Lawo White Paper: IP Broadcast Networks Become Transparent By SVG Staff
Friday, December 7, 2018 - 1:15 pm
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Story Highlights
To achieve the full benefit of IP production infrastructures, network performance, and reliability are absolutely critical. The advent of these IP-based technologies requires a new range of diagnostic tools for monitoring and telemetry. Lawo has been at the forefront of addressing this need, developing and deploying SMART solutions that live at the intersection of broadcast and IT and offer a comprehensive solution for managing networked production infrastructures.
While hardly anybody in the midst of migrating towards, or already reaping the benefits of, a sophisticated IP broadcast network would seriously consider reverting to the brave old baseband world, most active IP users will admit one thing: there used to be a time when unplugging cables was a quick and painless way of troubleshooting a malfunctioning installation.
With the advent of IP, the cable-checking approach no longer works. Unplugging an RJ45 or optical cable will tell you almost nothing about which device is malfunctioning. At best, a whole rack goes off-line, the worst case being that the entire install stops working. Broadcast engineers need to know exactly which data originate where, where they are headed, which route they use, whether there are any bottlenecks and/or delays, what is causing them, etc.
This calls for a professional monitoring and telemetry solution that makes the black box as transparent as a crystal ball- campus-, country- and/or worldwide. This article introduces a solution that helps engineers and operators to perform deep packet analysis on all formats of media flows for audio, video and data, with special attention to ST-2110, OTT and PTP.
Background
As the professional broadcast industry is embracing IP-based infrastructures and data transport, users are starting to phase out traditional SDI baseband coaxial routing. Where desired, a converged network allows users to handle both corporate traffic and a new way of delivering high-quality media across the same fabric. The good news is that what used to take many dedicated rack units on a broadcast network is now drastically optimized with respect to overall footprint.
By leveraging IP technologies, customers are highly future-proofed in terms of scale, geographic reach and flexibility. In some cases, broadcast and network engineering personnel have started to work in concert with one another, while other outfits provide targeted IT training for one of their sound or video engineers. For a long time, a broadcast guy like myself was merely aware of network switches.
Nowadays I find myself studying data sheets and learning as much as I can about them, because our network people don't know much about broadcast. (TV 2 Norway)
Venturesome users have embraced IP remote productions where the bulk of the production crew works on the facility's premises, while two or three operators install the gear on-site and stand by to remedy any unexpected physical issues, like severed or faulty connections, that may crop up. Using WAN-capable IP-based gear allows broadcasters to both reduce travel time of their most talented people and to achieve substantial savings by remotely controlling cameras, audio mixes, commentary units, etc., from home. Another opportunity afforded by WAN (and IP) is the creation of networks that connect several geographic locations, with full access to any device anywhere on the network. Some users have already extended the IP network across an entire continent (e.g. Australia) and-given the positive results-started sharing resources on a global scale.
Virtualization and clever data transport strategies allow other creative designers of broadcast systems to allocate their resources in a dynamic fashion. Any given workplace can be used for a variety of tasks (off-tube commenting, video editing, graphics, etc.), depending on who logs into the booth in question. Does all of the above mean that the sky is the limit, considering that IP is also able to replace satellite uplinks?
All's Well That Sends Well
The answer is probably yes. While the statement is technically correct, there is a caveat: as always, snazzy technology is a heaven-sent while it works. But what do you do if something malfunctions? And since we're talking about an IP infrastructure: where do you start looking for the problem? What clues are there pointing in one direction (device lost due to a severed connection) rather than another (conflicting IP addresses)?
Figure 1. Traditional 3G/HD/SD-SDI test & measurement equipment
From the perspective of a traditional broadcast engineer who is very knowledgeable about an SDI backboned service playout, master control or transmission operation, it is common to find a gap of understanding and perhaps even a sense of responsibility when those services traverse an IP-switched network. Conversely, a traditional network engineer may be totally unaware of time- sensitive digital broadcast standards, such as 3G/HD/SD-SDI, 3Gbs, 12Gbs, synchronization protocols like PTP, and seamless frame-accurate switching, to name but a few.
Historically, the direct approach to solve these challenges has been to invest in broadcast and network tools, each specifically purpose- built for the application and user. For example, Tektronix and Leader (Figure 1), are major players in the SDI broadcast space, with specialized tools for signal verification and validation. Yet, they do not allow operators to inspect the connectivity and conditions of the network.
Figure 2. Traditional IT enterprise and monitoring software
On the other hand, solutions like Solar Winds and Nagios (Figure 2) are considered by network engineering and operations to be best-practice monitoring enterprise sof
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Lawo White Paper: IP Broadcast Networks Become Transparent By SVG Staff 
