AES67-specific extensions to the different network platforms provide for the common interchange of digital audio between them. In the instance of the demo, digital audio signals will be interoperable between devices employing Dante, Livewire, Q-LAN and RAVENNA. A total of 22 devices, from ALC NetworX, Archwave AG, Axia Audio, Digigram, DirectOut, Focusrite, Genelec, Lawo, Merging Technologies, QSC, Solid State Logic, Telos Systems Inc. and Yamaha, are connected to a simple network with a single Ethernet switch.
AES67 supports both unicast (one-to-one) and multicast (one-to-many) audio transmission; this will be primarily a multicast demonstration, along the lines of the PlugFest testing carried out by the AES, in cooperation with the European Broadcast Union (EBU) at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) in Munich, Germany, last year1.
Speaking for the MNA, technical working group chairman, Kevin Gross said: "Although pairs of manufacturers have independently verified interoperability and large-scale multi-manufacturer testing was done a year ago at the PlugFest in Munich, this will be the first significant public demonstration of AES67 interoperability. It's powerful to see AES67 fulfilling its promise making network audio connections between devices and protocols that were formerly incompatible.
"In addition to audio transport we will be demonstrating some of the manufacturer-specific discovery, control and monitoring functions that augment AES67 audio interoperability and coexist on the same network."
AES67 enables high-performance audio-over-IP streaming interoperability between the various currently available IP-based audio networking platforms. AES67 operates over standard layer 3 Ethernet networks and, as such, is routable and fully scalable, like any common modern IT network. As a rule of thumb, any network infrastructure capable of handling VoIP should be able to handle AES67.
(Jim Evans)
