Bridging the Gap Between Software and SMPTE ST 2110

Broadcasters worldwide are seeking more flexible, agile, and scalable infrastructures to adapt to media consumption today. These goals can be attained through technological shifts towards software solutions and SMPTE ST 2110 IP infrastructure. — Software solutions can be easily modified, updated, and maintained with minimal overhead. Using SMPTE ST 2110 for IP connectivity meanwhile, breaks geographical restrictions. The flexibility is tremendous—video can be moved to wherever it needs to be, while computing/processing can change and adapt to requirements. In practice, there are gaps that need to be reconciled to reap the benefits of combining software and SMPTE ST 2110. — In broadcast, SDI has set the bar—it is 100% predictable and deterministic. SMPTE ST 2110 is designed to be a low latency and flexible replacement to SDI, but it comes with its own complexities in PC-based platforms: — • Packet pacing (SMPTE 2110-21) is mandatory. Achieving network scalability and predictability imposes that transmitters packet pace data to not overflow internal buffering in the IP infrastructure — • Accurate precision time protocol (PTP) for transmitters is needed to reduce network jitter, latency, and network buffering requirements. — • Network kernel bypass is needed to reduce unnecessary CPU usage. A standard network stack engages CPU cores and reduces data throughput. — • Packet processing for SMPTE ST 2022-7 is needed to optimize CPU usage, and to reduce unnecessary PCIe bandwidth. — Using SMPTE ST 2110-aware NICs, software-based applications can easily process SMPTE ST 2110 flows without compromising system resources or network integrity while guaranteeing deterministic, scalable, and repeatable SMPTE ST 2110 environments.

Published

2018-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

SMPTE ST 2110 NIC, SMPTE ST 2110, SMPTE ST 2110-21, SMPTE ST 2059, packet pacing in software, narrow transmitter, wide receiver, kernel bypass, SMPTE ST 2022-7, COTS, standards-based uncompressed transport, packet distribution, network stack, packets per frame, CPU load, real-time data transmission, Precision Time Protocol, PTP, PTP clock, redundancy, hitless protection

DOI

10.5594/M001841

ISBN

978-1-61482-960-7