Next Generation Feature Roadmap for IP-Based Range Architectures

Abstract

The initial efforts that resulted in the migration of range application traffic to an IP infrastructure largely focused on the challenge of obtaining reliable transport for range application streams including telemetry and digital video via IP packet-based network technology. With the emergence of architectural elements that support robust Quality of Service, multicast routing, and redundant operation, these problems have largely been resolved, and a large number of ranges are now successfully utilizing IP-based network topology to implement their backbone transport infrastructure. The attention now turns to the need to provide supplemental features that provide enhanced functionality in addition to raw stream transport. These features include: *Stream monitoring and native test capability, usually called Service Assurance *Extended support for Ancillary Data / Metadata *Archive and Media Asset Management integration into the workflow *Temporal alignment of application streams This paper will describe a number of methods to implement these features utilizing an approach that leverages the features offered by IP-based technology, emphasizes the use of standards-based COTS implementations, and supports interworking between features.