ARE WE THERE YET?

Audio networking over Ethernet in 2012.

Figure 1. Audio Network Devices and Protocols

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.

46 Sound & Communications

the auspices of IEEE1722.1, a means CobraNet as the audio signal distribu-
of limited control of device function- tion method.
ing, such as volume and mute may be This practice was railed against by
defined. serious industr y systems users such
First generation proprietar y audio- as the late Albert Leccese of Audio
over-Ethernet protocols such as Co- Analysts, who pointed out that what
braNet not only provided a means of the end user community wants is a
routing digitized audio signals between common control platform allowing a
devices on a network, but they also single software program (GUI) to find,
included some methods of controlling identify and fully configure and control
functions within those devices such as ever y audio device on a network.
gain, equalization, limiter/compres- Ethernet AVB provides a license-free
sor settings, and also means to return standard schema for media transport
signal information from devices to a over Ethernet. What it does not do is
monitoring controller such as a soft- move our industr y any closer to the
ware GUIas level meters. CobraNet, goal of a common control scheme
to continue that example, also included across branded products. The connec-
a means to encode other command and tion and routing management software
control functionality into network data for CobraNet, CobraNet Discover y,
packets to allow manufacturer-specific provided the same utility as now of-
(custom) non-audio command and con- fered by Ethernet AVB more than 10
trol data such as remote power/sleep years ago, albeit in a closed proprie-
and temperature or fault repor ting tary protocol requiring license fees and
back and forth between control devices per-channel royalties, and with some
and operational devices. Ethernet compatibility challenges.
Recently, efforts have focused on the
Proprietary Methods need for an open standard protocol for
Many adopters of CobraNet utilized device command and control allowing
(and still do) only the digital audio discovery and control of processing ob-
transport aspect of CobraNet and used jects embedded within network node
their own proprietary methods for con- devices. It is these command and con-
trol of signal processing objects and trol protocol open standards, coupled
reporting of status information using with standards for media transpor t
separate Ethernet interfaces (NICs) such as Ethernet AVB and AES X-192,
on their products to handle control that actually move us toward the ulti-
and command data. Some even use mate objective of a cross-brand com-
non-Ethernet networks for these com- mon control platform for an entire
mand and control data, such as RS422 networked audio system.
and RS485. This allowed manufactur- Table 1 diagrams where the dif-
ers to develop control protocols that ferent media transpor t and device
addressed their specific feature set control schemes map against the full
efficiently, but required end users to implementation reference example of
use separate software to control prod- CobraNet, complete with control and
ucts from different brands on the same monitoring of audio signal processing
network, even with all of them utilizing objects and non-audio parameters. Fig-
Table 1: Media Transport and Command and Control Protocols
AES X-170 OCA Alliance Harman
Draft Proposed Proprietary
CobraNet Ethernet AVB Standard Protocol Protocol
Non-Audio Control Data
(temperature, fault, remote power) OCA (Open
X-170
encoded/decoded/managed by Control HiQNet
(XFN)
CobraNet Passbridge or Packet Architecture) Command and
Command
Bridging Command Control
and Control
Audio DSP Object Control and and Control Protocol
Protocol
Monitoring using CobraNet Protocol
SNMP Library commands
Packetized audio routing and
connection management. Ethernet AVB
IEEE802.1Qav,
CobraNet Discovery
IEEE802.1AS, same rules. Well call these Layer 3. As
Audio stream
IEEE7122.1, long as the layers of wrapping can be
digitization/packetization and
IEEE1733, etc. interpreted by both the sending and re-
timing control. CobraNet packets,
CobraNet Conductor and beat ceiving application, the prizethe data
packet protocol payload at the core of the packetwill
reach its intended destination and be
ure 1 diagrams how these protocols this game, the host wraps something of usable and valuable.
interact with network devices; con- value to the participants (in this case, But the outer layers must be fully
trollers, computer software GUIs and a toy or chocolate bar, for instance) in compliant with the standardized rules
signal processors, and the processing multiple layers of wrapping paper. The of Ethernet protocols so the entire
objects and parameters within them. parcel is passed around the attendees network infrastructure understands
until a signal to stop when the current the wrappers. Well call this Layer 2.
possessor of the parcel removes one The wrapping layers for Layer 2 have
How Do Ethernet layer of wrapping. to be understood by the entire network
Layers Relate? The process continues until a lucky infrastructure because these are the
Armed with a better understanding participant removes the final wrapper layers of data that determine how and
of how the available protocols relate to and gains possession of the prize. Eth- where the data packet is to go.
operations across the network (such as ernet Layering is a lot like this game,
transport of media over the network), except that the outer layers have to be Started As OSI
and within devices on the network added according to strict rules gov- This whole concept started out as
(control of signal processing and re- erned by the authority in charge of the the OSI (Open Systems Interconnec-
porting of faults and so forth), lets Ethernet game, the IEEE. The first lay- tion) model that defined layers of
now look at how the concept of Eth- ers of wrapping can be applied by the wrapping for network data packets.
ernet Layers relates to all this. A com- host according to rules they dictate As developers of Ethernet systems be-
mon game played at childrens parties as long as the intended recipient is in came more familiar with implementing
in Britain is called Pass the Parcel. In possession of an understanding of the these layers, they became aggregated,
at least in discussion vocabular y, into
the three layer model most commonly
referred to in the Ethernet community.
Bittree 2 x 48 Micro-Video Patchbays It is this contemporar y 3 Layer model
Highest Bandwidth. Highest Density. Highest Value. being described in the wrapping of the
parcel analogy. Layer 1 is where the
actual connection to the physical net-
Highest-density Micro-Video format features 48 jacks per row
work is made. Above Layer 3 sits the
2 x 48 configuration, in 1 and 1.5 RU sizes
software application thats being used
SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 424M compliant
to do some work, such as browse the
DIN 1.0 / 2.3 rear termination
internet, transfer files from computer
High-bandwidth performance for SD/SDI, HD/SDI, 3-D and other 3 Gb/s applications
A to computer B, or communicate in-
Front panels optional 1 recess keeps patchcords from protruding beyond the rack,
saving space and ensuring tight connections structions to a remote device and, of
True 75ohm impedance with low return loss course, for streaming media.
Rear lacing bar keeps rack wiring organized Table 2 diagrams the relationship be-
tween the OSI models layers and the
800.500.8142 / 818.500.8142 / cs@bittree.com / www.bittree.com
more commonly used 3 Layer TCP/IP

48 Sound & Communications

 Table 2: The Network Layer Schemes

OSI Model 3 Layer TCP/IP Ethernets Model

This layer passes data back and forth from/to the
Application Layer
application software and provides utilities 7
Network management,
This layer converts between the application data
Presentation Layer Layer 3 Utility Protocols, etc.,
format and standard network data 6
and Applications
This layer manages the application to application
Session Layer
connections across the network 5
This layer typically communicates up through ports
Transport Layer Standard TCP/IP
and communicates down using TCP or UDP 4 Layer 2
This layer supports IP addresses and subnetting Layer
3 Network Layer
This layer is where the MAC address applies 2 Data Link Layer
Layer 1 Ethernet Layer
This layer is the physical connection Physical Layer
1

Ethernet model were actually talking

about. (TCP/IP refers to the Transmis-
sion Control Protocol/Internet Proto-
col suite of computer network proto-
cols, often called the Internet Model or
Available Now!
IP Model, which defines a standardized The new generation of the industry's
method to enable computers to com-
municate over a network and encom- leading design/documentation software
passes the functions described in the

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

50 Sound & Communications