Making the Cloud Work for Broadcast
By Paul Calleja: Media Engineering and Development Specialist - CTO of GlobalM
Recently, I was attending the EBU Technology and Innovations Network Technology Seminar 2023. The number one topic this year was cloud, and the bigger question was how to use the cloud for broadcast. There is a big learning curve for broadcast engineers to use the cloud for media applications, and this was highlighted in the presentations at the conference.
While listening to the speakers, it made me think of a completely different story that I heard on a podcast 10 years ago:
Hospitals in rural areas of developing countries needed medical equipment that was familiar to them. Most hospitals would receive medical equipment that would eventually break down and need servicing, and rather than learning how to operate and fix this equipment, it was simply discarded and left in a storeroom. What they needed was equipment that could be operated and serviced with what they already knew and had at hand. Identifying this problem, engineers came up with a baby incubator made from recycled car parts. Parts used were from cars that were easily found in their countries, which made it easy for hospital technicians to familiarise themselves with and maintain. Rather than getting the technicians to understand the technology, manufacturers made the technology they could understand.
Cloud is no different in this respect. We are expecting broadcast engineers to operate technology they are not familiar with. It is expected that a broadcast engineer working in a regular master control room, who has been operating satellite and baseband video equipment for the past 20 years, to suddenly be able to use a cloud services provider’s hypervisor and start operating transmissions. In the same way, the technology needs to be what they understand and not the other way around.
Someone recently asked me what is the cloud? I used to explain it as, “it's like a computer next door, that you can access remotely, only that the computer is in some datacentre miles away. And you don’t really care about where it is, only that you can access it and that its always there.”
Basically, cloud was virtualisation of compute resources, either owned and managed (private cloud) or rented when needed (public cloud). But the cloud is now more than just a computer somewhere on a network. Cloud is all the services you used to have close to you, all virtualised and operating in locations around the world where you can use these services to build out an infrastructure that was typically out of reach for most organisations. All these services scale and are available when you need them and only when you need them. Meaning your costs also scale with your demands on the cloud. And this is not only a bunch of computers in a remote datacentre anymore. The cloud is absorbing so many other services we are used to running ourselves, and this includes satellite.
A paper I worked on for the NAB Show this year, discussed the trends in the satellite industry and how low earth orbit (LEO) satellites are converging with cloud operations, while the traditional geostationary satellites (GEO) are decreasing in availability as satellite operator investments switch to predominantly LEO and data satellites1. As data satellites are converging with the cloud, the broadcast industry is at an inflection point where it will need to start adopting cloud technology to continue with ‘business as usual’ services. But the learning curve for broadcast engineers is not only in the areas of how to use cloud, but also in many other operational areas such as scheduling, routing and monitoring video services. How does a media organisation take advantage of the cloud without having to retrain their team of engineers who are highly skilled in video but not in cloud technology?
GlobalM has developed its cloud orchestrator which is addressing this exact issue. It allows broadcast operations to function in the same way an engineer is familiar with, without the need to learn a plethora of new skills in developing or operating cloud services themselves. The GlobalM application is presented as a router panel and allows for all transmissions to be scheduled, routed and monitored in a way that is familiar to traditional master control room operations. While the users operate video services in a way they are familiar with, the GlobalM orchestrator is controlling all the cloud services required for each transmission. Transmission timings are used by the scheduler to allow the orchestrator to establish all the necessary cloud resources for each video service.
GEO satellites are a point-to-multipoint technology and a mesh type of network architecture. Broadcasters could access a contribution signal from a single uplink on satellite without interfering with other takers in the transmission. LEO data satellites are a star-based topology, meaning there is a ground station that hubs the communications between the satellite terminals. To manage a point-to-multipoint transmission with LEO, the cloud-based technology in use needs to be able to provide a point-to-multipoint transmission. So not only do broadcasters need a familiar way to utilise the cloud, but they also need a technology that allows for point-to-multipoint transmissions to mimic the multicast characteristics they were used to with modulated ASI on a geostationary satellite.
Using a standard gateway has a limit that can distribute a video transmission. The technology needs to be able to scale, allowing the cloud and data satellites to really be a true replacement for what broadcasters were used to with traditional satellite contribution and distribution services.
Many broadcasters, however, have worked with costly proprietary systems that require the same hardware to be used by the same manufacturer everywhere in their network, rather than utilising open source ARQ internet transmission protocols. GlobalM avoids this by using open standards that are supported by many manufacturers in the industry, such as RIST. Everyone should be able to use the equipment that they already own and be free to make technology choices without being required to buy the same hardware, from the same manufacturer, all the time because they are locked in and forced to for the sake of interoperability with the investments they have already made.
Broadcasters, sports federations and news organisations will need an open network that can operate over a new generation of LEO data satellites and IP networks. They will need this to scale to as many takers as possible. They will need to continue business as usual without the obstacle of facing a totally new world of technologies. And they will need a network that preforms better than what the old network did without being trapped by proprietary hardware, software and licencing.
The cloud has come of age, and content owners can really take advantage of what it has to offer, using it with zero points of failure. Operators can leverage the processing capabilities to transcode to any customers requirements, deliver to any platform, and access new markets that were not possible to reach with the old legacy network technologies.
Normally, a new technology that enhances the capabilities of any industry to deliver more services, would be expected to cost more. But in the case of the cloud, overall costs are significantly reduced. As broadcasters and content owners are now expected to deliver more for less, more organisations are providing solutions to cut operational costs and reduce the need to retrain staff.
The broadcast industry is rapidly being pushed into the age of the cloud. All media organisations will need to respond to this with technologies that will allow them to continue operations as normal.
ABOUT GLOBALM
GlobalM provides an internet based digital network and mobile app for contribution and distribution of live or file-based media content. As an integrated software-as-a-service solution, GlobalM makes it easy to get live coverage to global takers quickly and much more cost-efficiently, utilizing the cloud rather than with traditional methods such as private fibre or satellite. Visit https://globalm.media for more information.
REFRENCES
[1] “NSGO rapidly gaining ground in the satcom industry,” Euroconsult Satellite Connectivity and Video Market, 29th Edition. https://digital-platform.euroconsult-ec.com/product/satellite-connectivity-and-video-markets-survey
“GEO comsat demand entering a new cycle,” Euroconsult Satellites to be Built & Launched, 25th Edition. https://digital-platform.euroconsult-ec.com/product/satellites-to-be-built-launched-new
Henry, C., “Companies are flying old satellites longer, study finds,” Space News, August 2020. https://spacenews.com/companies-are-flying-old-satellites-longer-study-finds
“Satellite capacity market: video vs data forecast,” Euroconsult Satellite Connectivity and Video Market, 29th Edition. https://digital-platform.euroconsult-ec.com/product/satellite-connectivity-and-video-markets-survey