NfRemote Software Control

NfRemote software is capable of configuring any AERO processor including AERO.enterprise. This includes AERO units that have front panel controls (AERO.10, 1000, 2000, and 2400). NfRemote has many features while also being easy to use and secure. Installation and general use topics are covered below.

NfRemote is an MS Windows application that can be downloaded and installed on any devices running a relatively modern version of Windows. Examples: Windows 11, 10, 8, or Vista. NfRemote supports control using mouse, trackpad or touch screen.

The latest NfRemote application can be downloaded from the Telos Alliance website.

1. In a broser navigate to: www.telosalliance.com

2. click the search icon in the upper right of the page.

3. Enter AERO.20

4. On the result page that opens select the AERO.20 product page

5. On the product page click on Software on the right hand side

6. Click on the NfRemote link to download to the PC

Each new version of NfRemote is backward compatible with older AERO units. However, an older version of NfRemote will not display or control parameters that did not exist when the earlier version was released. It is advisable to always use the latest version of NfRemote because it is capable controlling all parameters of all units. When receiving a new unit, or updating an existing unit, always download and run the version of NfRemote having the same software version or a higher version. When any unit is software updated the NfRemote version in the unit’s http server is updated too.

Downloading NfRemote From the AERO

All AERO hardware unit’s also have a built-in HTTP server with the version of NfRemote that matches the unit’s software version. This version is accessible after connecting NfRemote to an AERO the first time and configuring the http whitelist to include the network segment(s) or specific PC IP address which will have access to the AERO.

To download NfRemote from an AERO’s HTTP server:

1. In order to connect to an AERO’s built-in webpage the PC must be in the AERO’s whitelist.

   1. The AERO ships with a whitelisted network of 192.168.*.*

   2. The AERO Control NIC port is set to DHCP when the unit ships.

   3. Connect the AERO unit to a 192.168.*.* network with DHCP.

2. From a PC on the same network open a web browser.

   1. Connect to the AERO’s HTTP server at the AERO’s IP address. This will be shown on the AERO’s front panel

   2. See the section on AERO front panel controls, below, if the unit’s IP address is not visible on the front panel.

   3. Connect to the AERO web server at: <AERO IP address>:7380 (omit the < > when entering the IP address in the browser)

   4. If an IP address that is different than the AERO unit’s IP there are 2 possibilities:

      1. The AERO is not on the network.

      2. The network cable is plugged into the wrong AERO network port.

3. When connected, a Welcome to AERO window appears.

4. The link to download NfRemote is near the bottom of the page under Downloadables. See figure 1, below.

   

Figure 1: Browser display when connected to AERO’s HTTP server

5. Download the NfRemote installer by clicking the link for the NfRemote .exe file.

Installing NfRemote

To install NfRemote on your Windows computer:

1. Copy the NfRemote application to an MS  Windows computer or tablet.

2. Double-click the NfRemote .exe file to begin the installation.

3. Select from the three options:

   • Cmd Line Help

   • Just Run

   • Install:

4. Normally, Install is selected.

   1. This installs the NfRemote software on the PC or tablet.

   2. Show icon on desktop can be selected, if desired.

5. When installation is complete, launch the NfRemote software.

6. When the NfRemote connection window appears, enter the IP address and password of your AERO. The default password for AERO.enterprise or a new unit out of the box is 1234. You may also fill in a user-friendly name in the Comment field to help identify the unit.

   Note: For AERO units with front panel control, a password is required to unlock the unit’s front panel control. The default factory password is 1234.

Figure 2: Initial NfRemote connection window

7. (Optional) Click the Add button to add this AERO to a quick recall list as shown above.

8. Click the dropdown on the right side of NfRemote and choose the control type. “Local Mouse” is shown in Figure 2, above.

9. Click Connect or double click the name of the device in the list to launch NfRemote.

10. NfRemote should connect and the control GUI appears. See Figure 3 below.

Figure 3 - NfRemote connected to an AERO unit (Tabbed Navigation view)

Working with an NfRemote Window

NfRemote’s GUI has consistent elements to navigate and adjust parameters. To navigate and adjust controls in an NfRemote window, perform any of these steps:

1. To select a menu item or control, click on a menu item or control.

2. To adjust sliding controls, click and hold the left mouse button while dragging the mouse right or left

3. Double clicking on a slider opens a popup with course and fine controls that increase or decrease the value in discrete steps..

4. Hover the cursor over a parameter to display:

   1. parameter name: current value

   2. The path to the parameter,

   3. The path can be used to chnage the value using ASCII commands

   4. Control coammds will work when sent to either the Control or AoIP NIC ports. See figure 4, below.

Figure 4: Parameters displayed by hovering over a control with your mouse

4. To save parameter names and commands on the Windows Clipboard:

   4. Right-click inside the parameter popup “box”.

   5. Select whether to copy the parameter value or both the parameter path and its value.

   6. Example parameter value to be copied: Upmix Enable: On

   7. Example parameter path and value to be copied: /inst_1/umx1/md_upmix_enable=1

   8. All controllable parameters are available, and searchable from the AERO internal webpage. See Figure 1, above.

5. The NfRemote connection and main windows are fully resizeable

   4. To resize an NfRemote window:

   5. Use the handles at each corner of the window.

   6. As you adjust the size, the displays, controls, and tabs in the window dynamically adjust themselves to make the best use of available screen real estate.

NfRemote Main Window Overview

After successful connection, the NfRemote window its main window. This window includes status information, displays and buttons to select menus and control submenus. The window looks slightly different depending on whether or not Tabbed or Tree navigation has been selected in the Menu dropdown.

Figure 5: NfRemote main window, Tabbed Navigation view

At the top of the GUI are displays that show the AERO’s CPU Load, Client Volume (streaming audio), headphone volume, and the Client Volume (the host PC’s CPU load).

In some cases, when the main window is made smaller, the controls combine and a drop-down arrow appears, allowing you to select individual controls.

Click the Menu button at the top right of the GUI to show a drop-down menu with viewing options.

1. Click the Menu button to display the options

   1. Display Only

      1. Hides all buttons and controls

      2. Shows only the metering and graph displays

   2. New Window: Opens a second NfRemote window

   3. Tree Navigation or Tabbed Navigation: Sets a navigation view.

   4. Lock Position: Locks the window’s onscreen position

   5. Maximize and Fullscreen: Increases the NfRemote window’s size

   6. Restore: Returns to the previous view size

   7. Close Window: Disconnects from the host computer

2. Click the desired option.

To the right of the Menu button are six preset buttons, numbered 1 to 6, These buttons save and recall NfRemote window configurations.

1. Click a preset button, 1 to 6.

2. Configure the display and it is automatically saved in the selected Preset

3. Click any of the Preset buttons, 1 to 6, to recall the display that was configured when that Preset button was selected.

4. Any changes to the NfRemote display are saved to the active Preset button as the changes are made

5. All NfRemote AERO access (IP addresses, Comments, Passwords) and display settings are saved independently to each individual NfRemote application.

6. There is currently no method to save and share NfRemote configurations.  

The top of the NfRemote window always shows meter Displays such as Hardware I/O levels, loudness levels, DRC meters and various other meters.

1. To select which meter Displays are shown, navigate to:
   System > System > Display Settings

2. Any adjustable parameters of each meters Display will appear after selecting the meter..

3. Clicking inside any meter or graph display will also open the configuration for that meter or graph directly.

4. Up to 8 different meter/graph displays can be shown at the same time.

Tree and Tabbed Navigation Views

The NfRemote main window provides two views: Tree and Tabbed Navigation view. These views refer to how information and controls are displayed in the window, and not to the number of controls available or their precision.

Tree Navigation View

The default Tree Navigation limits the number of buttons shown at the same time. For example, Figure 6, below, shows that the controls are:

Home to return the home display

AMX Instance 1 is selected

DRC 1 of AMX instance 1 is selected

The Input AGC of Instance 1 > DRC1 is slected

The controls at the bottom of the screen are the parameters for Instance 1 > DRC1 > AGC .

These 4 buttons are referred to as breadcrumbs. They indicate the path through the AMX instance that leads you to the parameter adjustments. The buttons indicate where you are in the menu hierarchy. On the right side of the buttons are a Left arrow and a right arrow that navigate backwards or forwards, to and from,  the most recently visited controls.

Figure 6: Tree Navigation View’s breadcrumbs trail with left/right nav, and top/bottom re-size

To resize the relative sizes of the top and bottom display sections in Tree Navigation view:

• Click and drag the resize handle.

• The handle is the six horizontal lines located on the right side of the Left/Right arrows.

Tabbed Navigation View

Figure 7: NfRemote main window, Tabbed Navigation view

Referring to Figure 7, Tabbed Navigation view, above:

1. All of the navigation buttons are displayed, in two horizontal rows, below the meter Displays.

2. The top row of buttons contains the main setup categories and their submenus.

   1. A small space separates the main categories from the submenus to the right of the space.

   2. The submenus change according to the main category chosen.

3. Note that Figure 7 shows there are 2 x AMX instances available in the main categories.

   1. Instance 1 is selected

   2. Input settings is selected.

4. Below the top row of buttons, the second row has buttons for each of the available Input settings.

5. In the bottom section of the screen are the individual parameters and controls for the current setting selection.

   1. Figure 7 shows that the parameters available are the selection of what sources will feed each Input pair of AMX Instance 1.

   2. Written as a navigation guide:
      Instance 1 > Input > Source > Input 1/2  through 15/16 source select.

   3. In the menu structure this is:

      1. Main Category = Instance 1

      2. Submenu = Input

      3. Settings = Selection of which audio source feeds each of AMX Instance 1 inputs  

      4. Parameters = selection for source for each Instance input source.

6. This view inherently makes buttons, controls, and their respective labels, smaller than in the Tree view. This is because all of the selection buttons are displayed.

   1. However this display also gives instance access to all controls.

   2. This display works best with larger monitors.  

7. To resize the top (meters), center (Main and submenu buttons) and bottom (parameters and controls) sections:

   1. Click and drag one of the resize handles.

   2. The handles are the six horizontal lines located to the right of the menu selection buttons.

   3. There is a handle to set the relative size of meters/menu buttons

   4. There is a handle to set the relative size of menu buttons/parameter and control section.

Metering Displays

There are 6 NfRemote display presets at tthe top of the NfRemote window. Each display preset can have up to 8 different meters in the window.  Figure 8, below, shows an example of 7 different meters configured in Preset 1 of an NfRemote window. Each meter is named at the top left of the meter.

Figure 8: Meters are always found at the top of the window,

A Display Settings button is found at the far right side of many of the submenu row of buttons. (The second row of buttons.) In Figure 9, below, the Display Settings button has been selected and the meter selection window is seen at the bottom of the NfRemote window.

• At the left is a selection of the meter Displays.

• Up to eight meters, Display 1 to Display 8, can be selected.

• A Display is visible when a meter is assigned to it.

• A Display that is set to Off is not displayed.

• The meters are shown in the NfRemote window in numerical order, from Display 1 to Display N. N = 8 maximum.

• The number of meters displayed left to right and top to bottom changes, in real time, depending on both the meter type selected and the size and shape of the NfRemote window.

• Pointing and clicking inside a meter opens the settings display for that particular meter. A yellow box appears around the meter to indicate it has focus.

Figure 9: Display Settings page controls (Display preset 4 active)

A meter selection and settings page is shown is Figure 9, above

• In addition to bargraph and numerical level and loudness meters there are 4 other displays

  • audio level vs time graph

  • Over-sampled digital oscilloscope

  • RTA (real time analyzer)

  • FFT spectrum analyzer

An example of the flexibility of AERO metering displays is seen in the configuration options for the RTA meter. These are seen below in Figure 10, below.

Figure 10: Settings for the selected RTA

Loudness Metering

Each instance provides ITU-BS.1770 loudness measurements that can be displayed in LKFS or LUFS units. Some configuration for each loudness meter Display is found in NfRemote here: Instance > Output > Loudness Meter. See Figure 11, below.

Figure 11: ITU BS.1770 Loudness Meter settings

The loudness meters can display ATSC A/85 which is used in North America and other countries) and ITU R-128 used in European and some other locations   By default, the meters are configured for A/85. The selection for this is found here: System > System > Misc Config. This selection also effects logging . This is a global setting. See Figure 12, below.

Figure 12: EBU R-128 Loudness Mode configuration

Remote Computer Whitelist

As briefly discussed previously, AERO processors, including AERO Enterprise,  include a network whitelist. Only servers and hosts with IP addresses in the whitelist  can connect and send commands to an AERO processor.  A facility automation or other control system must be in the whitelist to communicate with AERO units.

The whitelist does accept wildcards in the input list. There are a maximum of 8 whitelist entries allowed.

It is critical that an administrator’s PC or server is entered in the whitelist as soon as an AERO is installed. If an AERO password is lost the only way to access the unit and change the password is to have access to the unit’s web server. Without access to an AERO unit’s http server a lost password means the unit must be returned to the factory to be reimaged.  

Response to a network ping is disabled in AERO units. This is a security feature to keep any unauthorized persons from easily locating an AERO unit.

Note: When the AERO unit ships from the factory, it has an address range of 192.168.*.* configured in its whitelist. Since the unit ships with a range of addresses entered into the whitelist, it is strongly recommended that the whitelist be reconfigured as part of the initial setup.

The whitelist is configured here:  System > Network Access > HTTP Access. See Figure 13, below.

Figure 13: HTTP Server whitelist configuration

General Considerations

Multiple computers running NfRemote can connect to the same AERO simultaneously. Additionally, one NfRemote application can connect to multiple AERO units showing multiple NfRemote windows simultaneously.

The display only feature, found in the NfRemote Menu dropdown allows an NfRemote window to display metering in an MCR, supervisor;s office, or even the facility lobby. In order to return a meters only display to an NfRemote control display a mouse click within the meters display is required.  

Each instance of an NfRemote connection requires some horsepower from the AERO’s CPU. Current CPU utilization can be seen in the NfRemote window.

Some meter DIsplays require significant CPU resources. For example, multiple oscilloscopes and audio streaming requested from multiple, simultaneous,  NfRemote sessions use more resources in an AERO unit then I/O meters or loudness meters. Although it is highly unlikely that your CPU would run out of resources, even in a fully configured AERO addressed from several remote computers, it is important to monitor AERO CPU utilization from time to time or if an audible audio issue appear.

The available bandwidth on the NfRemote to AERO network connection determines how robust the remote connection will be.

NfRemote measures available network resources during the initial handshake with AERO. If network bandwidth is marginal, NfRemote automatically makes oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer displays unavailable. Additionally, the bit-rate of audio streamed to the remote computer will adjust down to best match current network resources.

HTTP Server

The http server built into AERO units and AERO.enterprise has been mentioned before. It is important to note that in addition to a copy of the NfRemote software, ASCII commands for AERO control, there are other important features provided:

command scripts can be written and then attached to GPIs, or an internal scheduler or called by ASCII command.

Loudness logs for each Instance output can be downloaded

A custom loudness log can be created, stopped and started manually.

Parameter Colors in NfRemote.

Parameters in NfRemote may appear as white or yellow.

1. Call up an I/O, UPMAX or DRC processing preset.

2. Make a change to a parameter setting.

3. The new setting  will turn from white to yellow indicating the value has been changed from the current preset’s stored value.

   1. If it is desired to save the new value click the preset Save or Save As button.

   2. The value will turn white to indicate it is a stored value.

   3. If it is desired to retain the original value either change the value back to the original value or recall the preset to restore the stored values.

   4. The parameter will be white to show it is the value stored.

There is also a preset Compare button to display the differences between two UPMAX or DRC presets. To compare the current preset to another preset:

1. Click the Compare button

2. Browse through the current preset’s parameters.

3. Any of the parameters that are different between the current preset and the one chosen to compare it to will appear in yellow.  

See Figure 14, below.

Figure 14: Parameter color scheme example