Audio Signage Solution Automatic broadcasting and playback of Audio Signage channels User Manual v1.0 Components: Barix Instreamer(s) Audio Signage app ios Audio Signage app Android ASIS Firmware on Exstreamer Store&Play Wireless Access Point V 4.13 or later V 1.2 or later V 1.3 or later V 1.0 or later
Revision Table Date Version Who Change 16/12/16 1.0 DAG First version of the User Manual BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 2/20
1 INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 ABOUT BARIX AUDIO SIGNAGE 4 1.2 MAIN FEATURES OF AUDIO SIGNAGE 4 2 AUDIO SIGNAGE BASICS 5 2.1 SINGLE CHANNEL AUDIO 5 2.2 MULTIPLE AUDIO CHANNELS 5 3 INSTREAMER CONFIGURATION 7 3.1 CONFIGURE THE INSTREAMER AUDIO 7 3.2 CONFIGURE THE INSTREAMER QOS 8 4 SETTING UP THE AUDIO SIGNAGE INFORMATION SERVER 9 4.1 LOAD THE ASIS FIRMWARE ONTO AN EXSTREAMER S&P 9 4.2 CONFIGURE THE CHANNEL LIST 9 4.2.1 ADD A NEW CHANNEL 10 4.2.2 EDIT CHANNEL 11 4.2.3 DELETE CHANNEL 12 4.2.4 DELETE ALL CHANNELS 12 4.2.5 APPLY OR CANCEL CHANGES 12 4.2.6 CONFIGURATION FILES 12 4.3 CONFIGURE THE ASIS DEVICE SETTINGS 14 4.3.1 NETWORK SETTINGS 14 4.3.2 SECURITY SETTINGS 15 4.4 STATUS PAGE 15 4.5 LOGS PAGE 17 4.6 DEFAULTS 17 4.7 FIRMWARE UPDATE 17 4.7.1 FW UPDATE VIA WEB UI 17 4.7.2 FW UPDATE VIA USB 18 4.7.3 RESTORE DEFAULTS 18 4.8 REBOOT 19 5 LEGAL INFORMATION 20 BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 3/20
1 Introduction 1.1 About Barix Audio Signage Digital Signage has revolutionized how information is presented to customers; used for advertising and for informational purposes it is a great success, but Digital Signage has drawbacks: With the screen volume turned up, DS competes with background audio in retail environments, or disturbs the calm in an airport lounge. With the volume off, or very low, the effectiveness of the message is greatly reduced. Barix Audio Signage is a system for superfast delivery of audio from digital signage players or other sources to listeners using their BYOD smartphones. Users experience the audio in sync with the action on the screen. Audio Signage is designed to give screens a voice in shops, airport lounges, gyms and anywhere else screens are found. The solution uses Barix Instreamers to generate audio streams for real-time streaming to consumers smartphones. An Exstreamer S&P acts as an Audio Signage Information Server, broadcasting the details of the different channels available. Customers select the channel they want to hear and receive the audio on their phone over Wi-Fi. 1.2 Main features of Audio Signage Simple to set up and use Minimal infrastructure requirements at businesses Highly configurable: Show logos for channels Whether ads are shown for a channel, Channel priority over music etc Brand the App your way easy customization available Automatic recognition and dynamic listing of available channels QR code scan for channel selection BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 4/20
2 Audio Signage basics Figure 1: Multi channel, multi listener Audio Signage 2.1 Single channel audio If a single channel is all that is needed, then a single Instreamer can be used: Configured to multicast to the Audio Signage App s default channel: Input Source: Line Mono Audio Format: PCM / 24kHz 16bit mono little endian Streaming Mode: send always Streaming Destination: Connection Type: RTP IP Address: 224.9.9.99 Port: 4444 Connected to the audio source 2.2 Multiple audio channels As shown in Figure 1: Multi channel, multi listener Audio Signage, where more than one audio channel is required, multiple Instreamers must be set up transmitting their audio to unique IP:port addresses, and an Audio Signage Information Server is required to broadcast the details of all the channels. The Information Server is an Exstreamer Store and Play device running the ASIS application. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 5/20
Each Instreamer must be configured to send its audio stream to a different multicast IP:Port combination The details of the different multicast channels must be configured in the ASIS server, so that it can broadcast them. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 6/20
3 Instreamer configuration 3.1 Configure the Instreamer audio Each channel requires a dedicated Instreamer to send the audio, that must be set up. For each Instreamer, access the device web UI, select Configuration, Advanced Settings, then set the parameters as shown: Input Source: Line Mono Audio Format: PCM / 24kHz 16bit mono little endian Streaming Mode: send always Streaming Destination: o Connection Type: RTP o IP Address: 224.9.9.99 o Port: 4444 NOTE: The IP address and Port to stream to must be unique for each channel being set up, and must be defined to the ASIS device so that it can broadcast the details for listeners. Click Apply to save the changes; the device will reboot and then start sending a multicast audio stream to the configured channel settings. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 7/20
3.2 Configure the Instreamer QoS Access the Instreamer s Configuration web UI again, this time clicking on Advanced Settings ; the network settings will be displayed: Set Type of Service/DSCP to 46; this will mark all packets sent by the Instreamer to be given priority by routers and APs that support ToS or DSCP. Click on the Apply button again to save the change and restart the Instreamer with the new setting. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 8/20
4 Setting up the Audio Signage Information Server The Audio Signage Smartphone app needs a way to know which channels are available to play the same app could be used in more than one place, so it is important to only display channels from the current location. The information server enables exactly that: it periodically announces what channels are being broadcast at a location. First, we must get an information server, and then it must be configured with the details of each available channel. 4.1 Load the ASIS firmware onto an Exstreamer S&P Take a standard Exstreamer Store and Play and use the update mechanism (explained in section 4.7 Firmware Update) to load the ASIS firmware, which is available from Barix support. 4.2 Configure the Channel List Every Instreamer that is sending an audio channel must have an entry in the channel list. Enter the Exstreamer s announced IP address in to your web browser to navigate to the ASIS web UI, you will see a page like this, containing details of the currently configured channels: Click on the Configuration tab: BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 9/20
Now you have the possibility to add / update / delete channels. Multiple changes can be made, but they will not affect the information being broadcast until the user clicks on Apply this will stop the Broadcast, load the changes and then start broadcasting the channel information again. 4.2.1 Add a new channel Click on the Add New Channel button, the UI will display a pre-filled pop-up; amend the details as required to match the Instreamer channel that you are adding and then either Update Channel or Cancel to save / abandon the channel definition. There are a number of options that are used to define the channel and modify how the App behaves when playing it: Channel name - The name displayed by the App for this channel Multicast address:port the multicast address used to transport BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 10/20
this channel. This must match the configuration of the Instreamer that is sending the audio channel. Stream audio over music tells the User s smartphone that this audio has priority over any music playback; Yes by default. Stream audio over call - tells the User s smartphone whether this audio should have priority over any phone call; No by default. Show channel Ads Whether Ads should be displayed at the foot of the screen display whilst this channel is playing Show Ads when no audio - Whether Ads should be displayed at the foot of the screen display when this channel has been stopped. Yes by default. Frame buffer size the number of 20ms audio packets to buffer to achieve smooth playback. The larger this number, the bigger the delay in audio playback, which has implications when using Audio Signage to play audio for associated Digital Signage screens. This setting will need to be adjusted if the local Wi-Fi network is of poor quality. Default 10. Character Encoding the character set used for the Channel Name. Default ASCII. Channel Logo URL points to an image file location for a logo to be displayed when playing this channel. If none is supplied, the App uses the Barix logo. Click on Update Channel to save the entered data, or Cancel to abandon the update. The ASIS application will validate the entered data and force corrections if any parameter fails validation. 4.2.2 Edit Channel If it is necessary to change the details of an existing channel, first select the channel by clicking the radio button next to its entry in the channel table: then click on Edit Channel ; this will cause a channel edit box to be displayed BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 11/20
containing the current channel details for the selected channel. Make any changes needed and then Update Channel to save, or Cancel to abandon them. 4.2.3 Delete channel To remove a channel from the broadcast list, select the channel by clicking the radio button next to its entry in the channel table then click Delete Channel. 4.2.4 Delete all channels To delete all the currently configured channels, simply click on Delete All Channels and confirm the action when prompted. 4.2.5 Apply or Cancel changes None of the changes made adding, editing and deleting channels using the respective buttons on the web UI Configuration page have any effect until they are applied. To discard all of the edits made, click on Cancel Changes ; the web UI will refresh the Channel Settings view with the currently active channel configuration. To start broadcasting the details of the new channel definitions, click Apply Changes ; the ASIS device will stop broadcasting, load the new details and restart, temporarily displaying: before showing: The new channel details are now active and being broadcast. 4.2.6 Configuration files Some customers have many sites with the same channel requirements. To simplify installation for such customers, it is possible to upload a set of pre-defined channels and immediately apply them. The file must be in the correct CSV format: 4.2.6.1 Download Config The simplest way to create a configuration file in the correct format is to use an BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 12/20
ASIS device to create the required configuration: define the channels as you want them to be, Apply the changes and verify that the Smartphone App sees them correctly, then, in the web UI Configuration / Channel Settings page, click on Download Config. A configuration file config.csv will be saved to the browser downloads folder. Note that download config downloads the active configuration on the ASIS device; if changes have been made to the config, but not applied, they will not be contained in the file config.csv. 4.2.6.2 Upload Config When the Upload Config option of the web UI Configuration / Channel Settings page is used, the ASIS device will immediately overwrite the current configuration and apply the uploaded configuration. To upload a stored configuration: First, save the current configuration using the Download Config option, if desired Click on Choose File to identify the configuration file to upload. The standard browser file finder will be launched Identify and select the configuration file to use The file will be uploaded and validated by the ASIS device, before being automatically applied and broadcast. The ASIS device will report the status of the import. Note that it is normal for the first entry of a config file produced by an ASIS device to be ignored, as it contains the column headings for users who may manually edit such a file before using it again. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 13/20
4.3 Configure the ASIS device settings The ASIS device will work out of the box in most LAN environments, but sometimes it is necessary to make fixed configurations. To do this, use the Configuration / Device Settings pages: 4.3.1 Network Settings Use SonicIP whether the device should announce its IP address on the audio outputs on startup. Default Yes SonicIP Volume the volume to use for any SonicIP announcement. Default 50% Protocol How the unit obtains its IP address either set static, or using DHCP. When set to DHCP the device will obtain its working network configuration from the DHCP server and display it in light grey in the relevant fields. Default DHCP. Current IP Address the IP address being used by the unit; a DHCP allocated address will be displayed in light grey, a static IP address in black. Current Netmask the Netmask being used by the unit; a DHCP allocated Netmask will be displayed in light grey. Current Gateway IP Address - the gateway address being used by the unit; a DHCP allocated one will be displayed in light grey. Current Primary DNS - the address for the DNS being used by the unit; a DHCP allocated one will be displayed in light grey. DHCP Host Name Name of the device sent in DHCP requests. If none is set, the device will generate one for use, but will not display it. Web Server Port - is used to define at which port the Web UI of the device is reachable. By default this is set to 80 (HTTP default port) but this can be changed in order to bypass firewalls that instead allow traffic in other ports. Syslog Address - is an optional setting that is used to define the target IP address for the Syslog messages sent by the device. This is where the user can set the IP address of user equipment running a packet analyzer (network sniffer) in order to capture the traffic sent from the ASIS device, collecting all the Syslog messages that are so useful for troubleshooting. Default 0.0.0.0 (disabled). BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 14/20
4.3.2 Security Settings Reboot Function - Enable or disable the "Reboot" function of the RESET button and from the WEB UI REBOOT tab. Default: "enabled" Reset Factory Defaults - Enable or disable the "Reset Factory Defaults" feature from both web UI "DEFAULTS" tab and the device front panel RESET button. When enabled, to revert all settings to factory defaults use the "Defaults" web UI page, or keep the Reset button pressed for more than 10 seconds. Default: "enabled" Update Function - Enable or disable the WEB Update function of the device. Default: "enabled" Web UI Password - This is visible as long as no password is set. To set a password, simply enter one of up to 25 characters and click the "Submit" button. After the device restarts, close the browser window and open a new one. You will be asked to supply a user name and password. Use the default admin user name and the password that you have just set in order to access the web UI. Old Password / New Password - These fields are visible if a password is already set. To clear the password, allowing free access to the web UI, enter the old password and leave the field "New Password" empty. After the restart you will no longer be asked for a user name and password. Any changes must be activated by clicking on Apply ; the application will restart. 4.4 Status page By clicking on the Status tab, the current Device and Application status information will be displayed: BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 15/20
BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 16/20
4.5 Logs Page This page displays the Linux system logs, allowing the user to download them for examination, if needed. 4.6 Defaults Click on "Factory defaults" to revert all settings except "Network configuration" to factory defaults. A local user can also reset the device to factory defaults by pressing the RESET button on the front plate of the device for at least 10 seconds. 4.7 Firmware Update There are two ways to update the Application running on the device: via web UI and via USB. 4.7.1 FW update via web UI Navigate to the Update page. The Update process via web UI is very simple. Start by clicking Please click here to start update to enter bootloader mode. Then Choose File to browse the local hard drive and select the downloaded PKG file with the latest version package and BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 17/20
upload it to the device. After loading, the new firmware the system will restart. 4.7.2 FW update via USB Updating via USB is only possible with Exstreamer Store&Play devices with a Production Week later than week 32 2014: PW: 32/14 written on the barcode label under the device. Preparing the update USB stick: 1. Download and unzip the Firmware update image file (compound.img) from www.barix.com/downloads Note: Registered login credentials are required for downloading 2. Copy the file (compound.img) to the root folder of an empty USB Updating the Exstreamer Store&Play hardware with the update USB stick: 3. Remove the power from the Exstreamer Store&Play 4. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Exstreamer Store&Play 5. Insert the update USB in to the EXT. slot in the front of the device 6. While pressing and holding the RESET button, power up the device 7. Stop pressing the RESET button a couple of seconds after powering up 8. While the device is updating, both STATUS LEDs (red and green) will be lit Note: This operation can take 2 to 3 minutes 9. After updating, the device will reboot itself (blinking red STATUS LED) 10. Operation will resume normally with the new FW version already installed (solid green STATUS LED) 11. Remove the update USB 12. Reinsert the original USB (if any) and re-connect the Ethernet cable DO NOT POWER OFF OR REBOOT THE DEVICE WHILE UPDATING 4.7.3 Restore defaults After a change of Application, the device Factory Defaults will need restoring as different applications use different defaults, so everything will need properly initializing. Refer to section 4.6 Defaults. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 18/20
4.8 Reboot To restart the device completely, click on Reboot the device ; this will initiate a full system shutdown and restart of the Linux OS and application. BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 19/20
5 Legal Information 2017 Barix AG, Dübendorf, Switzerland. All rights reserved. All information is subject to change without notice. All mentioned trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used for reference only. Barix, Exstreamer, Instreamer, SonicIP and IPzator are trademarks of Barix AG, Switzerland and are registered in certain countries. For information about our devices and the latest version of this manual please visit www.barix.com. Barix AG Ringstrasse 15a 8600 Dübendorf SWITZERLAND Phone: +41 43 433 22 11 Fax: +41 44 274 28 49 web: email: support: www.barix.com sales@barix.com support@barix.com BARIX AG Audio Signage Information Server User Manual 20/20