Volair Version 2.5 Release Noes (January, 2018) Inroducion 25-Seven s new Firmware Updae 2.5 for he Volair processor is par of our coninuing effors o improve Volair wih new feaures and capabiliies. For cusomers using our TVC-15 Broadcas Analyzer, Monior and Adapive Conroller o adapively enhance and conrol heir Volair, his release is an imporan companion updae o TVC-15 version 2.0, and should be insalled in parallel o insure correc communicaion beween he wo unis. Regardless of wheher you are using TVC-15 o conrol your Volair, we recommend ha all users updae o his laes release, as i conains inernal improvemens benefiing our enire insalled base. This documen describes mos recen updaes, he firmware insallaion process, as well as a more hisoric record of earlier updaes since version 2.0. Changes from Firmware 2.4 o Firmware 2.5 Display change: "Process: Adapive" indicaion on main display removed o free up screen space. Add "Se o Medium Prese on Boo" opion, o insure loading of a defaul value on resar. Wachdog creaed where If TVC-15 is conrolling Volair, and a 5 second gap in TVC conneciviy occurs, hen Volair uses he medium prese value as defaul enhancemen level. Impor he name of he conrolling TVC-15 in command language; display his name and TVC logo when conrol by TVC is acive. Indicaed when connecion is los. Allow exernal devices (e.g. TVC) o fech low/medium/high prese values. Firmware Insallaion To insall a firmware package on Volair: (mus be running version 1.5 or laer, earlier versions, please conac Telos Suppor) 1. Connec o your Volair s web inerface
2. Make sure your Volair is in bypass 3. Click on he UTILITIES ab a he op of he page 4. In he Sysem Sofware Upgrades secion, click Copy upgrade package o Volair 5. Click he Choose File buon, use he file popup window o choose he sofware updae file, and hen click Open or OK 6. A new Copy buon will appear on he page: click i 7. Wai for he file o upload and insall 8. Click he View or swich running Volair version link 9. Click he swich link o he righ of of he name of he version you are insalling 10. Wai for Volair o swich o he new version and reboo. For bes resuls, clear your browser cache afer updaing o a new version Change noes from Firmware 2.3.2 o Firmware 2.4 Firmware Updae 2.4 prepares Volair o be conrolled by he new TVC-15 produc (Ve rsion 1.0). Firs, i add a new "se" command o he daa server a por 8259, making i possible o remoely se he enhancemen level: se enhancemenlevel=15!se enhancemenlevel has been se o 15 Second, i adds wo new Tes Enhancemen Swiching modes: "Adjusable/High": Uni alernaes from having adjusable enhancemen levels (eiher via he daa server or he fron panel conrols), and having enhancemen level fixed o he "Enhancemen Level High" prese
"Adjusable/Medium/High": Uni cycles hrough having adjusable enhancemen levels (eiher via he daa server or he fron panel conrols), having enhancemen level fixed o he "Enhancemen Level Medium" prese, and having enhancemen level fixed o he "Enhancemen Level High" prese This will allow you o quanify he benefi of using TVC-15 wih your Volair, over simple fixed or daypar-based enhancemen levels. Changes from Firmware 2.2 o Firmware 2.3.2 Firmware Updae 2.3.2 for he Volair processor added wo significan new feaures: Encoder disorion esing and display Flexible Program Oupu These feaures, in addiion o oher changes made since he release of Volair version 2.0 are he criical componens of a new monior only version of he Volair produc. Encoder disorion esing and display As par of is calibraion process, Volair has always measured he level of disorion generaed by he aached waermarking encoder. Over he years, we have discovered ha some encoders, even when no acually adding waermark ones, may disor he audio signal. If his disorion is oo high, Volair will refuse o calibrae o he encoder. Since he calibraion daa in our sysem logs ells us abou he signal healh of individual encoders, we decided o urn our field experience ino a diagnosic feaure. Firmware 2.3.2 adds a new Calibraion secion o he exernal web INFORMATION page which shows he resuls of his disorion esing: This displays he dae of he mos recen calibraion, wheher i was successful, a broad es of each channel s qualiy ( good, marginal or bad ), and a measure of he amoun of residual disorion in each channel. Noe ha he disorion numbers shown are generaed as par of he calibraion process, bu are NOT formal disorion measuremens such as THD+N. However, hey can be useful for deecing encoders whose audio pah may be disoring your saion s feed. Cases where encoders fail o calibrae or conribue noise o an airchain have been prey rare, bu we have seen enough insances ha we waned o provide our cusomers wih a ool o do heir own diagnosis. If your encoder fails o calibrae, i may be generaing excessive noise. And given ha all
elecronics age, simply recalibraing every 6 o 12 monhs and comparing resuls wih a benchmark may aler you o a poenial problem or changing condiion. Flexible Program Oupu Volair is designed o be in he ransmission chain, wih i s Program Oupu driving he Oupu o Transmier connecors. For firmware up o and including Version 2.0, Volair s Program Oupu has always been fixed o a single poin: sandard Volair-enhanced audio. Version 2.2 inroduced he new Monior Only mode, where if desired Volair would oupu he encoded audio exacly as received from he waermark encoder; cusomers could use his mode in siuaions where Volair s encoding enhancemen was no needed or desired. Volair firmware 2.3.2 replaced he Monior Only feaure wih Flexible Program Oupu, allowing users o choose any of four ypes of Program Oupu: "Enhanced Audio": PPM-encoded audio, enhanced by Volair "Encoded Audio": PPM-encoded audio, sraigh from he encoder wih no enhancemen "Sudio Inpu": he "Inpu from Sudio" audio sream, wih no waermark codes "Raw Tones": he PPM encoding ones added by he encoder, wih no source signal Enhanced Audio is he facory defaul. This is he same enhanced audio oupu ha was he only oupu in earlier sofware versions. Encoded Audio is he audio exacly as encoded by he waermarking encoder, wih none of Volair s processing enhancemens applied. Sudio Inpu copies audio direcly from he Inpu from Sudio connecors o he Oupu o Transmier unchanged, wihou passing hough he waermark encoder; wih his choice, he Volair/Encoder sysem will pass audio like a simple cable, while measuring he poenial encodabiliy of he audio. These oupus allow you o easily lisen o he difference beween unmodified sudio audio, encoded audio, and Volair-enhanced audio, making i easier o make enhancemen level and processing choices which balance encoding robusness agains perceivable audio arifacs. The fourh audio oupu choice, Raw Tones should never be used on air. This choice les you lisen o he exraced, unmasked waermark ones ha he encoder adds o your program audio. Lisening
o raw ones can be unpleasan, bu as a sonic ool, i may be useful for in evaluaing he effecs of processing and differen programming ypes on encoding. Used as an offline esing ool, i can provide you audiory insigh ino he encoding process, and help you beer undersand he inerplay beween audio sources, waermarking and Volair enhancemen. Misusing he program oupu funcion could leave you wihou Volair s enhancemen, or even compleely wihou PPM encoding. As a safey feaure, he Program Oupu is locked o he Enhanced Audio choice, so ha your Volair will funcion as expeced. If you wish o change your Program Oupu, you mus firs unlock i. To do so, go o he UTILITIES page on he exernal web inerface and click on he Swich Volair Program Oupu from locked o unlocked link. You will be given a warning abou your choice; if you confirm, your Program Oupu will remain he same bu will now be easily seable. Once unlocked, you can change he Program Oupu eiher via he fron panel LCD or via he exernal web inerface. Go o he Sysem ab on he fron panel display, selec Volair Program Oupu, and hen use he jog knob (on he fron panel display) or he up and down arrow keys (on he exernal web inerface) o change he oupu. You ll immediaely hear he changes. Again, be careful: you do NOT wan o broadcas raw encoding ones. To lock he Program Oupu back on Enhanced Audio, go back o he UTILITIES ab, click Swich Volair Program Oupu from unlocked o locked, and hen confirm your choice. Changes from Firmware 2.0 o Firmware 2.2 Firmware Updae 2.2 for he Volair processor added hree significan new feaures: Encoding Failure deecion and alarm Monior Only mode Layer 2 Compaibiliy In addiion, i includes a number of smaller changes: The daa exracion and conrol language has been exended
GPIO oupus have been regularized Various minor weaks, uning and bug fixes. Encoding Failure alarm Volair firmware 2.2 inroduces a new Encoding Failure alarm, enhancing is exising monioring funcions. This alarm is riggered when encoding confidence becomes compleely absen, and reses once confidence is resored. The alarm is shown on he screen, riggers a GPIO oupu, and is recorded in he inernal hisory daa for daa exracion. This feaure can provide early deecion of a waermark encoder malfuncion, or of abnormally low encode energy. A user conrol les you adjus he ime hreshold for failure even deecion. While an Encoding Failure alarm is acive, i is repored in a number of ways: "ENCODING FAILURE" is shown prominenly on he fron panel display: ENCODING FAILURE is shown on he fron panel Saus page: GPIO oupu number 8 (on he DB-25 pin 3) is pulled low A "noencoding" message will be available on he daa exracion and conrol por for real-ime monioring over IP The informaion is wrien o he inernal confidence hisory Afer he fac, Encoding Failure alarms can be viewed in eiher of he downloadable minue-by-minue hisory spreadshees, as well as hrough he replay funcion of he daa exracion and conrol por. The Encoding Failure alarm is always riggered if he encoder compleely fails or is pu ino bypass. However, i will also rigger if here is a significan period of compleely unencodable audio (e.g. silence, or some ypes of exreme disorion). We have experienced boh ypes of failure in our Encoding Failure esing. Differen formas have differen encodabiliy characerisics, so a Grace Period conrol is provided o help avoid riggering spurious encoding failure alarms. The Grace Period seing is available on he fron panel Sysem screen: The facory defaul value of 0 seconds gives he quickes and mos sensiive resuls, bu wih some formas or even wih small periods of dead air, here may be false alarms. To avoid any false posiives,
users may wan o se he Grace Period o 5, 10, or more seconds. When a Grace Period is se and encoding fails, Volair will wai for ha ime value o pass before riggering an alarm. If encoding reurns before he Grace Period has compleed, hen he grace period will be rese and no alarm will be repored. Monior Only mode NOTE: Volair Firmware 2.2 s Monior Only mode has been superseded by Firmware 2.3.2 s Flexible Program Oupu. Layer 2 Compaibiliy Nielsen's PPM encoders can be configured o funcion in differen ses of frequency bands for differen markes. In he Unied Saes, Nielsen has sandardized on wha is known as he Layer 1 frequencies. In oher counries, Nielsen and is licensees also (and someimes concurrenly) use a differen se of frequencies known as Layer 2. Volair was iniially creaed for he US marke, wih he abiliy o calibrae only o wih PPM encoders configured for Layer 1. In order o provide value o cusomers worldwide, Volair firmware 2.2 adds compaibiliy wih Layer 2 encoders. Noe ha Volair mus be configured o work wih he proper layer for he aached encoder; if Volair is configured for a differen layer han he encoder, i will be unable o calibrae, and if running will show zero encoding confidence. All Volairs ship configured for Layer 1. To swich your configuraion o Layer 2, connec o he exernal web browser inerface and go o he "UTILITIES" ab. Under he "Mainenance" secion you'll see a new link, "Swich encoding from Layer 1 o Layer 2 ". Click he link and you'll be brough o a confirmaion page o make sure ha a) you wan o make his change, and b) you are in bypass. If you click he "Swich o Layer 2" buon, hen Volair will delee is calibraion and reboo ino Layer 2 mode, and will say in ha mode, even hrough power-cycles, unil re-configured. Since calibraions are encoder-specific, and encoders are layer-specific, you mus recalibrae whenever you swich encoders.. Volair funcions idenically in eiher Layer 1 or Layer 2 mode. The currenly configured Layer is shown on he main display's "Saus" screen, and on he exernal web browser inerface's "INFORMATION" ab. To swich your configuraion back o Layer 1 mode, go o he exernal web browser inerface's
"UTILITIES" page, and click he "Swich encoding from Layer 2 o Layer 1 " link. Confirm ha Volair is in bypass and hen click he "Swich o Layer 1" buon. Volair will delee is calibraion and reboo ino Layer 1 mode, and i will once again be configured o work wih a Layer 1 encoder. Daa Exracion and Conrol Exensions Two new messages have been added o he conrol language available on por 8259 of Volair: noencoding=<value>: indicaes wheher an Encoding Alarm is acive (value equals 1) or no (value equals 0) monioronly=<value>: indicaes wheher Monior Only mode is acive (value equals 1) or no (value equals 0) GPIO Oupu Changes In addiion o adding oupu 8 (pin 3) o indicae a No Encoding alarm as described above, Volair firmware 2.2 has made changes in how some of he pins funcion. The GPIO oupus include hree pins ha indicae when he Decode Inerval imer has no been rese in a given amoun of ime. Oupu 2 (pin 6) indicaes when he Decode Inerval imer is greaer han 1 minue; oupu 3 (pin 18) indicaes when i is greaer han 2 minues, and oupu 4 (pin 5) indicaes when i is greaer han five minues. In Volair firmware 2.2, hese oupus now only acivae while Volair is running (e.g. when no in bypass or calibraing). Oher changes To faciliae more flexible imporaion of Volair daa, here are wo new Hisory file oupu formas: Minue-by-minue CSV (Comma Separaed Value), and Deailed CSV. Compaible Versions For Adapive Enhancemen: In order o Volair o be conrolled by TVC-15 versions used mus be compaible. Lised below are he compaible versions so Volair and TVC-15 will work properly.
Volair version 2.5 works wih TVC-15 version 2.0 Volair version 2.4 works wih TVC-15 version 1.0