R&D - Other Media Over IP standards & specifications

Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation (ASPEN)

Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation (ASPEN) is an open video transport framework that enables the flow of video, audio and metadata as separate streams using MPEG-2 transport architecture in an IP-based facility. 

Published as SMPTE RDD 37, ASPEN was introduced at the NAB show in 2015 and is an initiative of Evertz Microsystems facilitating the transition to IP infrastructures in Broadcast (Grotticelli, 2016).

ASPEN expands on and has its foundation on serval other standards including IEC 13818-1 (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) extending this standard to include uncompressed 3G/HD/SD over TS, SMPTE ST 302 (for Audio transport), SMPTE ST 2038 (for ancillary data) and SMPTE 2022-2 used to encapsulate the transport streams into IP (SMPTE RDD 37). Figure 1 shows an ASPEN packet format.

ASPEN Packet format

In favour of SMPTE ST 2110, ASPEN standard will no longer be marketed. According to Evertz, the publishers of ASPEN the aim of the standard is being meant by SMPTE ST 2110 and they will provide support for their clients who already deployed ASPEN to move over to SMPTE ST 2110 (SVG Europe, 2017).

Networked Media Interface (NMI)

The Networked Media Interface (NMI), is the underlying technology of Sony's IP Live production solutions. Launched in 2014, NMI delivers low latency and noise-free video switching, by packetising video, audio and metadata independently, enabling real-time transmission between production devices on standard network infrastructure (Nexteravideo.com, 2016).

When packetising the media essence, NMI uses the header of each IP packet to differentiate between video, audio and metadata streams; making it easy to extract and distribute these essence streams separately (Nexteravideo.com, 2016). 

NMI uses Low Latency Video Codec (LLVC) sony's proprietary video codec to compress 4k videos for transmission over 10 GbE Ethernet links. It also uses the standard network protocol stack like IP, UDP, RTP, IGMP and more.

To ensure multi-vendor interoperability, Sony collaborated with over 50 industry leaders during the initial rollout of NMI. 

Key elements of the IP Live production workflow were submitted and subsequently standardised by SMPTE they are;

• RDD 34:2015 LLVC - Low Latency Video Codec for Network Transfer
• RDD 38:2016 Networked Device Control Protocol - Message Data Structure and Method of Communication
• RDD 40:2016 Essence-independent IP Live Networked Media Transport

Network Device Interface (NDI)

Network Device Interface (NDI) is a royalty-free media over IP protocol created by NewTek, that allows compatible video devices to share video, audio, and metadata over an IP network (NewTek Knowledge Base, 2018).

Unveiled at IBC 2015, NDI is capable of delivering bi-directionally media flows across a standard GigE network, enabling devices connected to the same network to encode, transmit, receive or send high quality, low latency video and audio streams in real time (Aleksandersen, 2017). 

NDI use the multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) for automatic discovery and registration of devices on a network. Depending on the available network bandwidth any NDI source can serve numerous destinations. 

NDI is flexible, scalable, easy to implement using standard 1GbE Ethernet switches and Cat63 thereby eliminate the need for costly network infrastructures and future proofing with support for 8K and UHD video formats (Schmutzler, 2017) 

A major difference between NDI and the SMPTE standards (ST2022 and ST 2110) is the transport of compressed video obtainable in NDI, this has its benefits especially in areas where uncompressed videos are not needed and save on bandwidth requirements (Aleksandersen, 2017). 

The NDI technology is by far the most widely implemented low bandwidth video transport protocol, with over 400 third-party manufacturers adopting NDI in their products and over a million video devices shipped with NDI support (Schmutzler, 2017).

AES67

First published in 2013, by the Audio Engineering Society (AES). AES67 is a standard for network audio applications that enables high-performance audio-over-IP streaming interoperability among various IP-based audio devices.


The standard provides comprehensive interoperability recommendations covering synchronisation, media clock identification, network transport, encoding and streaming, stream description and connection management in audio networks.


AES67 is not a protocol; it leverages existing protocols in high-performance media networks to deliver high-quality, high capacity and low-latency digital audio transport compatible with live sound reinforcement.

RTP packets are used to carry PCM audio samples, and each audio channel is transported as an individual audio stream, routable separately within an IP routing fabric.

The AES67 standard includes various choice parameters for sample rates, packet sizes, number of channels and bit depths with strict Interoperability requirement that vendors must implement and it works on standard network switches.


A widely accepted standard, AES67 is used in commercial audio applications, broadcast, music production and post-production facilities.


The latest revision of the standard, AES67-2018 was published in 2018.

References

Aleksandersen, D. (2017). WHAT IS NDI® (NETWORK DEVICE INTERFACE)?. [Blog] NEWS & VIEWS. Available at: https://newsandviews.dataton.com/what-is-ndi-network-device-interface [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].

Grotticelli, M. (2016). ASPEN Provides a “Safe Path” to IP - The Broadcast Bridge - Connecting IT to Broadcast. [online] Thebroadcastbridge.com. Available at: https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/7315/aspen-provides-a-safe-path-to-ip [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].

Nexteravideo.com. (2016). Networked Media Interface (NMI) | Nextera Video. [online] Available at: http://www.nexteravideo.com/networked-media-interface [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].

Schmutzler, P. (2017). Multicam Sports Webcasting With NDI and the TriCaster TC1. Streaming Media, [online] (Vol. 14 Issue 8), pp.70-74. Available at: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.derby.ac.uk/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=b9872c57-70bc-482f-b706-ee556e60d794%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=126812849&db=bth [Accessed 20 Feb. 2019].

https://nevion.com/blog/standards/
https://nevion.com/blog/whitepaper-how-to-move-incrementally-to-ip/
http://aspen-community.com/technology
https://www.ravenna-network.com/aes67/what-is-aes67-1/
http://www.aes.org/publications/standards/search.cfm?docID=96