Issue4July2007

CBCTECHNOLOGYREVIEW
www.cbc.radiocanada.ca

IPBASEDRADIOPRODUCTIONANDNETWORKING:A PATHTOTHEFUTURE

PierreRobidoux,Eng. SeniorEngineer NewBroadcastTechnologies

ABSTRACT Analogradiosystemsuseacentralizedsignalbasedworkflow.Whendigitizationcamealong, theworkflowstayedunchangedformostradiostations.Digitalaudiorecordersreplacedanalog ones,signalprocessingandswitchingbecamealldigital,andsignaltransportbecameAES/EBU (AudioEngineeringSociety/EuropeanBroadcastingUnion). Oneofthemainremainingproblemsatnewdigitalradiositesisallthewiringstillneededto transport the audio signal, mainly because of the routing topology. AES/EBU will only carry twochannelsinonedirection.Countlesscablesarestillcarryingtheaudiosignalfromsources todestinationsviaamastercontrolroom,aswasdoneintheformeranalogworld. InanIPvirtualtopology,Ethernetswitchessendaudiostreamsfromporttoport,routingthe signalinrealtimedirectlyfromanysourcetoanysingleoranymultipledestinations. Thisarticleforradiobroadcasterspresentstechnologicalelementsformigratingtoacompletely networkedIPaudioinfrastructure. INTRODUCTION Theuseofcomputertechnologiesissharplyontheincreaseinbroadcasting,especiallyinradio. Many operators are already using DTR (Desktop Radio) and DAW (Desktop Audio Workstation) and have been doing so for several years now. Almost all DTR systems are networkbased. Metadata management is done by an SQL (Structured Query Language) databaseserver,andaudioitemsarestoredononeormorefileservers.Ontheaudioplayback andrecordside,manyDTRinstallationsuseAES/EBUorevenanaloginputs/outputs.

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Currently,radiobroadcastingismovingtowardsITordatacentricarchitectureonalargescale, usingatapelessenvironment,filebasedworkflow,metadatamanagement,contentIPtransport andnetworks.WearenowfamiliarwithVoiceoverIP(VoIP).Thistechnologyisusedbymany phone services and in corporations and is replacing the traditional PBX (Private Branch eXchange). TheconceptofusinganEthernetnetworktotransportaudiocanbeapplied,withconsiderable benefit, to radio broadcasting and many manufacturers are already offering networked audio systems.AxiaTMandDigigramTMareamongthekeyplayersinaudioIPnetworktechnology forradiobroadcasting. Thispaperdoesnotsupportorpromoteanyparticulartechnology.Itsimplyshowssomeofthe practicalaspectsofrealworldAudiooverEthernet(AoE)forradiostations. ADVANTAGESFORARADIOSTATIONTOMIGRATETOIP Atfirstsight,IPnetworkpacketizedtransportdoesnotseemtobetheeasiestsolutionforaudio. IP was not designed to transport realtime data. However, this technology is gaining an increasinglylargemarketshareinradiobroadcasting,mainlyforthefollowingreasons: Transport:Computercablecantransporttheaudiosignaltoadistanceofupto80km usingopticalfiber(singlemode)andupto100metersusingcopper. Distribution: The receiving devices just listen to the feed from the source devices in multicastmode.Distributionamplifiersarenolongernecessary. Routing: There is no centralized crosspoint audio router. Audio routing is done by standardcomputerswitches. Convergence:TheaudionetworkusestheexistingcomputerinfrastructureastheDTR workstations,serversandofficecomputers. Cost: Mainly because of the widespread availability of computer technologies, an IP systemischeapertoinstall,supportandoperate. Flexibility: Compared to a traditional fixed studio installation, a modular IP audio networkcanbeconfigured,modifiedandupgradedmuchmoreeasily. Scalability: In a multilevel topology, IP is very scalable. The bandwidth would restrict thesizeofanIPradiosite,butGigabitEthernethaspushedthislimitsignificantly.

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Figure1illustratesaclientserverDTRsystem.ConventionalworkstationAhasaprofessional broadcastAES/EBUaudiocard(3stereoinputs and3stereooutputs).IPbasedworkstationB onlyneedsanetworkcardtoaccess(audiostreams)upto16stereoinputsand16stereooutputs viaswitchB.BothswitchesarelinkedtoenableworkstationBtoaccesstherestofthenetwork. AFIRSTSTEP IP audio technologies offer a wide range of possibilities for audio projects, from a simple EthernetPCsoundcardtoacompletemultiplestudioradiobroadcastsite.Asafirstexample,a 16pairaudiocableisreplacedbyasinglecomputercable. Figure2showsanexampleofanIPaudioprojectusingRaveTMdigitalaudiorouters.

ThefirstaudioIPunit(left)has16analogaudioinputs.TheotheraudioIPunit(right)has16 analog outputs. This Ethernet snake can use a Cat5 crossover cable, without a switch, at lengths up to 100 meters (328 feet). With a switch, this maximum doubles. A coppertofiber mediaconvertercanalsobeusedtosignificantlyextendthismaximumlength.

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STUDIOCOMPONENTS

ExampleofastudiocontrolsurfacefromAxiaTMandStuderTMfornetworkedaudio IntheIPworld,theconsolebecomesacontrolboardonly.Mixing,processingandotheraudio functions,suchasmixminus,EQandauxiliaryfeeds,areprovidedbyaseparatehardwareunit calledthecoreorstudioengine.Thefaders,buttonsandothercontrolscanbemappedinto pagestoservedifferentpurposes(assignedtoseveralfunctions).

AstandaloneI/OIPnodeandaninput/outputrackwithIPcapability OneoftheIPsystemsusesseparate(fromthestudioengine)IPdevicesforaudiosignalinput andoutput(analoganddigital).AnothersystemusesanIPaudiocard,whichisinstalledinits I/Oroutingracktoenableupto128audiochannelstobetransportedviaasingleCAT5cable INTERNETPROTOCOL(IP) TheInternetProtocolislayerstructuredtoprovideefficientcommunicationbetweendifferent kindsofcomputers.Severalversionsofthislayeringmodelaredocumented.Theyhavefouror five layers, and different names are used for the layers. IP is based on the original DoD (U.S. Department of Defence) ARPANET layered model created in the 1970s. Today, IP is used, amongmanyothers,bythelargestworldwidepubliccomputernetwork:theInternet. Indepthcomputingexpertiseisnotmandatory,butbasicIPknowledgeisessentialforbuilding andsupportinganetworkedaudiofacility.

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Figure3presentsa5layerconceptforIPaudionetworking(overEthernet): Physical(ElectricalInterface) Hardware communication for PCs and IP devices is provided by an NIC (Network InterfaceController,orNetworkInterfaceCard).ThestandardforaudioistheEthernet, using100BaseT(100Mbps)and1000BaseT(1000Mbps)cables.Thesecablesaremade of eight conductors, four UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pairs), and RJ45 8pin plugs. Category5e(enhancedCat5)cablemaybeacceptable,butCat6cableisrecommended. MediatwistTM Cat6 is often suggested. Cable pinout should be TIA/EIA (Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Alliance) T568 B compliant, a standard commonly used for data applications. 1000BASET Gigabit Ethernet(GbE)isalsoknownastheIEEE802.3abstandard. EthernetorDataLink(orSwitching) Each NIC has a unique 48bit ID assigned by manufacturers: the MAC (Media Access Control) address. The Layer 2 header contains this address, which is used for local (intrasite)communications.TheMACaddresshasthefollowingformat:001124EB28 DG. The IEEE 802.3 group of standardsdefines the physical layer (1) and the MAC part of thedatalinklayer(2)(wiredEthernet). IP(NetworkorRouting) ThetaskofIPistogetpacketsofdatafromthesourcetothedestination.Thedotteddecimal notationofthe32bitIPaddressconsistsoffouroctetsofeightbitsseparatedbythreedots.An exampleofanIPaddressis192.15.121.10.Theleftmostbitsindicatethenetworkaddress.The othersindicatethehost(PCorIPdevice)address.

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The number of bits assigned to each is determined by the class. For a mediumsized organization,aclassBwillbeneeded,butaclassCwillsufficeforasmallorganization. Class A B C D E AddressRange 1.0.0.0to126.0.0.0 128.1.0.0to191.254.0.0 192.0.1.0to223.255.254.0 224.0.0.0to239.255.255.255 240.0.0.0to254.255.255.255 Max.Hosts 167772142 65534 254 MulticastGroups Experimental

Between the Data Link and the network layers is the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), a serviceforfindingthecorrespondencebetweentheMACaddressandtheIPaddress. Foraudionetworkdesign,bothIPandMACaddressesforeachhostmayberequired.OnaPC (usingthecommandline),ipconfigallwillprovideboththeMACandIPaddressesofthePC. TodisplaytheARPtable,enterarpa,usingthecommandline.Thecommandpingisusedto testwhetheraspecificsystemisvisibleonanIPnetwork.PingsendsanICMP(InternetControl MessageProtocol)echorequest.Example:ping1.126.23.12 UDP/RTP(Transport) UDP(UserDatagramProtocol)ismainlyusedforapplicationssuchasstreamingaudio andvideo,whereontimedeliveryismoreimportantthanreliability.UDPusesasend andforgetstrategywithnoacknowledgmentprocess,asisthecaseforTCP.Thereare fourfieldsinaUDPheader.Oneofthemisthesourceport,anotherthedestinationport. RTP (Real Time Protocol), a layer built on top of UDP, has a timestamp and sequence numberfieldsinitsheaderforsynchronizationandjitterprocesses.RTPwasoriginally designed as a multicast protocol for delivering realtime media over an Ethernet network. AoE(AudiooverEthernet)Application. Inthislayer,wefindprotocolssuchasHTTP,FTPandSMTP.InAoE,theprotocolusedwillbe, forexample,LivewireTMorEtherSoundTM.Thesearerealtimeaudiostreamingapplications thatincludesomeformofcontrolandidentificationdialog. The14fieldsofanIPpacket(13header+1data)forIPv4areshowninthetablebelow. Version ToS IHL TotalLength Identification Flags Frag.Offset TTL Protocol HeaderChecksum SourceAddress DestinationAddress IPOptions Data

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ThespecificfieldsthatrequirespecialattentionforAoEare: ToS(TypeofService):Thisisforassigningdifferentlevelsofimportancetodatagrams. Information on setting this field can be found in the section entitled Networking in thispaper. TTL(TimeToLive):Thecounter,setatthesource,whichdecrementsateveryhop.If thisfieldreachesthevalueofzerobeforethedataarrivesatitsdestination,thedatawill bediscarded. Protocol:Indicatestheupperlayerprotocol(UDPforaudiooverIP). SourceAddress:Thesendinghostaddress. DestinationAddress:Thereceivinghostaddress. Data:Containsupperlayerinformation(from/totheTransportlayer)

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BUILDING A COMPLETE BROADCAST STUDIO Figure4showsasimplebutcompletemodular(networked)IPbasedradiostudio.

The audio workstation, the audio I/O modules and the control surface are connected to the switch at 100 Mbps. The mixing and processing module and the link to other studio(s) or the mastercontrolroomareconnectedtotheswitchat1000Mbps.Theaudiomodulesandaudio workstationswillbeassignedtwoIPaddresses,oneforcontrol,theother(aClassD)foraudio streaming.Thevirtualaudioroutingamongthemodulesandtheaudioworkstationisdoneby managementandmonitoringsoftware.

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QoE,QoSandINSTRUMENTS Quality is the evaluation of the degree of excellence. Quality of Experience (QoE) is the consumers perception of how good a service is. QoE should be planned, and it should be predicted. It cannot be based on afterthefact consumer complaints alone. QoE is directly relatedtothetechnicalQualityofService(QoS). QoS, the broadcasters evaluation of the service has to be measured and it needs to be monitoredusingproperinstrumentation.Itcannotbepresumedgoodwithoutbeingtested.

AudioPrecisionTMATS2 FlukeTMcabletester CiscoTMSAA(ServiceAssuranceAgent)

A tone generator and an oscilloscope used to be enough for most maintenance tasks in an analog only environment. The arrival of digital audio changed this. There is a need now for moresophisticated test equipment. Families of products from firms like Audio PrecisionTM perform simple and advanced generation (including FFT [Fast Fourier Transform]) and measurements of analog audio signal and AES/EBU digital audio data to ensure content integrity. IPnetworkQoSforrealtimeaudioisbasedmainlyonfourelements: The Bandwidth has to be secured. For each stream, there is a minimum bandwidth requirement.Forexample,anuncompressedstandardstreamwouldhaveabitrateof2.3 Mbps.AGigabitEthernetlinkwouldcarryupto430audiochannels. Packet Loss can be caused by several factors, such as signal degradation, an oversaturated network, corrupted packets, faulty networking hardware, or the routing configuration. Jitteristhevariationinpacketarrivaltime.AudioIPdevicesrequireajitterbuffer. Latencyisafixeddelayinarrivaltime.Lessthan3msissaidtobeacceptable. Oneofthemajormanufacturersofswitchesandroutersofferstools,oneofthembeingarouter probe,formeasuringdelay,jitterandpacketloss. Cables and connectors are blamed 70 to 80% of the time when problems occur in a network environment. In addition to conductivity testing, proper troubleshooting instruments and methodsshouldbeavailable,especiallyfor100/1000BaseTsignalcarryingwiring. USINGCOMPUTERSINIPRADIO In a mixed clientserver/peertopeer topology for an IPbased radio station project, PCs and servershaveatendencytomultiplyveryrapidly.ANIPradiositewouldhaveDTRclientand server software, several control software programs, administrative software programs, and
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automation software. Furthermore, clustering and/or redundancy would add on systems. For audio workstations, PCs would be kept in place, mainly for DSP (Digital Signal Processing) functions.Forallothertypesofwork,fromofficetosystemmanagement,therearesolutionsfor gettingjobsdoneefficiently.

BSITM DTR system

Thin client

16-blade servers (10 U rack)

Herearesomeitemstoconsiderforareliablemissioncriticalsystemand,atthesametime,for minimizingthetotalcostofownership(TCO)ofanIPbasedradiostationproject. BladeServersarenotthesolutiontoeverysituation,butwhenthereisaneedformany serversinasmallspace,itisoneoptiontoconsider.Abladeenclosure(rack)provides power,cooling,networking,interconnectionsandsystemmanagement.Eachbladeisa complete hotswappable server (including a hard drive). Blade storage units, blade switchesandotheraccessoriesarecommerciallyavailableaswell. AnApplicationServerisasoftwareservice(layer)thatrunsontopofaWindowsserver and that delivers applications to client computers or thin clients. MicrosoftTM uses the RemoteDesktopProtocol(RDP)foritsgraphic terminalservices.CitrixTMalso offeran application delivery system that runs on a Windows server which uses ICA (IndependentComputingArchitecture)protocol. AThinClientisagraphicterminalthatworksinaclient/serverarchitecture.Theserver processesalltheactivities,andthethinclientdisplaystheminaWindowsenvironment. ItsadvantagesaremainlylowerITadministrativecosts,lowerhardwarecosts,thefact that it provides a more secure infrastructure, and easier upgrade capability. Most thin clientscomewithRDPandICAprotocols. AUPSshouldbeusedtoensureacontinuoussupplyofelectricalpowerwhenutility supplied power poses problems, such as transients, interruptions, undervoltages, overvoltages,voltagefluctuations,waveformdistortions,andfrequencyvariations. ThePCsselectedforradiocontentproduction(DTR)shouldbereliableanddependable, asshouldtheotheraudiobroadcastequipment.ConsumerhomePCsarenotanoption.

NETWORKING BuildinganIPradiositeismoreelaboratethansimplyhavingtoconnectafewPCsconfigured as a workgroup on a hub. One of the main aspects is, of course, networking. If no trained professionalisavailableonsite,itwouldbeagoodideatogetoutsidesupport.
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Figure5showsamulticastsession.Asourcehasstreamingaudioavailableatasinglemulticast address(ClassDaddress,from224.0.0.0to239.255.255.255).Hosts(PCsorIPdevices)mayjoin (in order to receive the audio stream) or leave the multicast group. IGMP (Internet Group ManagementProtocol),aLayer3function,isusedtomanagethepresenceofmembers(hosts) inthemulticastgroup.Thisisdonetominimizetrafficonthenetwork. Alargepartofnetworkengineeringhastodowithswitchinstallationandconfiguration.Here aresomebasicconceptstolookatwhenbuildinganIPstudio: IP audio network firms recommend specific families of switches for reliable operations. Switches normally operate only in Layer 2, the Data Link. The only address processed in this layer is the MAC. Because of the need to read and process the IP header (in Layer 3, the Network), the switches suggested by IP audio manufacturers offer additional Layer 3 functionalities at the IP level. Ethernet switches have to be transparent to IEEE (Institute of ElectricalandElectronicsEngineers)802.1p/QEthernetpacketsandalsobeIGMPcompliant. TheDiffServ,aLayer3ToS(TypeofService),usesoneoftheIPheaderfieldsinIPv4(theToS Byte).TheIETF(InternetEngineeringTaskForce)agreedtoreusetheToSbyteastheDSfield forDiffServnetworks.Therefore,DiffServarchitecturenowsupersedestheToSfield. The six most significant bits of the DiffServ field are called the DSCP (Differentiated Service CodePoint). DS5 1 DS4 0 DS3 1 DS2 1 DS1 1 DS0 0

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TheQoSconfigurationshouldbeset(101110)inExpeditedForwarding(EFPHB)modetobuild a lowloss, lowlatency, lowjitter assured bandwidth service. PHB stands for PerHop Behaviour. IEEE802.1p/Qusesaninternaltaggingschemetoinserta4fieldtagintotheoriginalEthernet framebetweentheSA(SourceAddress)andtheT/L(Type/Length)fields. Layer2CoS(ClassofService) P S DA SA

TAG

T/L

Data

FCS

Thenewtaggedheaderhastwofields,PRIORITYandVID,whichareimportantforIPaudio networks. Numberofbits 16 3 1 12 FrameField TPID PRIORITY CFI VID ThePRIORITYfield(3bit)canrepresenteightlevelsofpriority.ItisadvisabletosetAoEto level6,asshowninthefollowingtable. PriorityLevel Assignment 7 NetworkControl 6 NetworkedAudio(AoE) 5 TelephoneAudio(VoIP) 4 VideoConferencing 3 NetworkedAudioSystemControl 2 HighPriorityData 1 MediumPriorityData 0 BestEffortData The VLAN identifier (VID) is a 12bit field. It can have a value of 0 to 4095. VLAN is a technology that makes it possible to have isolated LANs on the same physical network infrastructure.Switchesmayofferportbasedortaggedbased(usingtheVIDfield)operations. CONCLUSION ForanIPaudioproject,itisnotadvisabletoadoptadeployandforgetattitude.Information gathering,discussionswithusers,goodplanning,properarchitecture,andsubsequenttraining are paramount for ensuring a successful stateoftheart hightech IP radio site project. Radio maintenancetechniciansandengineerswouldhavetobeknowledgeableaboutIPnetworking, in addition to analog and digital audio, because of this new convergence of technologies. Computing (mainly networking) and IP audio manufacturers offer extensive practical documentation,goodsupportandtraining.AudiooverEthernetisnolongerafuturisticidea;it issuccessfullybeingdeveloped,inradiobroadcasting.

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REFERENCES [1]ANetworkEnableRadioConsoleArchitecture,MichaelDosch,AxiaAudio. [2]AudioRouting,2007,Radiomagazine(beradio). [3]BridgingBetweenIEEE802.1QVLANs,CiscoSystems. [4]BuildingEtherSoundNetworks,Digigram. [5]ConfiguringCiscoCatalystSwitchesforLivewireTM,AxiaAudio. [6]DIFFSERVTheScalableEndtoEndQoSModel,CiscoSystems. [7]EthernetforStudioAudioSystems,SteveChurch,Telos. [8]ExperimentswithMediaTwist,BeldenWebsite. [9]ImplementingQualityofServicePolicieswithDSCP,CiscoSystems. [10]InsideTCP/IPthirdedition,NewRidersPublishing. [11]InterSwitchLinkandIEEE802.1QFrameFormat.CiscoSystems. [12]IPAudioNetworksintheRealWorld,ClarkNovak,AxiaAudio. [13]IP,QoSandIGMP.TechnologyDocumentation,CiscoSystems. [14]MeasuringDelay,Jitter,andPacketLosswithCiscoIOSSAAandRTTMON,Cisco. [15]NetworkedAudio,2005,WheatstoneCorporation. [16]OverviewAnIntroductiontotheES100Technology,Digigram. [17]QualityofExperienceforMediaoverIP,IneoQuest. [18]SystemDesignReference&Primer,2004,AxiaAudio. [19]UsingCategory5/5e/6forAudioandVideoApplications,Belden.

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Pierre Robidoux has been with RadioCanada since 1980. He received a

degree in electrical engineering from the cole de technologie suprieure (Universit du Qubec) in 1993. Pierre has worked in the VTR,Radio OperationsandRadioMaintenanceDepartments,wherehecreated,among other things, a system for controlling all the French radio network transmittersfromtheMontrealnewsroomforthepurposeofairingspecial newscasts. That project earned him the 2001 MICAM Award. Pierre joined New Broadcast Technologiesin2007.Hehasworked,amongotherthings,ontheevaluationofIPaudiocodecs and H.264 (MPEG4 AVC) and WM9 (VC1 SMPTE 421M) encoders for digital multimedia broadcasting.PierreismemberoftheAESandtheSMPTE.

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