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Monitoring (SNMP)
Monitoring the status of devices within a broadcast system is vital to its operation.
Do you want to know where a fault occurs with a broadcast chain, which device has lost its input or reference, whether there has been silence on a channel for too long, or when the power supply failed in a key unit?
TSL Control offers multiple protocols that allow monitoring and reporting when device faults occur or are detected, including manufacturer-specific protocols and industry standards such as SNMP. Additionally, when coupled with a TSL virtual panel, a simple, easy-to-understand display can be created that will allow operators to quickly diagnose and rectify on-air or operational issues.
Operations and Maintenance teams can now quickly view the operational health of the entire system at a glance and automatically be notified of any failures that may impact operations.
Use Case: Signal Chain Monitoring and Control for Playout at Major Sports Network
A broadcast systems integrator was tasked with installing a broadcast monitoring and control solution for a major international sports broadcast network. Turning to TSL Control, the customer successfully deployed a complete solution delivering reliability and productivity enhancements.
When it comes to complex broadcast workflows, it’s crucial that operators can monitor the entire signal chain. The information and real-time alerting required for this are available in multiple forms, with extensive use of SNMP as well as proprietary protocols. By condensing this information into an intuitive and focused user interface operators can manage multiple signal paths at once, with a clear view of overall system health and immediate alerts of unforeseen events during a broadcast.
Within the sports network’s playout facility, there are over 1700 SNMP traps and 5 proprietary interfaces from multiviewers and glue, monitoring diverse elements such as loss of signal, Dolby and SCTE presence at critical points through the chains. With the help of TSL Control and the integrator, the customer was able to simplify operations, providing users with a condensed, straightforward way of monitoring numerous signals across multiple signal chains and geographically remote facilities, reducing costs and allowing engineers to achieve more without being physically present.
Correct errors in real-time
The customer’s broadcast operators are immediately alerted if there are any alarms, freezes or other unexpected issues during a broadcast stream, so errors can be corrected in real-time.
Additionally, the panel is configurable to suit any workflow and provides operators with a condensed way to oversee their workflows, in this case, 12 signal chains are monitored simultaneously with more being added.
For the end users, alarms for all the 1,700 plus SNMPs can be easily seen, identified, and resolved. Audible alert buzzers are also triggered to draw attention to the monitoring system and can be muted by the operators once they are aware of the issue. To ensure safe operation when working with a multitude of signals, it’s beneficial that operators can also selectively lock out controls to reduce the occurrence of human error during a program.
Key elements of the monitoring solution are the powerful capabilities brought by TSL Control. With both DTMF and SCTE monitoring, TSL’s control processor monitors the DTMF using pre-determined criteria for the expected audio tones within specific timeframes and alerts when there is an issue. With the flexibility of adapting to any user-configurable time period, the TSL controller allows users to align the system parameters to best fit its specific broadcast requirements.
The same goes for SCTE, where extracted SCTE-104 or SCTE-35 messages from the media are checked against a set of rules such as matching PIDs or specific message content.
With the interface enabling one person to monitor the 12 channels at once, operators are able to easily redirect a signal flow or alert an engineer to an issue. The system’s secondary function is to log alarms and signal paths throughout a broadcast, which can be presented if there are any issues within the content such as SCTE or DTMF messages not being sent where and when they’re expected.
Logs can be easily accessed through a web browser or FTP for a ten-week period. With the sports broadcast network able to deploy the TSL control processor to log commands, broadcast operators can look back at previous workflow charts for efficient problem-solving and future comparisons.
TSL Control Solutions
