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HIGH SPEED END-TO-END CONNECTION MANAGEMENT IN A BRIDGED IEEE 1394 NETWORK OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO DEVICES A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of RHODES UNIVERSITY by HAROLD A. OKAI-TETTEY December 2005 Abstract A number of companies have developed a variety of network approaches to the transfer of audio and MIDI data. By doing this, they have addressed the configuration complications that were present when using direct patching for analogue audio, digital audio, word clock, and control connections. Along with their approaches, controlling software, usually running on a PC, is used to set up and manage audio routings from the outputs to the inputs of devices. However one of the advantages of direct patching is the conceptual simplicity it provides for a user in connecting plugs of devices, the ability to connect from the host plug of one device to the host plug of another. The connection management or routing applications of the current audio networks do not allow for such a capability, and instead employ what is referred to as a two-step approach to connection management. This two-step approach requires that devices be first configured at the transport layer of the network for input and output routings, after which the transmit and receive plugs of devices are manually configured to transmit or receive data. From a user’s point of view, it is desirable for the connection management or audio routing applications of the current audio networks to be able to establish routings directly between the host plugs of devices, and not the audio channels exposed by a network’s transport, as is currently the case. The main goal of this work has been to retain the conceptual simplicity of point-to- point connection management within digital audio networks, while gaining all the benefits that digital audio networking can offer. i Acknowledgements My gratitude and thanks goes to the following people, without whose support, this work would never have been accomplished: • First and foremost, I would like to thank Richard Foss my supervisor, without whose hard work, this thesis would not have been possible. His supervision has challenged me to learn and do more. I am most grateful for the long hours he has put into this work and for teaching me by example to be intellectually balanced. • The mLAN team at Yamaha Corporation, Japan – Jun-ichi Fujimori, Ken Kounosu, Hirotaka Kuribayashi, Sean (Seiichi) Hashimoto, and Takashi Furukawa, for making my work possible through their generous funding, access to equipment and an unlimited access to their invaluable information. • The Distributed Multimedia Centre of Excellence at Rhodes University, which has financial support from Telkom SA, Business Connexion, Comverse, Verso Technologies, THRIP, and the National Research Foundation. • Shoichi Matsumoto and Masa Watanabe of Otari Inc., Japan, for loaning us two ND-20B devices for use in this research. • Thank you to the Rhodes University Computer Science Department for the opportunity to read for this degree, from which I have immensely benefited. • I am grateful to the staff in Hamilton Building who have assisted me and made available the excellent resources that have made writing and compiling this work possible. • I would like to thank my parents for their continuous support and for always encouraging me to be excellent. • I would like to thank my brother and sister for being with me throughout my academic and non-academic years and for helping me keep my sanity. • Thank you to all my friends who have been encouraging. ii Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Routing Audio and MIDI Data..................................................................................................1 1.1.1 Physical Point-to-Point Cabling...............................................................................................2 1.1.2 Networked Audio Alternatives ................................................................................................2 1.1.2.1 The Problem Statement .......................................................................................................3 2. CURRENT AUDIO NETWORKS AND END-TO-END CONNECTION MANAGEMENT .......12 2.1 Current Audio Networks..........................................................................................................14 2.1.1 An Overview of Current Audio Networks.............................................................................14 2.1.1.1 Intelligent Media Technologies’ SmartBuss.....................................................................15 2.1.1.2 DANTE Project of National ICT Australia ......................................................................16 2.1.1.3 Hear Technologies’ HearBus ............................................................................................16 2.1.1.4 Aviom’s A-NetTM Pro64 ...................................................................................................17 2.1.1.5 Axia Audio’s Livewire......................................................................................................18 2.1.1.6 Gibson’s MaGIC ...............................................................................................................19 2.1.1.7 Cirrus Logic/Peak Audio’s CobraNetTM ...........................................................................20 2.1.1.8 Digigram’s EtherSound Technology ................................................................................23 2.1.1.9 Oxford Technologies’ SuperMAC....................................................................................26 2.1.1.10 Yamaha Corporation’s mLAN Technology .....................................................................28 2.1.2 A Review of Current Audio Networks ..................................................................................33 2.1.2.1 Low-Latency, Channel Count & QoS...............................................................................33 2.1.2.2 Convergence ......................................................................................................................34 2.1.2.3 Standards vs. Proprietary...................................................................................................34 2.1.2.4 Control and Monitoring.....................................................................................................35 2.2 End-to-End Connection Management....................................................................................36 2.2.1 Why the mLAN Networking Technology? ...........................................................................37 2.3 Summary ....................................................................................................................................40 3. IEEE 1394 AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES .....................................................................41 3.1 Overview of IEEE 1394 ............................................................................................................42 3.1.1 Node Architecture ..................................................................................................................43 3.1.1.1 Node Addressing ...............................................................................................................43 3.1.1.2 Transaction Types .............................................................................................................44 3.1.1.3 Control and Status Registers .............................................................................................47 3.1.1.4 Configuration ROM ..........................................................................................................49 3.1.2 Configuration Process ............................................................................................................50 3.1.2.1 Bus Initialization ...............................................................................................................50 3.1.2.2 Tree Identification .............................................................................................................51 3.1.2.3 Self Identification ..............................................................................................................52 3.1.2.4 Reconstructing the Bus Topology.....................................................................................54 3.2 The IEEE 1394 Bridge Model..................................................................................................57 3.2.1 The IEEE 1394 Bridge Standard............................................................................................58 3.2.1.1 Global Node IDs................................................................................................................59 3.2.1.2 Remote Timeout ................................................................................................................59 3.2.1.3 Clan Affinity and Net Update ...........................................................................................59 3.2.1.4 Cycle Time Distribution and Synchronization .................................................................60 3.2.1.5 Stream Connection Management......................................................................................62 3.2.2 The Propriety 1394 NEC Bridges..........................................................................................63

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