NMOS: What’s In It For You? More Than You Think

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When people talk about NMOS, what they typically mean is IS-04, discovery, and IS-05, registration. 

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But the reality is, NMOS does so much more than IS-04 and IS-05. And it's unfortunate that that’s largely unknown to most people. 

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If you don’t know what NMOS is capable of, you’re not asking manufacturers for it. And if you’re a manufacturer, you’re not building it into your new products. And that’s a lost opportunity, as we’ll discuss in this blog post, as well as the next. 

NMOS goes far beyond its well-known IS-04 and IS-05 protocols, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for managing IP-based media networks – from dynamic signal routing and device configuration to security and monitoring. This complete toolset can make it easier for you to handle resource management, signal connections, and system maintenance across your entire media infrastructure.

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            Editor’s note: This blog post is based on the 2024 NAB IPSHOWCASE presentation of Stefan Ledergerber at Simplexity in Zurich,                   Switzerland. You can view the full presentation NMOS: What’s In It For Me? above, or on YouTube. 

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​Let’s start by looking at a typical IP installation. To understand NMOS's full capabilities, consider this scenario: You’re doing dynamic signal management and you want to start switching the signals between A and B. You have to configure correct stream formats again and again, unless you keep them static. But you’re using IP because you want flexibility, right? So it has to be set up correctly. And by the way, the conventional device settings are not going to go away. You still need to do multi-viewer setup, mic preamp control, and so on.

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Then you need to monitor your installation. You need to know whether it's working fine. And you want to be able to find faults very quickly. And you also want to be able to move or replace products, moving  them around within pools. 

 

You want to keep a number of devices in a pool and just take them out and connect them somewhere because that's where you need the device right now. And if you do that, then you need to discover where you just connected them because otherwise, they're invisible and not controllable. And what you also need to do is make sure that a new device gets the correct basic setup. Last but not least, you need to constantly ensure that the security standards in your network are met.

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So if you look at those scenarios and challenges, the question is, what can NMOS do for you in terms of what's defined in NMOS in these very practical situations? 

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Resource Management

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What does NMOS specify in terms of managing your resources? NMOS describes a central inventory system, which can work across subnets and across the whole infrastructure. 

The centralized inventory system allows you to:

• find devices and their IP senders and receivers

• read out by spec what a certain sender or receiver is able to do and which format it supports

• see what you can connect to a sender or receiver, or what kind of format it’s able to generate

• look at which streams belong to each other, which is called natural grouping

• give a device a label or tags

• put in any kind of device description

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There is one more thing in resource management beyond these core features. It's possible to read out the system-wide parameters you have decided to use. For instance, PTP domains. You can read that out via a special mechanism.

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Signal Management

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This is the more dynamic part of day-by-day operation. Let’s walk through an example of 2 AV devices. They may contain all kinds of things you want to control like: 

• baseband inputs and outputs

• a matrix in there to switch between these inputs and outputs and maybe others or into a sender or receiver

• metering data

• GPIOs

• thumbnails on the video side

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NMOS is able to control those elements inside AV devices and connect them to other devices. Breaking this down, of course you have senders to receivers, but also more than that. NMOS also specifies how you select baseband inputs and feed them into a sender. It also specifies in which baseband outputs a receiver should be fed on a monogranularity of an audio channel. It also allows you to transfer GPIO. 

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So signal management means connecting all kinds of signals from a sender to a receiver or from one device to another. What everyone knows is that NMOS can connect pre-configured senders to receivers. That means you can assign multicast addresses, making it possible to reach the point where these multicast addresses are not statically typed into a device. NMOS describes clearly how to assign to a sender a certain multicast address. 

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The same goes for enabling and disabling senders and receivers. Maybe you want to stop the packets coming out. You can do that with NMOS. Think of it as a copy-paste of a transport file, so an STP file from a sender to a receiver. 

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More than that, you can use any generic data source. For example, button press or audio levels, which are generating constantly changing values, and you can look at such a data source as a sender and connect that sender to a receiver. And it will transmit the constantly changing values almost as if it would be audio or video, but in a much lower bandwidth consumption. 

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So using this kind of functionality, you can implement, for instance, generic control panels where button pushes are transmitted from one source to a destination, and then they react to that button push. So that's also something you can do with NMOS.

 

Another thing not a lot of people are aware of is that you can control the baseband matrix. You can set a baseband matrix and say which channels you want in your senders and receivers. 

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Then there is stream compatibility management, which allows you to ask a sender what can you do? What kind of stream formats do you support? And you can ask a receiver what kind of stream formats can you receive? And then as a control system, you can choose the perfect match. It allows you to choose a certain stream format on a sender freely via a specified control command. 

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So you may be able to do what the ProAV guys want to do with HDMI, which is just plug in and then it adjusts and finds out what's the best resolution. Via this mechanism, a control system could switch the stream format accordingly, so the receiver can actually receive it in the best possible resolution or quality. 

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So that’s signal management and resource management. In part 2, we’ll delve into device settings and monitoring, and finally, security.  

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If you’ve already found out one or two things that NMOS can do for you that you didn’t know before, you’re invited to find out even more by joining AMWA. As a member, you can take part in online forums that provide a place for open technical discussions and consensus between a wide range of end users and suppliers. Join today and be a part of the future of NMOS. 

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11-september-2023

NMOS Control reaches a critical milestone

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A capability has been added to the NMOS ecosystem which brings control and monitoring of media production tools, in a manner that is openly documented and supported by multiple vendors.

 

This community-developed approach is based on practical requirements collected from many users who have a specific business interest in implementing IP-based media facilities.  This important piece of work has been supported by a range of our vendor members which allows them to describe custom capabilities in an open way that other equipment can use.

 

The substantial user benefit is the ease with which production software and equipment can be integrated when building systems and operating IP-based facilities.

 

The next phase of the work will provide standardized ways to communicate critical events such as loss of video, loss of timing information, etc. to other devices in your facility.  And in a separate, but related, development there will be the ability to add human-friendly labelling information that is meaningful to both users and integrators.

 

For technical details, see the following links:

    MS-05-01: NMOS Control Architecture https://specs.amwa.tv/ms-05-01/

    MS-05-02: NMOS Control Framework https://specs.amwa.tv/ms-05-02/

    NMOS Control Feature Sets Register https://specs.amwa.tv/nmos-control-feature-sets/

    IS-12: NMOS Control Protocol https://specs.amwa.tv/is-12/

    INFO-006: Implementation guide for NMOS Device Capabilities Control https://specs.amwa.tv/info-006/

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18-july-2023

"NMOS sets its sights on compressed video"

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Felix Poulin of CBC Radio Canada was recently interviewed by David Davies for TVB Europe.

The article explains how compressed and uncompressed video can be accommodated - and the expanding role of NMOS as a "major control plane".  Read it here!

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15-march-2023

NMOS extends its reach

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The Networked Media Open Specifications (NMOS) from the AMWA exist to provide a means to connect and control products and services from a range of suppliers in an open, interoperable and secure manner.  Their first application was using SMPTE standard ST 2110 uncompressed video, largely for use within a media centre.

 

However, as the needs of many media companies are broader than this, for example to move content between premises, not to mention to the cloud and back, the requirement to use compressed video and other transports also has to be accommodated.

 

And the market for potential users of NMOS is growing.  There has also been considerable interest in the IPMX format based upon ST 2110, intended for the AV over IP market.  The huge number of Pro AV purchasers have increasingly sophisticated production requirements plus the need to assemble systems very quickly and reliably.

 

In response to these expanding requirements, development work has begun to include a range of compressed video formats and other transports within the NMOS control architecture.  The first step has been to accommodate JPEG XS, resulting in a new best current practice, BCP-006-01, which is now published.  Find it here.

 

Next steps over the coming weeks will be to add NDI, H.264/H.265 and MPEG Transport Stream.

 

Furthermore, the VSF, AMWA and AIMS have agreed that NMOS is the control protocol for IPMX, and this will be written into the IPMX standards.

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5-OCTOBER-2022

GUIDE FOR IMPLEMENTERS OF NMOS CONTROLLERS,  PUBLISHED

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The AMWA is delighted to announce the publication of our guide for implementers of NMOS Controllers, INFO-005, which is written for controller manufacturers who want to support the NMOS suite of specifications.

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INFO-005 defines the role of an NMOS Controller and describes its requirements for each of the NMOS specifications.  Hence, it’s an important reference document for anyone wanting to build working systems efficiently.

INFO-005 has been accompanied by editorial revisions to the core NMOS specs that gather and clarify the requirements for Controllers in one section of each spec:

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• INFO-005 - Implementation Guide for Controllers

• IS-04 v1.3.2 - Discovery for Controllers

• IS-05 v1.1.2 - Connection Management for Controllers

• BCP-003-01 v1.0.1 - Secure Communications for Controllers

 

Importantly, INFO-005 includes a link to the NMOS Test Tool which was a key part of the checks on NMOS Controllers at the recent “JT-NM Tested” event, in the run up to IBC.  This is ideal for Vendors, who can use the Test suite to support every stage of their product development.  It is notable that the nine Controllers tested at this event had a near-perfect pass rate.

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The guide also makes a great reference document for End Users who are including NMOS in their purchasing decisions and system design.

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17-may-2022

the JT-NM 2022 Tested Event, August 22-26, 2022

 

Just received!  An announcement from ievgen Kostiukevych, EBU, on behalf of the JT-NM Tested team.

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The next JT-NM Tested Event will be an in-person, physical event at Riedel Communications HQ in Wuppertal, Germany with virtual pre-testing.

 

The scope of the event will cover:

• ST 2110 suite testing

• ST 2110-10, -20, -21, -22 (with JPEG XS) -30, -31, -40

• ST 2022-7

• Elements of ST 2110 PICS and RP 2110-25 testing alignment

• Additional PTP capabilities testing

• JT-NM TR-1001-1 and additional real-world scenario testing

• AMWA NMOS

• IS-04, IS-05, IS-07, IS-08 endpoints testing

• NMOS Controllers testing

• NMOS API security and authentication testing

• Cybersecurity screening

• EBU R 143, R 148

 

The JT-NM Tested team is currently working out the event details, rules of engagement, precise scope, and test plans.

You can expect more information from us in the near future.

 

If you wish to be added to the Event participants reflector to receive

• future JT-NM Tested updates

• a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that you will be required to sign to commit to taking part in the 2022 Tested Event

please send an email to Bob Ruhl (bob.ruhl1@verizon.net).

 

Thank you very much.  We look forward to seeing you all in Wuppertal!

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15-SEPTEMBER-2021

AMWA TO PARTICIPATE IN JT-NM EDUCATIONAL WEBINAR

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“IP Facilities – The Big Picture", presented by the Joint Taskforce on Networked Media, delivered through SMPTE+,

is slated for Oct. 5.

 

The JT-NM, a partnership comprising the AES, AMWA, EBU, SMPTE and VSF, is pleased to provide an opportunity for attendees to meet experts from leading studios, broadcast groups and networks, professional sports teams, standards bodies, industry associations, and media technology suppliers.  They will come together for a series of straightforward, practical discussions intended to support media organizations in adopting IP infrastructure.  Registration is open now.

 

For many years, IP-based infrastructures have been discussed and planned.

Now, systems have been built and are in use today.

Join us to hear the real experiences; the challenges, the solutions and the successes from the people who made it all work.

 

“We’re grateful to SMPTE for providing the SMPTE+ platform to facilitate conversations among an impressive array of leaders in IP implementation” said Brad Gilmer, president of Gilmer Associates and the chair for the SMPTE+ “IP Facilities” event. “Through the JT-NM’s efforts, this event highlights how the industry is working together advance the global deployment of IP infrastructure and media workflows.  The program committee has gathered speakers to share success stories as well as lessons learned.  We will also provide the latest standards development work and what it means for your organization.”

 

There is no charge for attendance by AMWA members or any JT-NM partner organisation.  The promotional code for free access by AMWA members is shown on the AMWA’s Basecamp.

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Further details about this SMPTE+ event are online at https://plus.smpte.org/2021plus/IP-Infrastructures.

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26-MAY-2020

AMWA WORKSHOP ON SECURITY IN MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURES

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There has been much discussion about the importance of security within media systems – both for the content and for the facilities that create it.

 

AMWA research by the NMOS API Security group identified that within the IT domain there were several “best practice” solutions, all of which had merit.  However, the existence of several potential solutions makes it difficult to guarantee the interoperability needed when building systems with products from different suppliers.  After some early discussions, the AMWA created a working group to improve interoperability with regard to NMOS API security which has created several Best Current Practices.  Also recently, the AMWA held a virtual workshop, hosted by Disney, to test implementations of these Best Current Practices and to fine-tune the work before final publication of the Best Current Practice on authentication.

 

Thomas Edwards, who leads the NMOS API Security group, has provided the summary below.  Please let us know if you’d like more information.

 

In May 2020, the NMOS Interoperable Security Working Group staged a “virtual workshop” where participants used a cloud-based VPN to test interoperation, without needing to travel or transport equipment.  This was supported by daily Zoom videoconferences and the Slack real-time chat facility.  This workshop concentrated on testing the draft of IS-10 “NMOS Authorization Specification”, which will specify how authorization servers, resource servers, and clients will utilize the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework (IETF RFC 6749) for NMOS systems.  This includes a description of the JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) and their claims delivered by the authorization server to a client so that it can be authorized to access resource servers.  The virtual workshop allowed NMOS clients to use draft IS-10 to become authorized by both a participant-provided authorization server as well as the open source “Keycloak” authorization server. 

 

Enrolment over Secure Transport (EST, IETF RFC 7030) was also tested at this workshop for the automated deployment of security certificates in a broadcast plant.  Several participants received certificates using EST from the open source “OpenXPKI” server.

 

Important lessons were learned from this workshop by working with these well-known open source solutions (as opposed to the “theoretical” world of reading RFCs), and this experience will be used to improve IS-10 and best practices for the use of EST before their publication.

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17-Apr-2020

AMWA publishes User Requirements for High Value, Low Latency, Live Video Production on Public Cloud

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The video broadcast industry is gradually moving all aspects of its production and delivery processes away from bespoke electronic transports like SDI, and towards networked IP and scalable computing infrastructures.  It has been demonstrated that the processing requirements of broadcasting infrastructure can be performed on COTS computer systems, and the industry desires to implement these processing functions in combinations of private and public cloud.

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This documents captures those requirements as guidance for industry suppliers and discussion among end users.

AMWA User Requirements for High Value, Low Latency, Live Video Production on Public Cloud

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29-Feb-2020

JT-NM publishes Cybersecurity report

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You may have been fortunate to see the JT-NM Cybersecurity presentation on the EBU stand at IBC2019.  It showed the significant amount of work that has been used to explore vulnerabilities in media production products from a wide range of suppliers and showed a general picture of the results.

 

That work has now been published by the JT-NM and is available on their website

http://www.jt-nm.org/documents/security/jt-nm_cybersecurity_final_report_2020_02_26.pdf

 

It provides a valuable overview of the subject, with a breakdown of the vulnerabilities tested, a summary of the findings, a section debunking the some of the myths around security (helpful for end users) plus, importantly, recommendations for suppliers.

 

If you are non-technical or short of time, just read the three sections:- Introduction, Broadcast Industry Security Posture and General Recommendations.  It will be worth the time!

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18-Nov-2019

New NMOS Steering Committee

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The AMWA is pleased to announce the formation of an NMOS Steering Committee (NMOS Steering).  This will manage the project ownership and roadmap of the NMOS family of specifications.

 

It will provide both suppliers and end users the opportunity to set the overall strategy and direction of this important project.

 

The AMWA Board will select the members of NMOS Steering, based on the following criteria.  They must be:-

• A public and vocal supporter of the NMOS work, as a supplier, service provider or end-user.

• An active participant, which has demonstrated commitment to the adoption and implementation of the NMOS developments.

• A Principal or General member of the AMWA.

• Willing to give an 18 month commitment to the NMOS Steering Committee.

 

The Board will be responsible both for determining the initial membership and for maintaining this, seeking to achieve an appropriate balance between end-users and implementers.  Every 18 months the Board will evaluate each member and the overall make up of NMOS Steering.

 

The initial tasks of the NMOS Steering Committee will be:

• To establish documented application profiles for specific types of systems to enhance interoperability.

• To document the current NMOS roadmap by EOY 2019 for approval by the Board.

• To establish an operating methodology of NMOS Steering, which will be in accordance with BCP-001-01.

 

Another early task will be governance around the IS-07 specification and its evolution.  The next stage of this project will explore the best practices in modelling devices, their capabilities and expectations, the goal being to make interoperability easier and to help customers define requirements for their interconnected systems. 

 

If your company fits the criteria above and you would like to contribute to this important committee, please let us know. Neil.Dunstan@AMWA.tv

 

Self-nomination by existing NMOS participants is encouraged.   The AMWA board will review the list of nominations and ensure the correct mix of contributors.  If chosen for NMOS Steering, members that are currently at Associate level will be expected to upgrade their membership to General or Principal within 30 days.

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06-Sep-2019

Sep 2019 newsletter for IBC

The content of the newsletter can be read here!

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19-Jun-2019

"JT-NM Tested" opportunity for products at IBC2019 IP Showcase

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JT-NM Tested Program returns to the IP Showcase.  The JT-NM continues to partner with vendors and users to provide information that aids the transition to IP. As the industry’s use of IP matures, the JT-NM Tested program offers prospective purchasers of IP based equipment greater, more documented insight into how vendor equipment conforms to the SMPTE standards and AMWA NMOS specifications. Sponsored by the JT-NM and administered by the EBU and IRT, two top European technical bodies, vendors who submit equipment for evaluation will have the opportunity to list that equipment in a JT-NM Tested catalog which will be made publicly available at the IP Showcase booth and on-line.

 

For further details, please read the following message, posted on behalf of Bob Ruhl who is managing the application part of the process.

Subject: [jt-nm-adm] MOU for the face-to-face test event at Riedel, publication of JT-NM Tested results at IBC 2019 IP Showcase & Rules of Engagement 

Please forward the following message to your members.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

This MOU pertains to the face-to-face test event to be held during the week of August 19th at the Riedel facility in Wuppertal, Germany related to the Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) Qualified Test Event & the publication of JT-NM Tested results at the IBC 2019 IP Showcase in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from September 13, 2019 to September 17, 2019.

 

The link to the MOU document is here: 

http://vsf.tv/upcoming_events/MOU/Aug_2019_JT-NM-Tested-Event-at-Riedel-Wuppertal.pdf

 

The link to the Rules of Engagement document is here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mmYKg87yqb_i-hoc7ShgEzmYmKjiX_r7aRF6CyBOHlA/edit?usp=sharing

 

Please sign and return the MOU to Bob Ruhl (bob.ruhl1@verizon.net) by June 28, 2019 if you would like to participate.

 

After we receive your signed MOU you be provided with the link to a Google Doc where you will be asked to provide specific information regarding your participation in these events.  The Google Doc is planned to be available by June 24, 2019

 

If you have any questions please reply to Bob Ruhl.

 

Thank you,

 

Bob Ruhl

VSF Operations Manager/JT-NM Secretary

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3-May-2019

AMWA NMOS Interoperable Security

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AMWA’s NMOS Interoperable Security project is developing best practices for the use of AMWA NMOS APIs that both ensure security for the APIs as well as multi-vendor interoperability of that security.  In today’s IT environment, it is essential that API communication is authenticated & secure with fine-grained levels of authorization.

 

The first output of this project is the publication of Best Current Practice (BCP) 003-01, “Securing communications in NMOS APIs”, which specifies how to secure HTTP and WebSocket communications within NMOS APIs.   BCP 003-01 is based on the use of industry-standard TLS (Transport Layer Security) tunnels for HTTP (HTTPS) and WebSockets (WebSocket Secure aka WSS).  This ensures confidentiality and integrity of API messaging, as well as identification and authentication of API servers.  You can read BCP-003-01 here:

https://amwa-tv.github.io/nmos-api-security/branches/v1.0-dev/best-practice-secure-comms.html

 

BCP 003-02 “Best Practice Authorization” is a work-in-progress (WIP), and specifies how to implement client authorization for the NMOS APIs.  BCP-003-02 is based on the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework (RFC 6749), and uses JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) as OAuth 2.0 bearer tokens and for client authorization (as per RFC 7523).  You can read the current draft of BCP-003-02 here:

https://amwa-tv.github.io/nmos-api-security/branches/v1.0-dev/best-practice-authorization.html

 

It is important that all implementers of AMWA NMOS APIs take note of this security work, as it will become essential in the future for all elements that utilize the NMOS APIs.

 

There will be a “Virtual Security Workshop” from June 3-7, 2019.  This virtual workshop will have regular web conferences to allow participation by companies in the USA, Europe and Asia.   Participants will then connect to a L2 SoftEther VPN server located in a public cloud, and will attempt interoperation using VPN tunnels over the Internet.  A Slack channel will be available for instant messaging between participants.  Since the data rates for the NMOS APIs are fairly low, such a virtual workshop is possible, and far cheaper than a physical workshop where people and equipment need to travel to a specific geographical location.

 

To participate in the NMOS Interoperable Security project, please use the contact form at the top of this page.

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