AVnu Alliance

Background

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) was formed in 1963, through the merger of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (founded in 1884) and the Institute of Radio Engineers (founded in 1912). The two organizations merged because with the rise of electronics, many of their interests were beginning to overlap. In 1980, IEEE started project 802 to create standards for local area network (LAN) applications. In 1985, 802.3 became the official standard for Ethernet, a cable-based data transmission system originally developed by Xerox in the 1970s. Audio Video Bridging is the name given to a set of technical standards developed by the IEEE Audio Video Bridging Task Group of the IEEE 802.1 standards committee. The committee developed the original technical standards for AVB, a way to simplify audio and video streaming through the use of the Ethernet cable, rather than the complicated approach traditionally taken using an array of analog one-way, single-purpose and point-to-point cables.

Formation

AVnu Alliance was launched on August 25, 2009, to create certification processes based on AVB standards that would ensure interoperability. Founding members include: Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Harman International, Intel and Xilinx. As of August 2013, the alliance includes over 60 members worldwide that represent a cross-section of companies.

In 2012, AVnu Alliance announced the formation of AVnu Automotive AVB Gen2 Council (AAA2C), a committee of automotive industry experts that will collectively identify automotive requirements for future development of the second generation of AVB standards.

In April 2013, the forum launched the AVnu Alliance Broadcast Advisory Council (AABAC) to assess and improve AVB requirements in the broadcast industry. Created with the participation of AVnu Alliance members, network technologists and broadcasters, the AABAC also intends to promote the use of AVB in broadcast applications.

AVnu Alliance’s chairman and president is Rick Kreifeldt of Harman International.

Process

AVnu Alliance invites industry companies to participate and collaborate in their efforts to improve audio/video quality. Their members create a broad array of products, including cars, semiconductors, loudspeakers, consoles and microphones. By 2012, AVnu Alliancehad created a single set of open standards for AVB, which it uses to certify devices to guarantee interoperability.

Since January 2012, AVnu Alliance has worked with its test house, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), to test interoperability and provide validation for its certified products. AVnu’s certification testing officially began at UNH-IOL in February 2013. The UNH-IOL is a neutral, independent testing service that works with other audio/video industry consortiums, including the Ethernet Alliance, Wi-Fi Alliance and IPv6 Forum, to provide third-party verification, lower costs through collaborative testing, and help guide industry acceptance of a technology standard.

The technology ecosystem supporting and accelerating the development of AVnu certified products has matured to include standards-compliant silicon devices, FPGA IP, open-source software, and also 3rd-party AVB certification services such as Coveloz's AVB Certification Service.

When a product is submitted to AVnu Alliance for certification, it is tested against over 400 pages of conformance requirements, which combine IEEE 802.1 standard requirements with additional requirements developed by AVnu. Any issues the product may have are then reported to the manufacturer. After fixing any outstanding issues, the manufacturer can submit the product to AVnu for official approval and permission to use the AVnu certification logo on the product and any accompanying marketing efforts.

AVnu-certified products

In February 2014, AVnu Alliance announced their first certified products, a series of AVB switches from Extreme Networks that passed all conformance tests and will bear the AVnu-certified logo. Extreme Networks’ Summit X440 is a series of stackable switches that extend the benefits of the ExtremeXOS software. They are intended for professional AV and IT applications, allowing data, audio and video to co-exist on a single standards-based network.

Standardization

The AVnu Alliance’s goal is to make it easier to implement network systems by promoting the adoption of the IEEE 802.1, 1722 and 1733 AVB standards in automotive, professional and consumer electronics markets, ensuring that AVB products from different manufacturers would be able to interconnect seamlessly. Along with ensuring interoperability, the adoption of IEEE 802.1 (and the related IEEE 1722 and IEEE 1733) AVB standards over various networks would reduce technical issues, such as synching, glitches and delays, while improving content streaming capabilities. The Alliance’s industry standards improved Ethernet technology, making it simpler to add enhanced performance and capabilities to audio/video networks, while bringing down costs by using lighter, cheaper cable that is easier to set up and able to carry a larger amount of information than what was regularly used in networking environments.

Automotive

The Alliance members represent a variety of facets of automotive technology. Because of the growing complexity of in-vehicle audio/video systems and the increasing number of in-vehicle applications (such as infotainment, safety and multiple cameras), testing to ensure interoperability is increasingly important in the automotive market. Automotive systems with multiple applications require interoperability to work properly. As of 2013, AVnu Alliance works with the GENIVI Alliance and the JASPAR Alliance to standardize in-vehicle Ethernet requirements.

Professional

The IEEE AVB Task Group has developed a series of enhancements that provide highly-reliable delivery of low latency, synchronized audio and video. This technology enables the construction of affordable, high performance professional media networks. IEEE’s AVB task force developed improvements to Ethernet in order to improve audio/video networking. AVnu certifies the AVB products to ensure interoperability. Video interoperability specifications for the pro market are currently in development.

Meyer Sound was noted for adopting AVnu Alliance’s Ethernet standards to assist in the development of its first AVB-capable loudspeaker, named CAL, which stands for column array loudspeaker, completed in 2013.

Consumer Electronics

The improvements to Ethernet developed by IEEE’s AVB task force also benefit those desiring to distribute digital content among multiple devices in their home networks. In 2013, the AVnu Alliance began to establish testing requirements for AVB interoperability specifications for reliable, time-synced AV streaming over Ethernet and wireless networks in residential applications.