Linear Acoustic AMS provides you with the ability to author metadata for a MPEG-H™ audio stream and monitor the results from multiple independent outputs.
AMS accepts up to 15 channels of program audio - in any combination of traditional channels and audio objects - along with an optional 16th channel which is a pre-authored MPEG-H Metadata Control Track.
AMS also provides up to four (4) independent, simultaneous outputs, including:
Authored output
5.1-channel legacy output
2-channel legacy output
Monitor output
Figure 1 - AMS I/O
The AMS System
The AMS system consists of several devices, including the AMS Processing Engine, Telos Alliance SDI AoIP Nodes, and an approved network switch designed for Audio over IP (AoIP).
The AMS Processing Engine
The AMS Processing Engine is a 1RU device and serves as the center of the system, handling all of the control, audio routing, and audio processing.
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Figure 2 - AMS Processing Engine (front panel)
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Figure 3 - AMS Processing Engine (rear panel)
Rear panel connections include:
Dual redundant 120V - 240V, 50/60Hz power supplies (A)
RS-232 serial port (B)
USB ports (C)
Net 1 (WAN) port (D)
Net 2 (AoIP) port (E)
VGA port (F)
Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) control port (G)
Please see the Quick Start Guide for detailed information on setup and installation.
Telos Alliance SDI AoIP Node
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Figure 4- Telos Alliance SDI AoIP Node
The SDI AoIP Node is an interface that de-embeds audio from an incoming SDI stream, converts it to Livewire+ for the AMS Processing Engine, then re-embeds the resulting audio back to an SDI stream. It can also be used to pair-shuffle audio and its AoIP streams can be used elsewhere on the network if desired.
More information about the SDI AoIP Node is available here.
Network Switch
Choosing the correct switch to handle network audio is a critically important decision. As Livewire+ streams are "routed" at Layer 3 of the Ethernet model, we recommend a Layer 3 switch that includes the required IGMP querier and snooping functions. To ensure the best performance, a switch should meet the following requirements and capabilities:
Sufficient backplane bandwidth. It must be fully “non-blocking” to handle all ports at full capacity.
Sufficient frame forwarding rate. Livewire+ Livestreams (as well as AES67 streams) have small packets at a fast rate, and the switch needs to handle this.
Correct handling of IEEE 802.1p/Q frame prioritization. Livewire+ audio frames must be given priority without too much delay or jitter. The IEEE standard specifies 8 levels of priority, but few switches support all the levels. Many support only 2 or 4, lumping some of the incoming levels together. We recommend 4 as the minimum for a Livewire+ system.
Support for multicast, and with sufficient filter entry capacity to cover the total number of audio streams required. This is critically important as when the filter capacity is exhausted, switches forward multicast packets to all ports whether they are subscribed or not, a situation that would cause serious problems. We suggest 256 at minimum.
IGMP control for multicast. Traffic must be under IGMP control, with no flooding of ports with multicast traffic under any circumstance.
Support for both port-based and tagged-frame-based VLAN. This latter is the IEEE 802.1Q standard and is what allows the switch to determine priority on a frame-by-frame basis. Port-based VLAN can also be useful as it lets you “hardwire” a particular port for a single VLAN to ensure an office PC can’t get onto the Livewire+ audio VLAN.
An IGMP querier. If you plan to use a separate VLAN for Livewire+, the switch needs to have an “IGMP querier” on each one, which also means you can assign an individual IP number to each VLAN. This is an advanced capability and its absence disqualifies many switches.
Management. This is required in order to get remote monitoring.
The practical bottom line is that you should use a switch that has been selected and tested by the Telos Alliance and has made it to our list of approved switches. If you're still unsure of which switch to use or have any other questions, we encourage you to contact our Customer Support team.