Hardware Overview

SDI AoIP Node Front Panel

SDI AoIP Node Front Panel Callouts.png — Figure 1 - Front panel

SDI AoIP Node front panel features include:

Four status LEDs indicating the status of each power supply (1A, 1B), the overall status of the unit (1C), and sync for the reference clock (1D)
A color LCD display to show status and basic configuration parameters (1E)
A five-button navigation cluster with Left, Right, Up, and Down arrows plus a green “OK” button (1F)

The front panel is used for the initial setup and configuration including setting the IP address of the Ethernet ports. Additional configuration is accomplished via the remote user interface.

SDI AoIP Node Rear Panel

SDI AoIP Node Rear Panel.png — Figure 2 - Rear panel

The rear panel of the SDI AoIP Node contains the following connections:

One parallel GPI/O control port (female DB-15) for five inputs and five outputs (2A)
SDI 3Gb/s HD/SD-SDI Input and Output 1 (2B) and 3Gb/s HD/SD-SDI Input and Output 2 (2C) on female BNC connectors
Two RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet connections, one for AES67 I/O (2D) and one for network remote control (2E)
Two IEC power inlets for the internal redundant universal auto-ranging power supplies (2F, 2G)

Installation and Initial Setup

Installation

SDI AoIP Node is a 1RU product intended to be permanently installed in a standard 19½” equipment rack and secured with four standard rack screws. It is fan cooled with air intakes and exhausts located on the side of the unit just behind the front panel, but whenever possible, it is recommended to leave 1RU of empty space above and below the unit.

Power

Plug the supplied IEC power cords into the unit and connect each to different mains power sources. Remember that while redundant supplies do protect against the unit losing power in the event of a PSU failure, the loss of mains supply voltage is a bigger concern. Accordingly, each supply should be fed from a different circuit equipped with adequate surge protection and fitted with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).

Important - Please click here for important information on proper grounding and other items pertaining to electrical safety.

Boot Up and Home Screen

SDI AoIP Node will begin to boot upon applying power; there is no power switch. When the unit finishes booting, it displays the Home Screen which includes the Telos Alliance and SDI AoIP Node logos, the unit’s Control IP address, and its reference source and status.

Setting IP Addresses

SDI AoIP Node ships with DHCP enabled and will automatically retrieve an IP address when connected to a network with a DHCP server.

Important! Both the Control and AES67 connections must be connected to 1000BASE-T (Gigabit) switch ports. If a port will not be used, it should not be connected to a switch but does require a specific configuration described below. If both the Control and AES67 ports are used, each must be on a different subnet.

Setting a Fixed IP Address for the Control Port

Press the Right button until the IP Configuration (Control) screen is displayed
Press the OK button to highlight “Edit”
Press OK again to highlight “Use DHCP”
Press the Right button to highlight “Yes”
Press the Up/Down button to change the selection to “No”
Press the Left button to highlight the “Use DHCP” field
Press the Down button to highlight “Address”
Press the Right button to move to the first digit of the IP address
Use the Up/Down buttons to change the selection
Press the Right/Left buttons to select another digit to edit
When finished editing the address field, press the Right or Left button to return to “Address”
Press the Down button to navigate to the Netmask and Gateway fields
Repeat the above steps to edit the Netmask and Gateway fields; note that the gateway may be set to 000.000.000.000 if no gateway is required
After the Gateway is set, press the Left button to highlight “Gateway”
Press the Down button to highlight “Update”
Press OK to save the new IP information
If you suddenly notice you’ve entered some incorrect information and need to start over, use the Right/Left buttons to highlight “Cancel” followed by “OK”

Pressing the Right/Left buttons will eventually return you to the Home Screen.

Configuring the AES67 Port

If you are using AES67 I/O, use the Left/Right buttons to navigate to the IP Configuration (AES67) screen. The steps for configuring this port are identical to those above for the Control port. Please remember that when both the Control and AES67 ports are used, each must be on a different subnet.

Configuring an Unused Port

If either of the two Ethernet ports will not be used, the unused port must be configured as follows:

Do not connect the unused port to a network switch
Using the steps above for Control port setup, navigate to the IP Configuration screen of the unused port
Set “Use DHCP” to “Yes”
Highlight and select “Update”

Connecting Inputs and Outputs

Connect inputs and outputs as required for your particular installation. SDI AoIP Node can access any of the eight audio pairs carried on each of the two available incoming HD- or SD-SDI streams, pair shuffle to the two HD- or SD-SDI outputs, or route audio to an AoIP stream.

Incoming AES67 audio sources can be embedded to an SDI output, and embedded SDI outputs can be sent out as AES67 streams.

Connecting to the Web-Based User Interface

No special client software is required to remotely connect to the SDI AoIP Node. The HTML5-based GUI works on any web browser; we recommend Google Chrome or Apple Safari. The computer or tablet should be connected to the same network and subnet as the SDI AoIP Node.

Enter the IP address of the SDI AoIP Node in the URL field of your browser. Once connected, the Home Screen will appear.

Home Screen.png — Figure 3 - Home screen

Clicking on the SDI AoIP Node logo (3A) in the top left corner will always return you to this screen.

Making modifications to SDI AoIP Node's configuration or signal routing parameters requires logging into the unit. While multiple users can connect simultaneously, only one user account with one password is currently supported.

Type the default password ("1234" minus the quotes) into the Password field (3B), then click the Log In button (3C).

Note - At this time, the password cannot be changed from its factory default. This ability will be incorporated into a future software version.

Basic Reference, I/O Configuration, and A/V Sync

Reference Clock

If you will be using the SDI AoIP Node simply to de-embed, pair shuffle, route, and re-embed only SDI signals and will not be connecting it to an AoIP network, navigate to the I/O Menu and choose "SDI1" or "SDI2" as your reference in the Reference clock dropdown (4A). If desired, you may choose a secondary reference clock as a backup should the unit lose its reference from the primary clock source.

If you are connecting to an AoIP network with a Master PTP Clock, you must choose "AES67/PTP" as your clock reference.

Screen Shot 2021-03-30 at 12.36.36 PM.png — Figure 4 - Reference clock

SDI I/O

Each rear-panel SDI I/O has its own routing menu. Outputs for each are set using the SDI Out dropdown (5A) for each pair on each physical output within the I/O Menu. Pair shuffling within or between inputs is supported.

AES67 I/O

Navigate to the AES67 portion of the I/O menu.

To set an AES67 input, enter the Livewire channel number or multicast address of the AoIP source directly in the Address field (6A) or use the channel picker (6B) to see a list of available sources. Livewire channels will automatically resolve to their corresponding multicast addresses.

Use the AES67 Output dropdown (6C) to route output audio. You may select any audio pair on either SDI output from the list, or route the audio as an AES67 stream by choosing one of the AES67 pairs and assigning it a Livewire channel number or multicast address in the Address field (6D). As with the input, Livewire channel numbers will automatically resolve to their corresponding multicast addresses.

A/V Sync

An adjustable video delay is provided in the Delays section of the I/O menu to compensate for the audio latencies in the broadcast system and to ensure correct A/V sync at the output. Latency figures for various I/O configurations are provided in the User Manual.

Each SDI path has its own video delay, adjustable in milliseconds (ms) and microseconds (us).

In instances where the SDI output needs to be delayed by an even frame, it may be necessary to compensate for the difference between that time value and the latency of the unit by adding audio delay.

User Manual

For additional information and detailed operating instructions, please refer to the SDI AoIP Node User Manual.