiple (different) signals multiplexed/transported on one cable  Video, audio, (meta) data, control, monitoring, etc  Also supports standard ‘legacy’ traffice (files, emails, etc)



Drastically reduce cabling  Save costs (cables, connectors, install), space and weight (!)

SDI

A central router

Central reference with distribution Many cables, often in big parallel bundles

Already quite some Ethernet equipment

AVB

Central reference With no additional distribution

A distributed router

Where are the cables?

Why going Ethernet in Live Production (3) ? 

With the IEEE AVB standard extensions, Ethernet now offers mechanisms to overcome:  Best-Effort Delivery Strategy

 The data will arrive but no guarantee when

 Non-Deterministic behavior

 Standard Ethernet is ‘random’

 Lack of Concept of Isochronous Delivery

 In standard Ethernet there is no sense of time and/or timing

 Not Being Content-Aware

 Standard Ethernet treats all data equally

The AVB key elements

Audio Video Bridging (AVB)

Time Synchronization

Traffic Shaping

Bandwidth Reservation

Configuration

AVB terminology 

Stream 



Talker 



An entity in the AVB cloud that can send a stream

Listener 



A “pipe” that contains one or more channels of audio and/or video data in an AVB cloud

An entity in the AVB cloud that can receive a stream

Controller 

An entity on the network which configures and connects Talkers and Listeners in an AVB network

AVB synchronization 

Guarantees correct absolute timing of all AVB enabled nodes



This timestamp runs over the same Ethernet cable     

The timestamp is based on an EPOCH absolute reference signal Based on these, we can calculate precisely how many frames have elapsed since the SMPTE epoch (0:00:00 Jan. 1, 1970) At that “big bang” moment, all frames were aligned For example, every 1001 seconds since the epoch, there are exactly 30,000 NTSC frames and 25,025 PAL frames. Switches will measure delay in switch and add correction factor to timestamp message 



Each node receives original timestamp plus cumulative delay thru the network Adding correction factor to timestamp results in actual time that is in sync

No special reference infrastructure is needed  

No extra Cables No reference distribution amplifiers (DA’s)

AVB

Admission Control/bandwidth management 

This technology makes sure that the payload (audio and video) can use a predefined amount of the bandwidth.



For AVB audio this is 75% of the maximum data rate (often 1Gb Ethernet)



The other 25% of bandwidth can be used for other data



This percentage is adjustable by the end user depending on switch flexibility on a port by port basis



When available control and may use more bandwidth and video data need less

other data as long as audio 23

Bandwidth Reservation Protocol (cont.) 

Enables the AVB network to self-manage its bandwidth allocations



Talkers/Listeners request permission before streams are allowed to flow



The AVB network guarantees a portion of the bandwidth will be available for legacy traffic (per port adjustable)



Priority-based reservations 24

Advertizing a Stream Stream 1 (S1) Source

S1 S2 S3 S4

Advertise

S1 S2 S3 P8

P3 P4

S1 S2 S3 S4 P4

Listener 1 (L1)

S1 S2 S3 S4

Listener 4 (L4)

Stream 3 (S3) Source

P = Port SRP Command A/V Data Flowing

Available Stream

Stream 4 (S4) Source

Advertise

Stream 2 (S2) Source

S1 S2 S3 S4

Listener 2 (L2) Listener 3 (L3)

S1 S2 S3 S4

Subscribing to a Stream Stream 1 (S1) Source

100% 75% A/V Bandwidth 50% Allocation Port 6 25% (S3) 00% Subscribe Subscribe (S2) (S1)

S1 S2 S3 P8

P3 P4

P8 Listener 4 (L4) fail (S2) (S3) Subscribe Subscribe(S4) Subscribe (S1)

Stream 2 (S2) Source

Subscribe (S4)

Stream 3 (S3) Source

P = Port SRP Command A/V Data Flowing

Available Stream

S1 S2 S3

P2 100% 75% 50% A/V Bandwidth 25% Allocation Port 8 00%

Listener 1 (L1)

Stream 4 (S4) Source

Listener 2 (L2)

S1 S2 S3

AVB Cloud Defending Bandwidth

Listener 3 (L3)

Forwarding, Queuing & Traffic Shaping  

Forwarding and Queuing for Time-Sensitive Streams (FQTSS) In other words:  Time sensitive streams have highest priority (Audio & Video)  Other data can eventually be passed but as a factor of waiting time and available space. (data that is in a queue for a longer time will raise in the priority scale.



Traffic shaping: AVB nodes must ‘behave’  Avoid bursts in the network as this can create momentarily peaks in bandwidth on the network which may exceed capacity of link buffers-> packet drop !  No jumbo-frames ! 27

Example: Ethernet packets in light Traffic

Example: Ethernet packets in heavy Traffic

Example: Ethernet packets in an AVB system

AVB Configuration Protocol 

Discovery  Devices announce their presence to any listening controller



Configuration  Controllers learn more about devices of interest and configure them



Connection Management  Controllers make connections between Listeners and Talkers



Control  Controllers interact with devices to control gain, phase, timing etc.

Typical characteristics of an AVB network 

All nodes are fully synchronised to a (very stable) network clock  Allows very accurate recovery of media clocks  SDI can be recovered within broadcast quality jitter specifications  Audio clock can be recovered maintaining phase relation



Low latency: typically 2ms overall network delay  Allows for complex/distributed networks (multiple hops)



The network self-manages bandwidth reservation such that links will never get overcommitted and/or packets are dropped



Uses multi-cast, so only one copy of each active source on any given link or backbone 32

How real is Ethernet AVB ? 

100Mbps, 1Gbps,10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100 Gbps Ethernet AVB switches are shipping



Several professional AVB audio products on the market from several vendors:  Audio processors, audio consoles, speakers, etc  Intercom systems



First broadcast quality AVB video products have started shipping



Compliance testing and certification process is up and running 33

Relevant companies with AVB products (or are working on it)

AVB in a large facility

30 Tbit/s switching capacity ~15000 (!) 1080p video signals Upto 96 100Gbps ports 40GBase-SR4/XSR4/LR4/ER4 100m/450m/10km/40km

AVB network also carries all monitoring/control, etc and can also provide general IT connectivity !

or 100GBase-SR4/XSR4/LR4/ER4 100m/450m/10km/40km

Connect local devices directly or with a converter from/to baseband video/audio from/to Ethernet AVB 35

AVB redundant core network

Each edge switch has multiple uplinks

AVB fully redundant infrastructure

Current published versions of IEEE AVB related standards 

IEEE 802.1BA-2011 - IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks--Audio Video Bridging (AVB) Systems.



IEEE 802.1AS-2011 - IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Timing and Synchronization for Time-Sensitive Applications in Bridged Local Area Networks.



IEEE 802.1Q-2011 - IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks--Media Access Control (MAC) Bridges and Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks.



IEEE 1722-2011 - Layer 2 Transport Protocol Working Group for Time-Sensitive Streams



IEEE 1722.1-2013 - IEEE Standard for Device Discovery, Connection Management, and Control Protocol for IEEE 1722(TM) Based Devices. 38

On-going work on IEEE AVB – Revision of standards - 1 IEEE 1722 (AVB transport layer) 

New draft in progress, ballot to start towards end of 2014, probably will be published as IEEE 1722-2015



Key new elements:      

Uncompressed audio payload Uncompressed video payload (more on that in subsequent slides) Clock Reference Streams (stream synchronisation) ‘RTP’ (compressed video) payload Security / Encryption (based on existing IEEE mechanisms/standards) Transport of IEEE 1722 using IP layer (UDP)  Port: 17220 (and 17221 for control protocol)

On-going work on IEEE AVB – Revision of standards - 2 IEEE 1722.1 (AVB device discovery, enumeration & control protocol) 

Uses IEEE 1722 transport layer



IEEE 1722.1-2013 just published 



Contains very extensive framework for standardised control of AVB devices, but highly audio focussed

Project has been kicked off for next revision that will incorporate more video elements 

Work to be finished somewhere mid 2015 ?

On-going work on IEEE AVB – AVB Gen 2 (TSN) 

Next generation of AVB technology/standards



Mainly driven from automotive and factory automation



Renamed to ‘Time Sensitive Networking’ (TSN) 



Key improvements:   



More focus on control, less on audio and video (hence the name change !)

Improved overall network latencies (a few 100 ms max) Improved robustness (redundancy switching) Improved scalability (network architecture, # of nodes)

Most relevant for professional AV/Broadcast 

Better/seamless redundancy switching

IEEE 1722 transport layer overview IEEE 1722 specifies a wealth of formats that can be transported:  

MIDI IEC-61883 (IEEE 1394 / Firewire)

       

Uncompressed audio (16/24/32 bit, sample rates upto 192 kHz, multi-channel) Audio with meta-data (eg AES-3, allowing for Dolby-E transport) SDI video (encapsulated) RAW video (‘active picture’ only) Clock Reference Streams (wordclock or H/V sync) Time-Sensitive Control/Data Streams (eg transport of ANC data) RFC (‘RTP’) compressed video streams Vendor Specific (allows for custom/proprietary formats)

IEEE 1722 SDI transport format - 1 Line 1

Packet 1

Packet 2

Packet 3

Packet 4

Line 2

Packet 5

Packet 6

Packet 7

Packet 8

Line 3

Packet 9

Packet 10

Packet 11

Packet 12

Line 4

Packet 13

Packet 14

Packet 15

Packet 16

Ancillary Data

Last line

Horizontal Sync point (EAV)

Packet n-3

Active Video (Image Data)

Packet n-2

Packet n-1

Packet n

IEEE 1722 SDI transport format - 2 

Supports all existing SDI formats upto 3Gbps



Some examples: Format 525i/59,94 625i/50 1080i/95,94 1080i/50 720P/59,94 720P/50 1080P/23,98 1080P/59,94 1080P/50

Packets per Line 2 2 4 5 3 4 5 4 5

Packet Payload size 1073 1080 1375 1320 1375 1238 1375 1375 1320

IEEE 1722 RAW Video Format - 1 

Transmit (only) (active) video, audio, data as separate streams



Save bandwidth (can be upto 40% !) vs SDI format 

Vertical blanking can still be send (optionally)



Horizontal resolution (active picture): upto 65535 pixels (16-bit field)



Vertical resolution (active picture): upto 65535 pixels (16-bit field)



Frame-rate: 24, 25, 30, 35, 85 Hz  

Multiplier: 1, 2, 3, 4 Including all 1000/1001 variants



Bit-depth: 8,10,12 or 16 bit



Pixel format: 4:1:1, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, …..



Color space/coding: YCbCr, sRGB, XYZ, YCM, Bayer, BT601, BT709, …..

IEEE 1722 RAW Video Format - 2

Active Line 1

Packet 1

Packet 2

Packet 3

Active Line 2

Packet 4

Packet 5

Packet 6

Active Line 3

Packet 7

Packet 8

Packet 9

Ancillary Data

Last Active Line

Active pixels 720 1280 1920 3840

sample words per pixel 2 2 2 2

Active Video (Image Data)

Packet n-2

Packet n-1

Bits per sample word 10 10 10 10

Packet n

Packets per Line

Packet Payload size

2 3 4 7

900 1067 1200 1372

A very important element: interoperability

Ensuring that AVB nodes talk to AVB nodes AVnu Alliance

Who/what is AVnu Alliance 

The AVnu Alliance is an industry forum dedicated to the advancement of professional-quality audio video by promoting the adoption of Audio Video Bridging (AVB).



The organization creates compliance test procedures and certification processes that ensure interoperability of networked AVB devices.



4 key markets:    

Professional Audio Professional Video Consumer Automotive

Founding Members of the AVnu Alliance

AVnu Alliance members

AVnu Alliance update 

Membership grew with 30% in 2013 to more than 65 members   



First test and certification test-site up and running  



IOL – University of New Hampshire (UNH), USA More test/certification site can be added quite quickly now

First AVB Products have been certified   



Some large companies joined: BMW, Dolby, Crestron, etc Arista Networks joined as second AVB switch manufacturer IntoPIX joined as AVB FPGA core supplier

Ethernet switches (Extreme Networks) Professional audio products (Harman/Crown) Substantial queue of products now being tested and certified

First phase of Pro Video market requirements being finalised 

Certification could start in 2015 (when IEEE1722-2015 is released)

Pro Video market requirements document (MRD) Defines the minimum requirements for a Pro Video device 

Generic minimum requirements regarding discovery, enumeration & control (similar to Pro Audio devices)



SDI profile: most common formats



Raw video profiles:    

Main profile: most common formats Extended profile: includes also less common formats Ultra profile (Ultra High Def, future work) Audio:  



also follows Pro Audio MRD (48 khz, 16bit PCM) -> compatibility ! Dolby-E (optional)

ANC data



Compressed profile (future work)



Display Graphics: out of scope

AVnu Alliance

More info can be found at: www.avnu.org

Summarising the key benefits of Ethernet - AVB 

Based on existing and open standards from a very reputable and succesful standards body (IEEE)



Provides one framework for reliable, time-synchronised, real-time transport of video, audio and data



Proven technology that is available now: large professional AVB audio systems being deployed in the field



Interoperability is going to be taken care of: AVnu alliance



Plug-and play : no conflicts or fiddling with IP addresses, etc



Fool-proof: the network is self-managing, it does not rely on the skills of network engineers or a (proprietery) software management layer.



Perfect co-existence (and reserved bandwidth for) with standard IP traffic (eg. control, monitoring, etc)

Introducing  

Neuron

Ethernet AVB as the next step for video interconnect Neuron is the first practical implementation of Ethernet AVB in the Synapse platform  Real-time, uncompressed video over 10Gbps ethernet

 



Already now cheaper than traditional solutions (eg CWDM) First application just point-to-point but networkable soon The Neuron technology will change the way how broadcast infrastructures are being designed and build

How will Axon help you to make the transition? 

Provide a future proof platform  All (relevant) future Synapse HW platforms will have 10Gbps ethernet (or higher) connectivity built-in  But also continue to have all ‘traditional’ baseband interfaces  Can thus also work as ‘bridge’/converter between baseband and ethernet

 Platforms can be used today in traditional baseband environment and tomorrow in a hybrid or fully networked (ethernet) world  Only requires change-out of a low-cost connector panel



Offer a complete and integrated solution  Cerebrum will provide a seamless control surface between baseband and ethernet world.  Operator will have same control & monitoring tools as in use today  No need to be(come) an ethernet network expert

Neuron: Award winning !

Neuron Products: Synapse module NIO440

        

4x 3Gb/s SDI inputs 4x 3Gb/s SDI outputs 8 GPI in / 8 GPI out Analog bi-level or tri-level reference in Analog bi-level or tri-level reference out 1GigE Ethernet RS232 Quad speed audio bus to slot N+1 2x AVB 10GigE SFP cage

NIO440

NEURON

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 1

3Gb/s SDI OUTPUT 1

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 2

3Gb/s SDI OUTPUT 2

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 3

3Gb/s SDI OUTPUT 3

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 4

3Gb/s SDI OUTPUT 4

VIDEO DE-FORMATING FORMATTING ANC HANDLING

GPI I/O

AVB PACKETIZER DE-PACKETIZER

AVB SFP+

AVB PACKETIZER DE-PACKETIZER

AVB SFP+

4x PCIe

MAG

LINUX

RS485 USB 1

PLL

TDM MUX/DE-MUX 32CH OUT

INTERNAL SYNAPSE BUS

TO ADD-ON

32CH IN FROM ADD-ON

REFERENCE INPUTS 2

QUAD SPEED MULTIPLEXING AUDIO BUS

RACK CONTROLLER

ETHERNET

Neuron Products: Synapse Module AIO88

    

For audio I/O the quad speed bus ADD-ON card AIO88 is defined 4x 4 audio in/outputs either Analog or Digital (Mic input is an option) Optional MADI I/O (in combination with any of 3 4-channel audio devices) GigE AVB audio for standalone use Based on existing I/O modules

AIO88

AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT

QUAD SPEED BUS

AUDIO MODULE SELECT FUNCTION: 4X AES IN 4X AES OUT 4X ANALOG IN 4X ANALOG OUT 4X MIC IN MADI I/O

AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT

CENTRAL ROUTING AND PROCESSING CORE AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT

32 CHANNEL AUDIO GAIN 32 CHANNEL AUDIO PHASE 32 CHANNEL AUDIO DELAY (5 SEC)

AUDIO MODULE SELECT FUNCTION: 4X AES IN 4X AES OUT 4X ANALOG IN 4X ANALOG OUT 4X MIC IN MADI I/O

FULL AUDIO ROUTING OPTIONAL: MIX ENGINE

AUDIO MODULE SELECT FUNCTION: 4X AES IN 4X AES OUT 4X ANALOG IN 4X ANALOG OUT 4X MIC IN MADI I/O

NIOS

MAG

AVB AUDIO

PLL

µP

32CH IN FROM NEXT ADD-ON

32CH OUT TO NEXT ADD-ON

REFERENCE INPUTS 2

32CH OUT TO MASTER

FROM MASTER

32CH IN

INTERNAL SYNAPSE BUS

QUAD SPEED MULTIPLEXING AUDIO BUS

RACK CONTROLLER

AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT AUDIO IN/OUT

ETHERNET

Neuron Products: Neuron-BRICK 01 Standalone box with external power supply for low cost stage/camera/desktop use           

2x 3Gb/s SDI inputs 2x 3Gb/s SDI outputs 2x audio in (analog or digital) 2x audio out (analog or digital) 2 GPI in / 2 GPI out 4 wire intercom Analog bi-level or tri-level reference out 1GigE Ethernet RS232 1x AVB 10GigE SFP cage Optional: Lemo connector with power over SMPTE cable

Neuron Products: Universal Synapse based I/O module ‘upgrade’ Piggyback board like current Fiber I/O option on current connector panels.   

2x 3Gb/s SDI inputs 2x 3Gb/s SDI outputs 1x AVB 10GigE SFP cage

Regular Synapse product with optional AVB I/O These products are already in development and will bridge old technology with AVB 

GOW800 



GXG400



SPG200

 

Synview2 multiview module with optional AVB I/O Dual channel ultra high quality Up/Down/Cross converter optional AVB I/O Fully redundant Sync Pulse Generator & (AVB/IEEE 1588) Reference master clock

Point to Point, no switch needed, back to back usage NIO440

NIO440

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 1

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 1

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 1

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 1

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 2

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 2

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 2

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 2

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 3

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 3

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 3

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 3

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 4

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 4

3Gb/s SDI INPUT 4

3GB/s SDI OUTPUT 4

GPI/O

NIO440

NIO440 AVB SFP+

RS485

AVB SFP+

RS485

USB 1

USB 1 AVB SFP+

GigE ETHERNET

AVB SFP+

NEURON

GigE ETHERNET

NEURON

AIO88

AUDIO IN/OUT

NIO440

GigE ETHERNET

GPI/O

AUDIO IN/OUT NIO440

AUDIO IN/OUT

GigE ETHERNET

Thank you