7. How is this related to IoT?
As the demand for increased AV capabilities continues and the technologies used in AV evolve, AV needs to reside on the network. This translates to being part of a larger IT ecosystem.
As buildings become smarter and house systems are interconnected, AV has less of a reason to reside on a separate, isolated network. In terms of IoT, one of the most commonly used definitions is “machines talking to other machines” (M2M).
We at Biamp, along with many other companies in the pro-AV industry, have been making these machines for over a decade. We are a part of IoT, whether we realize it or not!
8. Why is AVnu important to AVB/TSN?
The AVnu Alliance is a consortium of pro AV, automotive, consumer electronics, and industrial manufacturing companies working together to establish and certify the interoperability of open AVB/TSN standards developed by the IEEE AVB Task Group.
These IEEE open standards enable any manufacturer to develop products that can reside within an AVB/TSN ecosystem.
But not every AVB/TSN-compliant product is submitted for certification through the AVnu Alliance, and as the IEEE standards can be implemented in a variety of subtly different ways, there is no guarantee that such products will talk to each other.
AVnu certification ensures that products that have been certified and carry the AVnu logo will be able to talk to each other – similar to the Wi-Fi Alliance and IEEE 801.11.
9. What is the difference between AVB and TSN?
For the most part, AVB and TSN are the same. When comparing how AVB/TSN is used in the different segments (automotive, pro AV, consumer electronics, industrial control), the differentiation can be seen.
TSN provides the base layer of technology where each segment then adds technology specific to its industry. In pro AV, AVB is critical, which is why we refer to it as AVB/TSN.
One of the reasons for the term TSN is that in the industrial sector, systems are not running audio or video, but instead deterministic data, so AVB was a meaningless term for them. The adoption of TSN reflects the broadening and “coming of age” of this set of standards for deterministic data of any sort.
10. Why is an open standard so important?
Opens standards provide the opportunity for a technology to continue along a natural evolution of development by various participants using the technology, and not to be limited by a single company’s business plan.
If one company owns the rights to a technology, anyone who invests in using this technology is tied to the company’s future decisions on how they’re going to develop and support it. This was seen with CobraNet when it was purchased by Cirrus Logic in the mid-1990s.
Continued development was expected, but a change in Cirrus Logic’s business plan resulted in a stagnation of the technology’s development.
The beauty of an open source protocol is that development is driven by the organizations that are utilizing it. Similar to Ethernet and Wi-Fi, the technology continues to develop while setting forth the confidence that if something is Wi-Fi certified, it’s guaranteed to work on a Wi-Fi network.
Graeme Harrison is Biamp’s EVP of Marketing.
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