Network attached processingfor broadcast infrastructures

Neuron

2 3

NEURON Network Attached Processor

Broadcast functionality which COTS switches don’t offer

The departure from conventional circuit switching (SDI) routers will bring a lot of processing back as separately needed functions as they will not be part of the COTS switches.

Some examples:

J IP to baseband (SDI) conversion (ST2022, ST2110 …) and back J Multiview J Up/down/cross conversion J Master control J Live production mixing J Synchronization J Embedding and de-embedding (from and to ST2022, ST2110, MADI, AES67, Dante, analog and digital audio) J Audio processing like mixing, shuffling and voice overs J Dolby processing J Color space conversion and correction (HDR to SDR and back) J Legalization J VANC data processing like SCTE104 triggers, time-code insertion, Teletext/subtitle processing and all metadata processing

Neuron, The next generation processing platform

For broadcast infrastructures migrating to IP, Neuron is the only processing solution you need. All audio and video processing tasks are managed with ultra high bandwidth by bundling SDI technology into an IP platform to create the world’s first true network attached processor.

The network attached processor (NAP)

Neuron is our pure IP processor for A/V infrastructures. With its introduction, Axon continues to forge ahead with the delivery of innovative solutions for the new broadcast reality of IT-based infrastructures.

Why a network attached processor? NAP’s are ultra-compact and versatile, and ideal for media companies looking to reduce costs and complexity associated with supporting SDI and hybrid SDI-IP workflows in their studio and mobile facilities. Offering superior performance, NAPs deliver significant optimization, agility and efficiency to IT-based environments.

Neuron will solve every processing task a broadcaster encounters with respect to audio and video in the IP and legacy domains. The high-density 1RU Neuron platform offers IP to IP processing capabilities, handling uncompressed SD, HD, 3G and UHD signals based on the ST2022-6 and ST2110 specifications for transporting media over IP networks. Neuron is fully packed with features like edge synchronizers and converters for processing streams before they enter the core router, reducing complexity in signal routing. As a next-gen, FPGA-based processor, Neuron seamlessly bridges SDI and IP networks, while easily meeting UHD requirements in live production. It interoperates with Axon’s Cerebrum monitoring and control system.

4 5

NEURON Network Attached Processor

The chassis is approximately 610mm deep. The power supplies are removable brackets which also house the fan-units for half of the frame. When you swap the supply you also swap the fans. The fans are controlled by the “board controller” of the same slot but powered by the common power rails that is the redundant sum of the two supplies.

The frame has a central tunnel which separates the two board positions. By swapping the 19” mounting ears, IEC AC inlet and front panel, we can offer a Data Center mounting option with all connections at the front but the AC mains inlet still at the back.

A ‘BUS’ connects the power supplies and processing board. This BUS PCB will transport the 12V power rail from the supplies to the processing modules and back to the fan units of the removable supplies.

Communication between the processing boards is also possible via a dedicated link. There is also a quad high-speed differential interface between the two processing boards which allows data sharing like MADI.

GigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbEREF

AUDIO I/O MADI

3Gb/s SDI I/O 12Gb/s SDI I/O

NEURONNFR2000

AUDIO I/O AUDIO I/O

REF

ControlGigEGPI/O

GigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbE

REF

ControlGigEGPI/OGigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbE

REF

ControlGigEGPI/O

GigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbE

REF

ControlGigEGPI/O GigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbE

REF

ControlGigEGPI/O

StatusSlot 1

StatusSlot 2

AUDIO I/O

GPI/O/metadata

REFAUDIO I/O MADI

AUDIO I/O AUDIO I/O

MADI i/o up to 4 inputs and 4 outputs

AUDIO I/O

AES67/DANTE/Control GPI/O/metadata Control

AES67/DANTE/Control Control

Control (SNMP/ACP2/Web)Redundant Control, Audio I/O of AES67 or Dante I/O (Requires option Slot 03 and 04) or GPI/O or Dolby metadataAnalog or Digital Audio I/O option Slot 01 and 02

Analog or Digital Audio I/O option Slot 09 and 10*Analog or Digital Audio I/O option Slot 07 and 08*Analog or Digital Audio I/O option Slot 05 and 06*

Reference i/o

(* Require Audio expansion carrier)

The I/O panels for an A/V bridge

A dual video bridge with two individual SDI I/O options

An Ethernet I/O processing bridge with the I/O at the front

A new broadcast and data center friendly frame

Neuron is based on a brand new 1RU broadcast and data center friendly unit. A very straightforward design consisting of 2 tunnels which contain the power supply and the processing boards. All active electronics can be hot-swapped without any special tools or opening the unit.

Some features J 1 RU with redundant (hot swappable) PSU (500W each) J 2 board positions (full height 1RU) J Hot swappable boards and power supplies from the back for the broadcast version J Hot swappable boards and power supplies from the front for the data center version J Front to back cooling J Full ACP2 compatible

The main Neuron video processing board

The NPG3200 is the main Neuron processing board. It is a multi-channel A/V-over-IP transceiver developed for use within low-latency and high-bandwidth Ethernet IP networks. Using all modern encapsulation standards like ST2022-6 and ST2110, enabling the NPG3200 to process up to a stunning 32 3Gb/s SDI signals and transport them over redundant dual 25GbE and 100GbE links. In addition, audio processing is also part of the Neuron package with standards like Dante, AES67 and many more.

Where multiple cards were needed before in a single channel or processing path, now one single unit is able to process up to 32 channels of video and a multiple of audio channels.

The NPG3200 can be utilized in many different ways. Each video channel is capable of frame-synchronizing, de-embedding, up/down conversion, embedding and color correction. Grouping four signal paths will offer an UHD toolbox capable of handling up to eight UHD channels. Virtually any signal can be processed with this unit from SD to UHD signals.

Processing capabilities J Up to 32 channels of bridging SDI to Ethernet and/or back (ST2022-6/7 and ST2110) J 32x 16 channel de-embedding (from SDI or Ethernet) J 32x 16 channel embedding (onto SDI or Ethernet) J 128 audio channels AES67 capability (in and/or out) J 128 audio channels I/O from and to the second slot in the same frame J 32 channel frame-sync to local clock on external ref (B&B, Tri-level or ST2059) J 32 channel up/down/cross from and to a maximum of 32x 1080p (8x UHD) J 1024 x 1024 audio channel shuffle J 512 channel audio gain (-99dBFs to +12dBFs in 0,25db steps) J 512 channel audio phase (0 or -180deg) J 512 channel audio offset delay (up to 1 second per channel in 1ms intervals)

6 7

NEURON Network Attached Processor

GigE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 25GbE 100GbE 100GbEControlGigEGPI/O

The main neuron video processing board I/O expansion

The I/O expansion board will add additional physical I/O for the main processor board. A 40x HD BNC connector I/O board is optional. It will allow bridging from 32 SDI sources to Ethernet or back.

8 connectors are dedicated 12Gb/s inputs, 8 connectors are dedicated 12Gb/s outputs and 24 connectors are bidirectional 3Gb/s and can be setup accordingly.

Every main processing board has 64 channel I/O capacity spread over Ethernet and baseband video I/O I/O on optional SDI board

J 24 bidirectional SDI I/O connectors (max 3Gb/s) J 8 dedicated SDI inputs (12Gb/s capable) J 8 dedicated SDI outputs (12Gb/s capable)

Neuron. Processing that blows you away.

8 9

NEURON Network Attached Processor

Cerebrum redundant servers

Network Attached Processing

Post production Playout DistributionMaster Control RoomProduction

Main spine switch Backup spine switch

Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch Leaf switch

Backup master clock

Master clock

Encoding

Multiplexing

SMART DVB and Compliance

Modulation and uplink

Contribution

Leaf switch Leaf switch

Scheduling

Playlist and ads preparation

Playout servers

Compliance recording

Media Asset Management

Editing

Graphics and effects

Camera feed ingest

Shading

Slomo/replay

Video switching/audio mixing

Contribution decoding

SMART DVB probe

Ingest

Network attached storage

MAM system

Synview and SMART multiview

SMART DVB gateway

Cerebrum control and monitoring

VideoProcessing

MultiviewProcessing

AudioProcessingBridging

Neuron in an IP based broadcast facility

10 11

NEURON Network Attached Processor

Neuron relies on the Axon NEtwork Core

Axon has been working to develop a clear path for our customers; we have moved from AVB/TSN, via ST2022 and now to ST2110. This shift in focus in itself is not a big deal – our development team has always been well placed to react to the market - but these technologies are as equal as they are different and all are complex. It is also clear now that ST2022 is here to stay in some applications. And expectation is that the new ST2110 standard is going to be fully embraced by the industry. So, we will have to deal with both ST2022 and ST2110 for many years to come.

Neuron is the award winning networkable production audio and video technology from Axon based on industry standards. Due to its highly flexible architecture, Neuron will help customers to move to an Ethernet/IP based infrastructure with compatibility to all possible current and future standards and formats.

At this moment the Neuron technology is compatible with ST2022, ST2110, AES67, ST2059 and AMWA IS-04/05 (NMOS). The Neuron core is easily adaptable and extendable to other/future protocols so is a very solid and futureproof basis for Ethernet/IP connectivity for broadcast infrastructures.

Taking advantage of today’s massive (backbone) speed of modern IT based Ethernet equipment, Neuron will change the way in which video and audio (live) production infrastructures are build.

Highlights of the Neuron core: J Fully in-house developed and maintained J Agnostic for all current and future Ethernet and IP based formats J Agnostic for all Ethernet link speeds J Modular architecture

The Neuron packetizer

VIDEO SOURCE

AUDIO SOURCE

SECONDAIRY PORT GigE

CONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATIONCONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATIONCONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATION

CONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATIONCONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATION

*n*nMEMORY

PACKETIZER

PACKETIZER

PACKETIZER

PACKETIZER

PACKETIZER

PACKETIZER

PRIORITY BASED TRAFFIC

SHAPING

*n*n

CONTENT DEPENDING MEMORY ALLOCATION

PROTOCOL (ENGINE) CONFIGURATOR

Inband Control(1722-NMOS-ACP)

GigE bridge

TRANSPORT PROTOCOL DEPENDENDTIME STAMP

CALCULATION (ST2059-2)

PTPCLOCK REFERENCEBMCA (ST2059-1)

ETHERNET81BIT (EPOCH)

SLAVE TOMASTER CLOCK

CRYSTAL OSC

ETHERNET in+

+

ST2022/6 ST2110 VIDEO ST2110/MD ST2110 AES67 TR …….

*p

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

27 MHz

HBRMT

ARP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

90 KHz

RFC4175

ARP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

BURST

ST291

ARP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

48 KHZ

RFC3190

ARP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

XYZ

SDP SDP SDP SDP

MDNS MDNS MDNS MDNS

BASEBAND VIDEO

BASEBAND VIDEO

BASEBAND VIDEO

BASEBAND VIDEO

BASEBAND AUDIO

BASEBAND AUDIO

BASEBAND AUDIO

SECONDAIRY PORT GigE

*nMEMORY

ST2022/6 ST2110 VIDEO ST2110/MD ST2110 AES67 TR …….

*p

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

27 MHz

HBRMT

IGMP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

90 KHz

RFC4175

IGMP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

BURST

ST291

IGMP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

48 KHZ

RFC3190

IGMP

MAC

IP

UDP

RTP

XYZ

TRANSPORT PROTOCOL DEPENDENDTIME STAMP

CALCULATION (ST2059-2)

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

*n

DATA RECONSTRUCTION

*n

DE-PACKETIZER

DE-PACKETIZER

DE-PACKETIZER

DE-PACKETIZER

DE-PACKETIZER

DE-PACKETIZER

SUBSCRIPTION BASED TRAFFIC

SELECTION

*n

PROTOCOL (ENGINE) CONFIGURATOR

ETHERNET81BIT (EPOCH)

SLAVE TOMASTER CLOCK

CRYSTAL OSC

+Inband Control

(1722-NMOS-ACP)GigE bridge

PTPCLOCK REFERENCEBMCA (ST2059-1)

+

SDP SDP SDP SDP

MDNS MDNS MDNS MDNS

The Neuron de-packetizer

The packetizer and de-packetizer: J Protocol standard agnostic, powered by “protocol (engine) configurator” J Low maintenance J Easy adaptation and customization J Flexible for signal and transport formats: one core can handle multiple signal formats (eg SD, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) and transport formats (ST2022, ST2110, etc) at the same time and in any mix

J First packetizer with full-blown “traffic shaper” (especially important for ‘active-picture-only’ protocols like ST2110 to suppress bursts in the network).

Modular structureThe modular structure of the Neuron core enables to use its engines for all existing and upcoming standards. A protocol (engine) configurator enables on the fly switching between the different standards and allows translation to and from different standards. Only the protocol unique/specific parameters are set and influence the appropriate engine to do its job. This can be done for every stream individually.

Our strategyAxon’s strategy remains both customer-focused and pragmatic. We are committed to delivering products and hybrid solutions thatthe industry needs as it moves from SDI to IP, providing control for these products with our latest NMOS-ready Cerebrum broadcastmonitoring and control software platform. In addition, Axon remains agnostic, working on the next generation of products whereEthernet is the default interface and SDI is finally put to rest with the respect it deserves.

Heaquarters

Axon Digital Design B.V.Hercules 285126 RK GilzeThe Netherlands+31 (0) 161 850 450sales@axon.tv

Disclaimer August 2018 Due to constant product research and development all specifications are subject to change without notice. Axon Digital Design B.V. does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, availability and/or delivery of the products and/or services listed in this catalog. Copyright © 2018 Axon Digital Design B.V.

www.axon.tv

International offices

Asia +86 10 8814 4199 France +33 695 448 144 Germany +49 176 8227 1033Middle East +971 50 651 1982 Russia +49 176 8227 1033 Russia +49 176 8227 1033 Scandinavia +46 702 511 511 Southeast Asia +65 6553 0440 United Kingdom +44 118 974 0480

Please contact us for product demonstrations,inhouse tests and sales.