Sienda AVB Network Processor
Updated Feb 2023. Content subject to change. Copyright (c) 2023 Sienda Multimedia Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
The Sienda AVB Network Processor is an AVB/Milan endpoint with customisable processing. It is a flexible network processor designed for easy modification by OEMs, on which any number of products may be based. The endpoint provides processing power and AVB/Milan connectivity, with a simple software plug-in framework allowing OEM customers to add product specific DSP/processing.
Uses
The Network Processor may be utilised wherever there is a need to have network-connected processing power, but due to the AVB/Milan connectivity, the product lends itself to media processing. Some conceivable use cases may be:
- Multi-format video switcher (40gbps bandwidth)
- Video transcoder (1/3/6G-SDI to h264/h265/mjpeg2000)
- Acoustic modelling engine
- Wavefield synthesis engine
- On demand multi-stream media player (in-flight entertainment, hospitality broadcasting etc)
- Milan Gateway (AVB multi-domain media router)
- Audio mix engine (mixer)
- Studio audio plugin processing
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| example use of the network processor as an AVB audio mixer |
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| example use of the network processor as a Milan gateway |
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| example use of the network processor as a video switcher |
Supported Platforms
The Network Processor is a realtime embedded linux application and so may be deployed on a variety of platforms. However, Sienda provides a reference design based on the following platform:
- Intel Elkhart Lake (Atom x6425/x6427)
The reference design is provided for the following board:
- ADLINK I-Pi SMARC Elkhart Lake (https://www.ipi.wiki/products/i-pi-smarc-el)
Intel Elkhart Lake (Atom x6425/x6427) Platform
The Intel Elkhart Lake (Atom x6425/x6427) platform provides the following:
- up to 4 core, 1.9GHz processing
- up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM
- 4x PCIe Gen3
- up to 2x 2.5 gigabit TSN ethernet
The ADLINK I-Pi SMARC Elkhart Lake development board is a SMARC module baseboard loaded with an ADLINK LEC-EL System-on-Module (https://www.adlinktech.com/Products/Computer_on_Modules/SMARC/LEC-EL). This allows for rapid prototyping, and low/mid volume products may incorporate the LEC-EL module directly to reduce product development time and cost.
| ADLINK I-Pi SMARC Elkhart Lake | ADLINK LEC-EL |
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Sienda provides a full OS/firmware image that can be flashed to and booted from USB memory stick.
Customisation and OEM DSP
Sienda provides OEM customers with a plugin API to allow integration of custom processing with the Network Processor. The plugin takes the form of a simple dynamically loadable library (DLL), which the network processor will call into when media frames (audio frames or video frames/subframes) are received and ready for processing. The DLL processes the media and provides the results into an application supplied buffer, for transmission from the AVB talker stream(s). ATDECC control values are passed to the DLL, along with any other required information, to allow a complete AVB processor to be implemented.
For details of the DLL API please contact Sienda.
Example product - Sienda Mixer
As part of the reference design package Sienda can provide an example plugin DLL and entity XML file that implements an audio mixer. Each channel of the mixer features a Sonalksis channel strip, with level, pan, aux and cue busses, metering, and parametric EQ. Entity XML files can be provided which support Milan redundancy, or network partitioning. (Network partitioning allows the mixer to sit between two separate networks, with audio sources coming from one network (the stage/live-room) and the mix bus outputs being sent on an entirely separate network (the front-of-house or public address network)). A windows GUI for the mixer is available to control the mixer in real-time.
Evaluation
If you would like to evaluate the Sienda AVB Network Processor then please get in touch. We can provide a complete unit with the software already installed, or we can provide a full eMMC image that can be flashed on to an ADLINK I-PI Elkhart Lake board.
To evaluate the platform simply plug in the supplied power adaptor and connect the primary and redundant ethernet ports to your primary and redundant networks.
Contact
For more information please contact:
Kieran Tyrrell
www.sienda.com
sales@sienda.com
Copyright 2023 Sienda Multimedia Ltd. All rights reserved.