Comrex ACCESS MultiRack Product Manual Download Page 1

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Product Manual

Summary of Contents for ACCESS MultiRack

Page 2: ...Switchboard Server 13 CrossLock 13 Additional Features 14 AES67 Protocol 14 HTML5 14 II Diagrams and Installation 15 Rear Panel Diagram and Descriptions 15 Front Panel Diagram and Descriptions 16 Mono vs Stereo 17 Pinouts Balanced Audio 17 Pinouts Contact Closures 17 Pinouts Serial Port Instance 1 18 Pinouts Serial Port Instances 2 5 18 ...

Page 3: ... 22 iV Using The Device Manager Program 23 Updating Firmware Using Device Manager 25 Network Recovery Mode 26 V Configuring MultiRack 28 Login 28 Controlling MultiRack Instances 28 Instance Pages And Global Settings 29 Interface Page Sections 29 Connections Tab 30 Dashboard Tab 30 Performance Tab 31 Active Connections 31 Codec Channel Field 32 CrossLock Field 32 Packet Loss Graph 33 ...

Page 4: ...tings Tab 39 Security Settings 40 Connections 40 Contact Closures 40 Switchboard Server 41 Alternate Modes 41 Advanced Instance Settings 42 Auxiliary Serial 42 Switchboard Server 42 Advanced Instance Settings Under Alternate Modes 42 BRIC Normal Settings 42 HTTP Settings 43 Modem Instance 1 43 Standard RTP Settings 43 EBU3326 SIP Settings 43 TCP Settings 44 Miscellaneous 45 ...

Page 5: ...nced CrossLock VPN Settings 47 Network Manager Tab 48 Ethernet Port Settings 49 Network Locations 50 WLAN Adapter 50 3G 4G Connections 51 Advanced Ethernet Port Settings 52 VIi AES67 Connections 53 Setting Up for AES67 54 Clocking 54 Instances 55 Enable 55 AES67 Input 55 Setting Input Delay 56 AES67 Output 57 AES67 Advanced Options 57 Inputs 57 ...

Page 6: ...64 Creating New Remotes 64 Backup Remote 65 Connecting And Disconnecting 66 Special Notes for Manual CrossLock Connections 66 XI Setting Up Your Switchboard Account 67 Logging in and Setting up Switchboard 67 Creating Users 68 Contact Lists 68 Following Contact Lists 69 Shares 70 Managing Multiple Contact Lists 71 Bulk Actions for Contact Lists 73 Switchboard Theory and Concepts 76 ...

Page 7: ...r MultiRack Compatibility 83 Using MultiRack With POTS 83 Rate Drop vs Retrain 83 Troubleshooting A POTS Connection 84 XiV About The Algorithms 86 AAC 86 HE AAC 86 HE AACv2 86 Linear PCM 86 FLAC 87 G 722 87 Opus 87 Algorithm Codec Profiles Chart 88 XV Multistreaming 89 Multistreaming Arrangements 90 MultiRack Initiates the Call 90 ...

Page 8: ...e To Live 92 Changing Port Numbers for Multicast 92 XvII Streaming Server Function 93 Decoding a Stream 94 Simultaneously Connecting MultiRacks And Streaming 94 XVIII Making EBU3326 SIP Connections 95 More About EBU3326 95 EBU3326 in MultiRack 95 EBU3326 SIP Modes 96 Unregistered Mode 96 Registered Mode 96 SIP Servers 96 SIP URIs 96 Registering with a Server 96 ...

Page 9: ... Resort 100 XiX License Warranty Disclosures for MultiRack 101 License 101 Warranty 102 XX Switchboard Traversal Server Disclaimer 104 Traversal Server Disclaimer 104 XXi Conformity And Regulatory Information 105 Suppliers Declaration of Conformity 105 EC Declaration of Conformity For R TTE Directive 106 US Canada Regulatory Information 107 APPENDIX A Hotswap 108 Data Usage 108 ...

Page 10: ... C Unidirectional Networks 114 Standard RTP Settings 114 Decode Side Settings Only 114 Encode Side Settings Only 114 Full Time Or Triggered Connections 114 APPENDIX D Information For IT Managers 115 Incoming Services 115 Outgoing Services 116 ...

Page 11: ...ion is warranted by Comrex against defects in material and workmanship for one year from the date of original purchase as verified by the return of the Warranty Registration Card During the warranty period we will repair or at our option replace at no charge a product that proves to be defective provided you obtain return authorization from Comrex and return the product shipping prepaid to Comrex ...

Page 12: ...mance and hardware reliability These features combine to make the MultiRack an excellent solution for STLs and other mission critical functions The MultiRack adds a variety of new elements to the ACCESS family namely Audio I O using AES67 protocol and a new web based control page using HTML5 Applications Building on the foundations of the ACCESS Rack the MultiRack is designed for point to point na...

Page 13: ...user s fleet and assists with connections through routers and firewalls that might be difficult otherwise Because MultiRack incorporates five separate codec instances each appears as an individual codec within the Switchboard interface CrossLock MultiRack comes with a reliability feature called CrossLock VPN Comrex codecs running 4 x level firmware and higher are compatible with CrossLock This is ...

Page 14: ...h an AoIP routing system AES67 is an industry standard that most proprietary AoIP routing systems will accommodate HTML 5 Previous firmware versions for Comrex codecs provided a web based control page powered by Adobe Flash As Flash has lessened in popularity and impedes operation on many mobile browsers MultiRack and older Comrex products with new firmware now delivers web based control using the...

Page 15: ...Balanced analog audio is available at this port Level is set to 0 dBu 0 775 VRMS Full scale output is 20 dBu Codec Instance 1 only 7 AES3 Digital Audio Output A 48 kHz AES3 stereo signal is available here AES3 output is available simultaneously with analog When the AES3 Input is active the AES3 Output will lock to the sampling rate and clock signal of the Input Codec Instance 1 only 8 POTS PSTN At...

Page 16: ...io is approaching clipping level 3 Red Audio is clipping 16 Receive Each instance has a single multi color LED for Left and Right channel This indicates the level being received on that codec instance during a connection The LEDs indicate level as 1 Green Audio is active but not clipping 2 Yellow Audio is approaching clipping level 3 Red Audio is clipping Adjustments to this level must be made on ...

Page 17: ...ollector circuit which when inactive will offer a high impedance path to Pin 5 and when active will offer a low impedance path to Pin 5 These outputs are capable of sinking up to 200 mA at a voltage up to 12 V Do not switch AC mains power using these contacts Contact Closure Pinouts Pin 1 Input 1 Pin 2 Input 2 Pin 3 Input 3 Pin 4 Input 4 Pin 5 Ground Pin 6 Output 1 Pin 7 Output 2 Pin 8 Output 3 Pi...

Page 18: ...Serial Port instance 1 only The Serial Port is capable of transferring ancillary data to the far end of the connection By default the communication parameters are set for 9600 bps no handshaking no parity 8 data bits one stop bit 9600 n 8 1 It is pinned on a RS 232 9 pin D female in DCE style pinning The port is designed to connect to a 9 pin PC serial port with a straight through M F cable Serial...

Page 19: ... male RS232 pinning To attach to a PC or other DTE style ports they will require null modem adapters on each of the four RS232 DB9 connectors We recommend Kingdee slim line adapter F F model ADIB075XHWVSJ available from online retailers With the use of the null modem adapter the adapter pinouts will be identical to those listed above for the instance 1 connector ...

Page 20: ...is Quick Start use the system default profile which won t require changes to the factory default settings This factory default profile uses the Opus mono encoder in both directions of the link USING THE CONSOLE The MultiRack console interface is accessed by connecting a keyboard video monitor and mouse to the rear panel before power up This interface is nearly identical to the web based interface ...

Page 21: ... 1 open the Global Settings options using the upper left corner hamburger menu and navigate to AES67 settings Instances Instance 1 Enable and change the default disabled to enabled FIGURE 4 MULTIRACK INSTANCES MAKING SWITCHBOARD CONNECTIONS On the Web Interface select the Connections Tab This Tab will populate with a list of available remote codecs to call When the MultiRack is synced with Switchb...

Page 22: ...iRack is set to automatically answer incoming calls whether or not Switchboard is used to make them Incoming calls will appear in your connections list while they are active They can be disconnected locally by highlighting them and clicking Disconnect FIGURE 6 ACTIVE SWITCHBOARD CONNECTION ...

Page 23: ...igure 7 running the Device Manager and clicking the Scan button will produce a list of all Comrex devices found on the LAN Device Manager will attempt to log in to each device using the default password If the default password has changed Device Manager will prompt for the password to MultiRack after the scan Figure 7 shows the four tabs that appear on the right hand pane after Device Manager has ...

Page 24: ... upon booting To change the Ethernet IP addressing to static select the default location at the bottom of the list and change the IP Type to static The system will prompt a list of static settings as shown in Figure 9 on the following page As can be seen in Figure 8 the static IP address the Netmask the Gateway Address and at least one DNS Server Address must be configured in the proper fields to ...

Page 25: ...e unit s current firmware and the most recent version of firmware for the unit are listed at the top of the tab 1 in Figure 10 If the device isn t running the latest version of firmware click the Get Latest Version button 2 in Figure 10 and download it If the unit s Firmware is current the button will be grayed out Next select Update Device 3 in Figure 10 choose the upd file just downloaded and cl...

Page 26: ...tiRack unit has re booted Once those five minutes have elapsed the unit will need to be rebooted in order to perform network recovery Figure 11 shows Network Recovery Mode The Scan button has shown the presence of a MultiRack on the network On the Device tab on the right pane the Network Settings button is activated and a countdown timer is started Selecting this will allow changing of the primary...

Page 27: ...27 Figure 11 network recovery mode ...

Page 28: ...and used with the default password comrex This will access the Main User Interface display Figure 12 web interface Login CONTROLLING MULTIRACK INSTANCES MultiRack consists of five instances or virtual codecs within the single hardware box Each instance is controlled individually using its own web based control page Certain aspects of these instances are shared however like the network and USB inte...

Page 29: ...tance may have impact on the others For this reason the web configuration pages for MultiRack are divided into Instance Config Pages and a Global Config Page Most settings that affect MultiRack globally are contained in the Global Page while instance specific settings are mostly contained in the Instance Config pages Due to system architecture there are exceptions and these are called out with a w...

Page 30: ...om profiles are possible and are covered in a later section In the event that a stored unit is no longer desired they can be deleted through the Trash Icon option The Connections tab will display Name and Status information of a remote Comrex codec when it has initiated a connection to the MultiRack Information from units connected this way will only appear while the connection is active By defaul...

Page 31: ...ribed in the next section PERFORMANCE TAB The Performance Tab includes information on data transmission and reception rates from MultiRack to active remote connections This allows for real time monitoring of network quality during connections ACTIVE CONNECTIONS Clicking the header Active Connection will show a basic chart of real time codec receive performance Channel Statistics as shown in Figure...

Page 32: ... that the system is trying to achieve based on measurements calculated over the jitter window The right side of the display shows a real time and historical representation of frame loss If the decoder does not receive packets in time the chart will show a red line indicating the percentage of lost packets over the one second interval CODEC CHANNEL FIELD Clicking on the Codec Channel field delivers...

Page 33: ...een The packet was either lost or late but was recovered either by the Forward Error Correction FEC or Automatic Repeat Query ARQ error correction built into CrossLock Figure 19 Packet loss graph UTILIZATION GRAPH Figure 20 contains a graph of the outgoing or incoming utilization of the network The bars indicate the average data rate used by the system during each one second window It is possible ...

Page 34: ...a combination of decode delay buffering and error correction to keep connections stable At the start of a CrossLock connection the sliders are in Auto Delay mode and the information on the sliders is purely for informational purposes Clicking off the Auto Delay box sets the system to Manual Delay mode and allows the slider to be moved with a mouse The entire slider is scalable and the range of it ...

Page 35: ...to determine how it connects The Profile Manager tab Figure 23 allows the definition of one or more profiles to assign to outgoing remote connections It is often unnecessary to create any new profiles since MultiRack ships with a set of factory default profiles that cover most users This tab allows for creating custom profiles when necessary Please remember though that these profile settings only ...

Page 36: ...d HTTP Different aspects of these channel types are described in later sections Note It s important to define the channel of a profile before moving on to other options since the choices in the subsequent sections will vary based on this choice Make sure to press Apply Changes in order to confirm each change made 4 1 2 3 Figure 24 Profile manager tab Profile Settings Local Remote encoders When cho...

Page 37: ...e when changing them Note that when it comes to settings that effect the jitter buffer manager local settings affect the decoder on the local side and remote settings affect the decoder on the remote end Frames per Packet This function allows the encoder to wait for variable X number of frames to exist before sending a packet This option differs from FEC because each frame is only sent once Settin...

Page 38: ...ions As an example if the Jitter Window is set to the default of five minutes and if a dramatic network event happens and the buffer manager reacts perhaps by increasing the buffer the event will be included in the manager s calculations for the next five minutes If the network experiences improved performance over this period the manager may choose to wind the buffer back down after the five minu...

Page 39: ... Reliability Max Retransmissions This parameter places an upper limit on how much additional bandwidth is utilized by the BRUTE UDP reliability layer The default setting is 100 which allows the error correction layer to use the same amount of bandwidth as the audio stream For example if an audio stream is consuming 80 kb s of network bandwidth and UDP Max Retransmissions is set at 50 up to 40 kb s...

Page 40: ... to the outgoing stream Leaving the field blank will disable this function Show Offline Switchboard Units If using Switchboard to display and connect to your codec fleet the names of your other codecs will appear in the Connections list This option determines whether units that aren t currently online are displayed or concealed in this list Always Connect to This field is available to designate a ...

Page 41: ...m service ALTERNATE MODES BRIC Normal Settings Accept Incoming Connections This determines if this MultiRack is used for incoming normal IP connections If this function is not enabled MultiRack will only support outgoing calls using BRIC Normal Mode Modem Accept Incoming Connections This allows a MultiRack to listen for and automatically answer incoming calls EBU3266 SIP Settings Accept Incoming C...

Page 42: ...es the TCP port of the Switchboard Server This is set to TCP 8082 by default Advanced instance Settings Under Alternate modes The following are settings listed under the Alternate Modes that only appear under Show Advanced BRIC NORMAL SETTINGS IP Port This option defines the incoming UDP port the number to be used for incoming IP connections On MultiRack each instance has a different BRIC Normal p...

Page 43: ...will be answered Default is set to 1 Max Modem Rate This allows users to set the maximum allowed modem connect rate Default setting is 24000 Min Modem Rate This allows users to set the minimum allowed modem connect rate Default setting is 9600 Extra Modem Init This allows users to enter an extra modem initialization string The default is set to blank STANDARD RTP SETTINGS These settings offer seve...

Page 44: ...specific entry is required by the provider Send RTP To Source Port A NAT Traversal function used with smartphone apps Enabled by default SIP Routing Specifically required by some SIP servers e g OpenSIPS Modifies the behavior of the route header TCP SETTINGS MultiRack performs best when using UDP for connections but there are some rare circumstances when the system may need to be switched over to ...

Page 45: ...45 MISCELLANEOUS Meter Demo Mode This setting will put the front panel LED meters into a demonstration mode This setting is set to No by default ...

Page 46: ...TT or none Redundant Transmission This option enables transmission of data on all available interfaces simultaneously to increase reliability at the cost of available bandwidth The default setting is Off When this is off CrossLock will add the total network bandwidth among different networks for a single stream Encoder Throttle This option will allow the system to reduce the bit rate of encoded me...

Page 47: ...s instance If instance is unused this should be disabled to conserve network bandwidth Inputs This setting allows users to set the delay and network name of the source settings Delay allows users to set delays in their input audio streams and is default set to 5 ms Source allows for selecting a AES67 name of the source for this input to receive from Outputs This setting allows users to configure t...

Page 48: ...FEC Applies a constant base amount of FEC sufficient to recover the specified rate of packet loss Default is set to 0 STUN Server Displays IP address of the STUN Server CrossLock can use a different STUN server than other services Default is stun comrex com Always Connect Allows users to attempt to maintain a VPN connection to a selected peer whenever possible Default is set to None NETWORK MANAGE...

Page 49: ...n the upper left of the screen in the Select Network Device The default configuration for the Ethernet Port will display in the Device Settings box as seen in Figure 27 The Active Network Location section of the device settings will note which network configurations the unit is using for the Ethernet Port By default the Active Network Location will be populated with the Default location This Defau...

Page 50: ...n To do this select the New Location under the Network Location header Change the name of the Location to something memorable and then select IP Type Figure 29 This controls the IP address type amongst DHCP Static and Gateway settings If selecting a Static IP address make certain to enter the unit s new IP address its Netmask and its Gateway Address as well as at least one DNS Server Address Figur...

Page 51: ... the network password and select APPLY CHANGES FInally set this new WiFi network by navigating to the Active Network Location This will open a dialogue box to the right of the screen where stored WLAN Network locations can be selected Click APPLY CHANGES to complete setting up the WLAN Adapter 3G 4G CONNECTIONS 4G Cellular connections can be made with MultiRack by attaching a cellular modem with S...

Page 52: ...der to log into it Use With CrossLock This option allows for specifying whether this Ethernet port will be used for CrossLock connections and is enabled by default It may be valuable to disable this setting in select circumstances however such as when using the main Ethernet for control purposes only or as a secondary port added via USB Ethernet converter for CrossLock media Broadcast Config This ...

Page 53: ...tion By default AES67 is delivered via the Secondary Ethernet port In environments where a single Ethernet network is used for both AES67 and codec transmission we recommend connecting both Primary and Secondary ports to that network By default when AES67 is enabled the chosen Ethernet port does not carry CrossLock connections This can be changed in the MultiRack configuration but use of a port fo...

Page 54: ...e domain value under PTP Clocking Clock Domain Next under Settings Network Interface choose which of the Ethernet Ports on MultiRack is connected to the AES67 network In current firmware we recommend leaving the Secondary Ethernet port as your AES67 port even if you only intend to use one network for all functions AES67 codec connections and web based control Under Network Interface Usage we recom...

Page 55: ...ce you re aware that the MultiRack input stream is active choose the instance input setting in the AES67 options and select Source As shown in Figure 33 a box will appear on the right side of the page with a pull down menu allowing you to choose from all the available streams that have been discovered on the network If your target stream is available choose it and click Apply Changes Figure 33 AES...

Page 56: ...lied to the input stream in order to make it stable This requires a way to monitor the MultiRack audio input This is most easily accomplished by establishing a connection to another Comrex codec and monitoring the audio output of that codec If the audio sounds good without distortion or drop outs the default settings are fine and input setup is finished If not find the Delay entry under the Input ...

Page 57: ...ue Note some AoIP systems work only within specific Multicast addressing ranges so consult the system specific cheat sheets for more info on that Figure 36 AES67 OUTPUT SETTINGS The status message under the output name should read streaming AES67 ADVANCED OPTIONS INPUTS Ignore Clock GMID By default MultiRack will accept sources that arrive clocked to any source not just the clock that s driving Mu...

Page 58: ...ur switches about priority The AES67 default is 34 and should be changed only when special requirements exist Payload Type This is a value sent in outgoing stream advertisements AES67 default is 98 If your AoIP system has special requirements it can be changed here ...

Page 59: ...ll connect on 9003 These are on the MultiRack side and the remote codecs will all use their default ports of 9000 Alternatively when CrossLock is used it establishes a Virtual Private Network VPN between the hardware on both the transmitting and receiving units before a connection is established Using this VPN codecs can transfer much more information than is possible on Non CrossLock legacy conne...

Page 60: ...is used As detailed in section IX connections that don t use Switchboard need special configuration MULTIPLE NETWORK SETUP In the case of more than one network attached to a MultiRack e g two Ethernet cables a Wif fi or 4G adapter etc all networks are added to the CrossLock VPN and used for media transfer unless specifically disabled for CrossLock use The performance tab on the web interface will ...

Page 61: ... be initiated from the remote end of the connection As an example at a transmitter site the primary network is a DSL line and port UDP 9001 the default port for CrossLock connections is open from the public Internet The backup network is a 4G modem which on its own would not accept an incoming connect request Even without using Switchboard the connection can be initiated from the studio side and t...

Page 62: ...the far end is available for incoming connections By selecting a Switchboard peer and clicking the edit pencil icon on the right side you can change several important aspects of the Switchboard connection 1 Use CrossLock Determine whether the connection will be made over the CrossLock Layer and port arrangement or over the legacy BRIC Normal protocol and port arrangement 2 Connection Password This...

Page 63: ...r icon is green 3 Click Connect in the upper right corner Switchboard connections can be ended on either end of the link by choosing the active connection in the list and clicking Disconnect Incoming connections will appear as new entries in the Switchboard peer list while they are active They can be disconnected the same way 63 ...

Page 64: ...odecs this is the primary Ethernet MAC address of the far side codec If you are connecting to a MultiRack instance you may need to add the suffix to designate the instance ID e g 00 01 0c c0 78 12 4 The Connection Password function can be used to filter incoming connections With this function attempted incoming connections will be rejected without the proper case sensitive password For outgoing co...

Page 65: ...se an IP Connection failure and will wait the defined Local Timeout parameter in the primary remote s profile If the connection is restored during this time no backup will occur If the timeout lapses without reconnection to the primary remote MultiRack will automatically connect to the designated Backup Remote This connection will be retained until the connection is either manually terminated or t...

Page 66: ...ite side of the link This process for outgoing calls is described above What isn t mentioned is also important the MAC Switchboard ID of the outgoing unit must also be programmed into the unit receiving the call Note that MultiRack instances 2 5 have special Switchboard IDs consisting of the primary Ethernet MAC followed by a suffix e g 00 01 0c c0 78 19 4 for instance 4 This is done by creating a...

Page 67: ...decs Once a user name and password have been provided navigate to switchboard comrex com in a web browser When first accessing Switchboard there will be a notice stating that no units have been added to the account By clicking on Add New Unit a dialogue box will open and ask for the Ethernet MAC address of the MultiRack Figure 44 Figure 44 add new unit Note that the primary Ethernet MAC address is...

Page 68: ...asswords Figure 46 users tab Contact Lists In some situations it might not be desirable for every codec to see the Switchboard status of every other codec To help filter what s displayed on a codec s interface Switchboard has implemented the concept of Contact Lists Contact Lists contain a subset of a user s codec fleet on their account Figure 47 Users can create multiple Contact Lists that consis...

Page 69: ... work fine NOTE Assigning a Contact List to a codec determines what gets displayed in its own list It does not have any impact on how that codec is displayed on other devices FOLLOWING contact lists Each unit also has the ability to Follow a Contact List This is a view only function that allows a codec to see the status and presence of units in a Contact List All units are set to Follow the master...

Page 70: ... Contact List Figure 50 One important point to remember Following a Contact List on a codec only determines which units get displayed on that codec s own list It has no impact on how that codec itself is displayed on other devices Shares Switchboard users outside of an account can be granted permission see the status of others devices through the implementation of Shares which like Contact Lists a...

Page 71: ... codec s they want to include in a Share Figure 52 After making a selection users will need to enter one of the following to identify the account they wish to Share their unit s with the official name of that account as it s listed in Switchboard or the email address for the account s administrator which must match the email Switchboard has for that user Figure 53 Figure 53 Account share ...

Page 72: ...en add a Shared unit to a Contact List in order for it to be visible to other units in their fleet This is true even if they re only using the single default Contact List Figure 54 Sharing accounts Finally while it is possible to delete Shares Comrex recommends disabling them instead This will stop the Share and won t require any future work to recreate it To disable a Share simply click the orang...

Page 73: ...er right Figure 57 viewing list devices While viewing the units in a list the units will be displayed and the lists themselves will temporarily disappear from the screen 1 in Figure 57 To view the lists again press the red Back arrow 2 in Figure 57 Please note Only the Contact Lists that a codec is actively following can be viewed from that codec BULK ACTIONS FOR CONTACT LISTS It is possible in Sw...

Page 74: ...ll be impacted by the change Step 1 Choose the Action Type First select which of the four types of Bulk Actions to perform Figure 59 ADD codecs to a Contact List REMOVE codecs from a Contact List SUBSCRIBE to a Contact List i e have multiple codecs Follow that list UNSUBSCRIBE from a Contact List i e have multiple codecs stop Following that list Figure 59 bulk contact list assignment Step 2 Select...

Page 75: ...s that a Bulk Action will affect ALL of the codecs that are either part of a Contact List or are Following that list To only change a subset of the codecs in a list try creating a new Contact List with only those units in it and then perform the Bulk Action using that list Step 3 Identify the List That Will Be Changed Lastly choose the Contact List that will be affected by this Bulk Action This wi...

Page 76: ... a web server the web server can automatically derive the reply address from the request and respond to it So the traditional four segment decimal address e g 70 22 155 130 is completely obscured to the user Even if you know your IP address it s quite possible that address will change over time This is because the vast majority of Internet users establish their addresses via DHCP a protocol whereb...

Page 77: ...n a group that is physically connected to the Internet will sync with the server The current public IP address of the codec will be obtained by the server and the user directory will be updated with the new IP address In addition the availability status of the codec is also updated The codec will ping the server if anything changes address status etc As we ll see this ping function will prove usef...

Page 78: ... simultaneously serving a configuration web page would deliver these applications from and to different port numbers but perhaps to the same IP address Port numbers are also used by NAT routers in segmenting applications flowing through them and they may change source port numbers at will Figure 63 Figure 63 Nat traversal Network Address Translation NAT refers to the ability of a router to transla...

Page 79: ...ng connections from other codecs Instruct the called codec to make the connection in the reverse direction The second option which utilizes the outgoing Directory Server ping described earlier is very useful The interval of this ping is adjustable but defaults to about one minute which is short enough to keep a hole punched through the majority of NAT routers These techniques are based loosely wit...

Page 80: ...ul to simulate a connection oriented stream so MultiRack uses a low bandwidth sub channel to deliver information back to the encoder about overall connection status It does this in its application layer rather than in the transport layer where UDP exists By default it monitors the health of a connection and if no data is detected as received by the decoder for 60 seconds this is a user defined tim...

Page 81: ... not want the system to time out and disconnect in the event of network failure The MultiRack has the capability to automatically make a backup IP connection if there is a failure in the primary connection This is called Fallback and is an option chosen after defining a new Remote connection Figure 66 Backup Remote As shown in Figure 66 highlight an existing connection this will be the primary con...

Page 82: ...ettings tab labelled Automatically fall forward If this box is checked the system will constantly attempt to reconnect the primary remote while connected to the fallback remote If connection is successful the connection to the Fallback will be terminated ...

Page 83: ...d on the Connections Tab When defining any outgoing connection a profile must be assigned to it For POTS Codec compatible connections the factory default POTS Profile should work best Note When creating a profile designate the modem mode as POTS Codec rather than POTS Stereo in order to be compatible with legacy devices Figure 67 using MultiRack with POTS To use MultiRack on POTS a standard analog...

Page 84: ...ither end there is no way to force it to connect at a higher rate If a higher connection rate is desired with MultiRack disconnect the call and dial again Troubleshooting a POTS connection There are dozens of factors that can affect the success of a POTS codec call some within the user s control and some not Here s a short list of rules to follow for POTS codec connections Use the POTS codec on a ...

Page 85: ...ors on the line If operation starts to degrade after a long period of connection it s possible the phone line parameters have changed These parameters are affected by factors such as time of day weather and geographic location The modems should be given the opportunity to renegotiate for these new parameters When experiencing low connection rates or errors try re dialing If that does not help dial...

Page 86: ...s to produce AAC comparable quality at a lower bit rate It does this by encoding lower frequencies to AAC and higher frequencies using Spectral Band Replication SBR SBR is a technique that partially synthesizes these high frequencies HE AAC is trademarked by other companies as AACPlus HE AAC and close derivatives is often used as the main audio codec for digital radio and satellite networks HE AAC...

Page 87: ...thm used in some VoIP telephones and codecs It is provided for compatibility purposes and is not considered a superior algorithm for audio codecs Opus A newer offering that combines low delay and low network utilization Opus is included primarily for compatibility with softphone apps and Internet connections using WebRTC see Technotes about WebRTC on the Comrex website Special CBR modes are offere...

Page 88: ... data rate 56 kb s 184 ms 20 kHz G5 Stereo 56Kb adds Parametric Stereo to SBR for higher quality audio at low data rate AAC LD Requires higher data rates but provides near transparent voice or music with low delay 96 kb s 30 ms 20 kHz I1 Mono 128 kb s 30 ms 20 kHz I2 Stereo 192 kb s 30 ms 20 kHz I3 Dual Mono allows independent programming to be sent on both L R channels 256 kb s 30 ms 20 kHz I4 St...

Page 89: ...ch is described in the next section Each MultiRack can only run one decoder so it s important that in a Multistream environment a maximum of one stream is sent in the reverse direction This means that users interested in hearing a Multistream must turn off their encoders This can be a bit confusing because Multistream can be initiated from either end of the link Figure 69 Multistreaming Arrangemen...

Page 90: ...with MultiRack B first followed by C and D MultiRack receives the call In model number 2 where the serving MultiRack accepts all incoming connections all the profiles are built on the Remote Receivers MultiRack B will use a simple profile by defining the encoders in each direction and assign it to MultiRack A MultiRack C and D will each define a profile with their Local Encoders turned Off and ass...

Page 91: ... input streams when multicasting CrossLock is not supported and should be turned off for all IP Multicast connections The following section presupposes that IP Multicast users will be familiar with the basic concepts of setup and operation of the network and will thus focus on how to configure MultiRack for Multicast mode Multicast Profiles To configure remotes for Multicast first create a profile...

Page 92: ...t connection simply define a remote as having an address within the IP Multicast Block use an IP Multicast profile and press Connect Time to Live Time to Live TTL is a variable set by Multicast encoders to determine how long a packet is processed before it is dropped by the network The default value of TTL in MultiRack is 0 which limits its use to within a LAN environment TTL may be manually chang...

Page 93: ...iate a pull connection to the codec Figure 72 Accept incoming HTTP connections The default port for serving streams is on instance 1 UDP 8000 Instance 2 uses 8002 3 uses 8003 etc Creating a custom port can be done in the HTTP settings under IP Port Note that this port will need to be referenced in the URL provided to listeners Figure 73 HTTP STREAMING ENCODER Next select an encoder for use by the ...

Page 94: ...al port if it has not been changed from default it will be 8000 In Windows Media Player input the address like this http 192 168 1 75 8000 stream asx using the actual IP address of course Simultaneously Connecting MultiRacks and Streaming MultiRack can stream while connected to another Comrex codec in BRIC Normal mode If the BRIC connection is using an AAC algorithm supported by players then when ...

Page 95: ...r s application it s best to stick to a single codec vendor and their proprietary protocols More about EBU3326 The Tech 3326 document defines several mandatory encoding algorithms and the transport layer that could be used on them for compatibility But the most complex part of the standard was the decision on how to arrange Session Initialization which is the handshake that takes place at the star...

Page 96: ...codecs through routers The remote codec can be dialed by its SIP URI instead of IP address The SIP server can be used to find codecs on dynamic IP addresses SIP Servers A SIP server exists in a domain This domain is represented by a web style URL like sipphone com or iptel org A SIP server or proxy generally handles IP connections within its domain SIP URIs The SIP server assigns a fixed alphanume...

Page 97: ...ill reflect the progress of the registration process When complete this will display Online If the box does not display Online after a short time it means that registration likely failed It s best to go back and carefully check the registration info It might also be useful to ensure the registration information is valid by configuring a VoIP phone or softphone with it and attempting registration S...

Page 98: ...uses 5062 3 uses 5063 etc For non registered incoming calls it s important to know this port number because it needs to be added to the calling unit s outbound IP address e g 192 168 25 25 5064 RTP Port This is one of two port numbers used for audio data transfer the port number directly above this is used as well Because this port number is negotiated at the beginning of a call over the IP port t...

Page 99: ...ate and maintain a connection But SIP includes a separate forward address or return address field and requires that a codec negotiating a call send to that address only This is important in the case of having an intermediate server and works fine as long as each codec knows its public IP address Outgoing Call Issues A unit making an outgoing call must populate the return address field But any code...

Page 100: ...EBU3326 SIP options and allows for the codec to learn its public IP address It does this by contacting a STUN server on the Internet the default one is maintained by Comrex and requesting its Public IP If this option is enabled the codec itself will handle the address switching Be aware of the battling work arounds issue as ports are being translated by the router as well as IP addresses If the AL...

Page 101: ... a small handling fee for distribution of this software ACCESS makes use of open source and or free software with the following copyright restrictions ncurses Copyright 1998 1999 2000 2001 Free Software Foundation Inc See further Copyright notice below dropbear Copyright 2002 2004 Matt Johnston Portions copyright 2004 Mihnea Stoenescu All rights reserved See further Copyright notice below libxml2 ...

Page 102: ...bove copyright notice this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and or other materials provided with the distribution 3 The names of the authors may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ...

Page 103: ...TY OF SAME IN NO EVENT SHALL COMREX CORPORATION AND OR ITS SUPPLIERS TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID AS PART OF THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THIS PRODUCT COMREX CORPORATION AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTY EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED THAT ANY USE OF THE PRODUCT WILL BE FREE FROM INFRINGEMENT OF PATENTS COPYRIGHTS OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY S INTELLECTUAL...

Page 104: ...ex has deployed and provided you account details for a Switchboard TS account on our server located at http switchboard comrex com Comrex provides this service free of charge and at will As such Comrex offers no warranty as to availability of this server or of its function Comrex reserves the right to discontinue availability of this service at any time Comrex also reserves the right to remove any...

Page 105: ...nt Technical Requirements for Connection of Terminal Equipment To the Telephone Network July 2001 Thomas O Hartnett Vice President Comrex Corporation Note This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is op...

Page 106: ...lates is in conformity with the essential requirements and other relevant requirements of the R TTE Directive 1999 5 EC This product is compliant with the following standards and other normative documents European EMC Directive 89 336 EEC EN 55022 1998 A1 2000 Class A Conducted and Radiated Emissions EN55024 1998 A1 2001 A2 2003 Immunity ITE Equipment Low Voltage Directive 2006 95 EEC EN 60950 1 2...

Page 107: ...ck causes harm to the telephone network the telephone company will notify you in advance that temporary discontinuance of service may be required But if advance notice isn t practical the telephone company will notify the customer as soon as possible Also you will be advised of your right to file a complaint with the FCC if you believe it is necessary The telephone company may make changes in its ...

Page 108: ...rom the primary connection to the secondary 4G cellular network as a backup When the primary network is restored Hotswap will switch back to it and continue to hold the secondary network in a backup state Any supported network type e g Ethernet Wi Fi 4G cellular can be designated as the primary or secondary backup network Since Hotswap is an alternate mode of the Comrex CrossLock reliability layer...

Page 109: ...ia USB or Ethernet MultiRack Ethernet ports designate a primary and secondary port for this very purpose The default behavior for CrossLock is to use all networks available to aggregate and apportion data based on capacity and delay calculations To configure primary and secondary networks this behavior will require changes in the Network Manager In Network Manager a list of all networks attached t...

Page 110: ...he contact closures to sound an alert when the HotSwap function is engaged Still in the CrossLock settings select HotSwap CC unit Choose whether the contact closure output triggers on the local remote or both codecs Figure 80 Select Apply Changes to save your new settings Figure 80 HotSwap CC unit Next choose HotSwap CC Indicator and select which contact closure to trigger Figure 81 This will over...

Page 111: ...Figure 81 Hotswap CC indicator 111 ...

Page 112: ...ltered to any Luci compatible mode in the Systems Setting section Outgoing Connections Build a profile using the Profile Manager on the MultiRack and select a Channel Mode of Standard RTP Then choose a Luci compatible encoder for the outgoing call The Luci software will control what type of stream if any is returned to the MultiRack 2 Zephyr Xstream Xstream Firmware version 3 2 0 and higher suppor...

Page 113: ...en choose an Xstream compatible encoder for the outgoing call The Xstream will control what type of stream if any is returned to the MultiRack 3 Standard RTP This mode is set to receive a basic unformatted AAC stream within a standard RTP UDP structure At present this mode does not offer compatibility with other industry devices ...

Page 114: ...nel Enable entry Disable the return channel and click Apply or Save on ACCESS Portable This will make sure that no channel will be set up in the direction to the encoder Encode Side Settings Only Connections of this type must be established from the encoding side of the link A new Profile must be built that uses the Standard RTP channel mode under the Profile Editor Choose an outgoing encoder alon...

Page 115: ...line updater utility This update process is password protected and requires access to TCP 80 and TCP 8081 In addition to the password protection the update data itself must have a valid cryptographic signature from Comrex or else it is rejected Incoming Services Port Service Default TCP 22 SSH Off On for products shipped before 1 July 2017 TCP 80 85 HTTP control On TCP 443 TLS protected HTTP contr...

Page 116: ...g services Service Destination NTP 0 comrex pool ntp org 123 UDP Switchboard switchboard comrex com 8090 switchboard comrex com 8081 secondary TCP STUN stun comrex com 3478 UDP DNS Lookup DNS Server 53 TCP and UDP ...

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