Introduction

This white paper from Lawo looks at the role of the overall control system in IP Infrastructures for live production. It compares and contrasts a traditional SDI routing system with an IP infrastructure. 

In an IP system, the architecture is visualized as three layers:

• physical layer
• logical layer
• operational layer

The logical layer unites and abstracts the underlying hardware of the physical layer. It presents the physical architecture to the operational layer for the human operators, who are more familiar with the crosspoint matrix of an SDI system.

The control system has to orchestrate control of the IP switches to emulate the functions of the traditional routing system. In the broadcast environment distinction is made between intial configuration of routes, and the clean switcing of live streams—the on-air signals.

Out-of-the-box, IP switching is not deteministic, so a broadcast control layer must control the underlying physical layer so that it can be deterministic.

Summary

Orchestration and control play a very important role in IP based audio and video infrastructures for live production, where the demand for deterministic system behaviour is essential. With the move to IP, such system reliability can only be achieved by an overarching orchestration service, which is aware of, and handles information from all the system components. It  should be vendor-neutral and compatible across individual interfaces and technical solutions. The challenge still is to find the right balance between the management of interoperability between manufacturers, and proprietary solutions where needed. In the end, the market will insist on the freedom to choose systems based on project demands and preferences.

Registered readers can download the White Paper at the link below.