Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY TIM SHUTTLEWORTH
The area of audio networking sys- Whats all this layer 2 versus layer 3 devices, controllers, computer software
tems has seen some rapid development stuff anyhow? These two questions and GUIs that make up a networked
recently with new technologies being are ver y much interrelated, and both audio system. So, let me state right up
announced and discussed, promoted must be addressed in order to provide front that Ethernet AVB will standard-
and critiqued. Systems integrators, a better understanding of where the ize the way media (thats audio signals
design consultants and engineers are various elements, protocols, methods and video signals) are routed over Eth-
left struggling to comprehend all this and commercial solutions fit in a fully ernet. AVB concerns itself with packag-
technology and gain a perspective on operational networked audio system. ing these digital media signals, and en-
what it all means for the short term suring that a connection route delivers
and longer term future of audio sys- Ethernet Suite Push this media content such that it can be
tems. The push toward the suite of IEEE reconstructed accurately, reliably and
Here, I will be addressing a couple standards generally referred to as quickly at the receiving device.
of specific questions that I hear a lot Ethernet AVB has received a lot of at- What it does not do is provide a
from the systems integration commu- tention and created a deal of momen- means to control any aspect of the
nity, and in doing so, will cover some tum in discussion forums from online sending or receiving device beyond
basics of current network schemes blogs to conference workshops. De- the routing of media content out of
for audio applications. Here are the spite all this dissemination, it remains and into devices via the network. As
two questions: Is Ethernet AVB the poorly understood in relation to how with so many things, there is a caveat
future? And, to plagiarize Bob Pease: it fits the overall landscape of audio to that statement: In the future, under
Tim Shuttleworth is editor of the Emerging Trends Report for the Audio Engineering Societys Technical Committee on
Networked Audio Systems. He is engineering manager with Renkus Heinz Inc., and is a technical papers reviewer and
papers session moderator for the recent AES 44th Conference on Audio Networking. He holds patents for techniques across
the spectrum of audio electronics, and is a co-author of the Harman HiQNet Protocol. He can be reached at t.shuttleworth@
sbcglobal.net.
Stardraw Design 7
left column of Table 2. Its the basis
on which both Ethernet local area net-
works (LANs) and the internet work.)
The important point about all this
is that Layer 2 wrappings have to be
handled and managed by the network
infrastructure to ensure correct rout-
ing and prioritization, as well as ap-
propriate bandwidth allocation. This
means that the Ethernet switches have
to be able to manage the wrappings at
Layer 2. The Layer 3 wrappings are of
no concern to the Ethernet switches,
and conversely, the Layer 3 software
need not concern itself with getting the
data packet across the network.
Table 3 describes the relationship
between these Ethernet layers and
the media streaming and command
and control protocols weve been con-
cerned with for getting our networked
audio system up and running. Media
transpor t using Ethernet AVB is a
Layer 2 activity. This means that the
infrastructure of the network, i.e., the
Ethernet switches, must understand
the protocols because they are going
to take responsibility for routing the
Copyright 2011 Stardraw.com Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
streaming media data from source See more at: www.stardraw.com/SandC
to destination together with all the
necessar y timing data, and ensuring
reser ved bandwidth along this route
guarantees delivery within the agreed
delay time (latency). system tools DESIGN
Table 3: Audio Related Protocols and their Ethernet Layers
TCP/IP Ethernets
Model Audio Related Protocols
Network Layer 3
Control
management, Media
Protocols: Layer 2
Layer Utility Transport:
OCA, X- Media
3 Protocols, Ravenna,
170, Transport: Dante, X-
etc., and
HiQNet AVB,
Applications 192
CobraNet
Layer Standard
2 TCP/IP Layer
Layer
Ethernet Layer
1
Proprietary Schemes lot of the implementation details have for these protocols can be created in
Note that, in Table 3, there are some been figured out by the schemes ven- a portable non-platform-specific form
proprietar y media transport schemes dor. Manufacturers must pay for the such as the C programming language
that operate at Layer 3 (Dante, Raven- privilege of using the protocol and its and compiled by a manufacturer to suit
na, etc.). These schemes use the pre- prepackaged implementation; usually its particular hardware processors.
existing Layer 2 protocols to manage a license fee accompanied by a per- So are we there yet? If there is at a
routing and timing without reliance on unit royalty, and in exchange, they point where all manufacturers can pro-
the new and imminent IEEE standards receive a lot of support incorporating vide networked devices that are fully
for Ethernet AVB. This provides the the scheme into their products: soft- interoperable and can be configured
advantage that AVB-compliant Ether- ware and firmware thats ready to go, and controlled by a common protocol
net switches are not required to build reference designs for hardware and and hence be managed by a single
a network using these schemes. As at even hardware modules for purchase. user interface software, the answer
this writing, AVB-compliant Ethernet To adopt a standard such as Ether- is no. Whats even more concerning
switches are not shipping extensively; net AVB or OCA (should this become is that we are seeing the emergence
you cant go to your local computer a standard as its promoters intend), a of competing standards to add to the
store and buy one. manufacturer must invest in its own abundance of existing competing pro-
Theres some advantage for the implementation of the standard and prietar y protocols.
Layer 3-based methods in the short commit to maintaining compliance Its hard to be optimistic that the
term. The trade-off, however, is that with the standard as it evolves in convergence required for this much
some quite serious care and attention the future. Of course, there are non- desired interoperability is even in pros-
is required to correctly select, set up brand third-party developers work- pect. Ethernet AVB and wide availabil-
and configure the network switches ing on implementation of the stan- ity of AVB-compliant Ethernet switches
and infrastructure. Im not going to dards approach, and manufacturers certainly will make configuring and
attempt to explain how these schemes can partner with these design houses setting up networks much simpler and
achieve reliable connections and time- rather than invest in in-house design more reliable. Thats no small achieve-
ly transfer of media content across resources. ment, and definitely something to look
the network. That is something for for ward to.
their promoters to explain. However, Hybrid Business Model But it looks like end users will be
being equipped with an understand- An interesting hybrid business stuck with competing protocols and
ing of how Ethernet layers work and model is being provided in relation their user interface control and moni-
how they relate to media transport to the X-170 command and control toring software applications for the
schemes and command and control protocol. In this case, a product de- foreseeable future. A thorough under-
protocols will enable a better under- veloper can choose to implement the standing of what part each of the vari-
standing of those explanations. standard itself or can buy a prepack- ous commercialized audio networking
aged implementation being offered as offerings plays in creating a complete
Implementation Details the commercialized version known as audio system and how to select the
Another important point in relation XFN. A similar business model may, best combinations for each system
to the proprietar y schemes being of- I suppose, emerge from the OCA Al- configuration will continue to be nec-
fered to device manufacturers is that a liance group. Software and firmware essar y. n