The move to IP in broadcast is keeping customers and vendors in our industry occupied. Whilst IP is now a reality, there are still many hurdles to overcome, not least fast and seamless switching, network management and IP control and monitoring. Axon Digital Design, celebrating 30 years serving the broadcast industry, will showcase interoperable IP workflows that address these challenges on its stand at IBC2017 (10.A21). Partners featured include Arista, SDNsquare, sonoVTS, Embrionix, Meinberg and Utah Scientific.
Seamless IP switching in action
Axon has laid out its stand in such a way that it accommodates IP interoperability between multiple vendors in a typical production environment. Three Arista IP switches (7050SX2-128 and 2x 7050SX-72Q) provide the IP backbone for the live demo. One of the switches serves as the spine; the other two are leaves. This enables leaf/leaf configurations as well as leaf/spine/leaf setups.
Through SDNsquare’s GRID software, Axon will demonstrate super-fast seamless IP video switching as well as salvo switching with guaranteed quality of service. The Arista spine-leaf IP network is dynamically managed by SDNsquare GRID and scaled up to more than 80 HD video sources.
Hybrid Ethernet-SDI showcase
Visitors to Axon’s booth will also be able to see a live hybrid Ethernet-SDI demo. SDI sources will be converted to IP through Axon’s Synapse NIO440 module, an 8-channel bi-directional Ethernet/SDI bridge, from 3G/HD-SDI to uncompressed Ethernet video transport with de-centralized routing or via Embrionix’ SFP SDI to IP gateways. Hooked up to the IP infrastructure is a Utah Scientific Series 2 hybrid router which generates IP streams and routes streams into a sonoVTS hd2Line Pro Series FHD IP-display.
Also part of this hybrid IP environment is an Axon SynView IP multiviewer which receives the IP streams from the Arista backbone. The SynView SDI multiviewer is also hooked up and it receives its SDI input from an NIO440 which converts the IP stream into SDI. The whole system gets is timing from a Meinberg LANTIME M1000 through the Precision Timing Protocol (PTP). PTP allows precise synchronization in networks like e.g. Ethernet. By using hardware generated time stamps in the data packets an accuracy within the nanosecond range can be achieved.
IP Control & Network Management
A vital element in today’s and future IP broadcast environments is the control and monitoring of the IP infrastructure. At the heart of its IBC IP interoperability demonstration, Axon’s Cerebrum is used to enable the NMOS IS-04 / 05 Discovery, Registration and control protocols required to control a distributed IP routing system within Cerebrum. Future options in Cerebrum will enable easy configuration and setup, management and control of the network switches used in the system, provide Network Advanced Monitoring of the network switch performance and enable the automatic configuration of known IP devices and switch infrastructure.
“This year Axon is celebrating 30 years of service to the broadcast industry,” says Jan Eveleens Axon’s CEO. “Our continued success is based on our clear focus on clients’ challenges and delivering solutions they can rely upon. As IP becomes a reality, Axon’s excellence in broadcast infrastructure combined with solid IT expertise and collaboration with key partners will help those moving to IP overcome the technical issues that emerge in multi-vendor environments as well as pragmatically address the inevitable operational and cultural hurdles. We’re excited to be able to demonstrate this at IBC and help visitors navigate their chosen path.”
Axon is also participating in other IP interoperability demonstrations at IBC away from its booth. Visitors to the show will be able to experience the SynView 4K IP multiviewer and Cerebrum NMOS IS-04/05 capabilities as part of AIMS’ real world IP showcase in Room E.106 and the NIO440 Ethernet-SDI bridge can be seen in action in the sonoVTS IP display on stand 8.B44
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About Axon
Headquartered in The Netherlands, and with offices across the world, Axon develops, manufactures and markets high quality broadcast equipment for the conversion, processing, monitoring & control and compliance recording of audio and video signals. Products integrate advanced signal processing techniques, innovative engineering and modular flexibility and provide high quality, affordability and reliability within mission-critical broadcast applications. For more information please visit
www.axon.tv.
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