When you buy a flexAIserver it comes pre-configured with all components and the applications you have ordered. In that case the flexAI core license is included.
If you insist to to install a flexAIserver on your own hardware (bare metal) contact support for compatibility pls. In this case you must buy a flexAI core license.
Note - The information below makes specific references to the pre-configured server hardware. If you are installing flexAI on different hardware, please refer to the appropriate documentation for product-specific installation and safety information.
The pre-configured flexAIserver hardware is a 1RU product intended to be permanently installed in a standard 19” equipment rack and secured with four standard rack screws. It is fan cooled but whenever possible, it is recommended to leave 1RU of empty space above and below the unit.
Plug the IEC power cords into the flexAIserver 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 uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Each power supply has its own On/Off switch.
Important - for important information on proper grounding and other items pertaining to electrical safety.
The flexAIserver is a bare metal COTS machine that allows instantiating multiple well-known Junger Audio algorithms and other 3rd party audio processors that run on x86 processors.
Users may supply their own COTS server, or purchase pre-configured hardware from Telos Alliance together with the processing licenses to suit their needs.
The pre-configured server meets all of the hardware requirements to run the flexAI software, including an available PCIe card for tieLight/MADI, an available Intel I350 Ethernet card with 4x 1GBit or 2x 10Gbit for independent redundant control network and AoIP connections, and a standard native NIC with independent 1GBit/10GBit ports for control and AoIP networks.
Junger recommends hardware meeting the following specifications:
Intel Xeon Silver 4310 2.1GHz, 18MB cache, 12 cores, 24 threads
32GB RAM
RAID-Controller supporting Linux Debian 10
2x 480GB SSD SATA drives
1x PCIe slot (full height or low profile)
Dual, hot-pluggable, redundant power supplies
Dual Ethernet NICs with IEEE 1588 and Linux Debian 10 support
Hardware management with openIPMI support and Linux Debian 10 compatibility
Note: There is no "plug and play" installation on customer-supplied hardware, and proper setup of the BIOS and boot settings requires detailed knowledge of the flexAI core. Accordingly, a service fee will be charged for remote installation and configuration. For most customers, Junger highly recommends purchasing pre-configured hardware from Telos Alliance.
TP Limiter: True Peak sample peak limiter
Level Magic: Loudness management per ITU Bs.1770-1/-2/-3/-4, EBU R128, ATSC A/85, ARIB TR-B32, Free TV OP-59, Portaria 354, Voice Leveler
Dynamic Filter: SPECTRAL SIGNATURE™ dynamic filter
EQ/Filter: 5 band parametric EQ, HP, LP
Phase Rotator: Makes asymmetric signals more symmetrical
De-Esser: Dynamic notch filter to suppress sibilance from human voice recording
Dynamics: Compressor, expander / gate
Failover/Upmix: automatic fail over, Upmix
Voice Over: Stereo, 5.1, 7.1 program input
Commentator Automix: 3x2 commentators over stereo IT, loudness controlled program mix, N-1 feeds, clean feeds
FM Conditioner
Dolby® Decoder: Dolby E decoder licenses
Dolby® Encoder: Dolby E encoder licenses
flexAIserver supports several AoIP protocols, including SMPTE ST2110, Livewire, and Ravenna, with SMPTE 2020-7 redundancy. With the available PCIe card, it also supports two independent 64-channel MADI I/O streams, Junger tieLight, or a combination of both.
Depending on the network infrastructure, connect one Ethernet interface to the control network and the other to the AoIP network. The network must be able to handle multicast traffic with low latency and must provide a PTP master. Pay careful attention to DSCP settings.
Connecting to a DHCP server is recommended for the control network, at least for the initial configuration. If this is not possible, please use the server-specific management/deployment tool(s) to perform the initial setup of the IP interfaces.
For Dell servers, Junger recommends the iDRAC (integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) which provides a virtual console to access the Junger service menu by pressing <Alt> + <F1>. Note that the service menu program hides system (kernel) messages. It will re-start automatically when the system itself has closed it, or if it is closed by the user by pressing <F10>.
Alternatively, you may connect a VGA monitor and a keyboard to the server to access the console and navigate by using the keyboard arrow keys.
This will display the low-level System Status and the installed network interfaces. Choose <Network> to show the available NICs:
Highlight an active interface (that is, one connected to a switch or router on the network) and press <ENTER>. You may now manually assign an IP address.
If you have managed to reach the machine via TCP/IP, you can simply launch the GUI by using its IP address as the URL and perform an in-depth IP configuration as described under System > Network > Interfaces.
You may connect and daisy chain the flexAIserver with other flexAIsevers and/or AIXpressors via MADI or tieLight (Junger's proprietary high channel count, low latency fiber interface. It moves 1024 audio channels in both directions) using a Junger PCIe card, making it the ideal solution for edge processing as it provides the ability to add more processing power over time.
As with all networked AoIP devices, timing and synchronization are critical for proper operation, and it is assumed that a PTP stream synced with baseband video (such as BB, TriLevel, or SDI) and audio (such as AES3 or MADI) is in place.
Specific requirements will differ depending upon whether MADI/tieLight is used in conjunction with AoIP.
PTP synchronization must be enabled via the System > Network > Interfaces pane where all network interfaces are listed. Select the network interface that is connected to a network with a PTP master and set the unit to "slave" mode to enable PTP synchronization.
Important: The flexAI server cannot act as a PTP clock Leader (formerly "Master") on an AoIP network. It must be set to act as a Follower (formerly "Slave").
Hardware PTP Capable: Grey/green
PTP Mode: Slave/disabled
Status: Slave/disabled
Locked to grandmaster: Red/green
Grandmaster ID: MAC address of the grandmaster
Distance to grandmaster: Number of boundary clocks in between; -1 means "no"
Offset from master (us): Error of the control loop should be less than 1us
Mean path delay: Measured by the PTP client
If the “Lock to grandmaster” soft LED lights up green, the flexAIserver is synchronized to PTP, indicating that the audio processing, the router, and the video reference for Dolby E encoders or similar are in perfect sync.
Important: As baseband audio sources, MADI/tieLight via the PCIe interface cannot be synchronized by PTP. An external source connected to the PCIe card, such as Word Clock, a video sync source such as BB or TriLevel, or the incoming MADI/tieLight streams themselves must be used.
The Sync Source Priority setting at the Sync pane shows two more options, sync link1 and sync link2.
These are physical sync connections between multiple PCIe cards on additional flexAIservers to facilitate synchronizing the baseband audio interface on those cards using a sync link cable. Note that only one of the cards needs an external reference.
