AES70 is a device control standard
For media system designers and users, AES70 offers a flexible, cost-effective system control approach. When paired with a digital network media transport mechanism – AES67, Dante, AVB/TSN, etc. – the result is a complete media network platform for digital audio systems of all sizes.
For manufacturers, using AES70 will enable products to compete in the growing universe of standards-based multivendor network audio solutions. Moreover, because AES70 is a complete control solution, using AES70 will give engineers more time to spend on developing valuable product features, rather than creating proprietary control protocol.
Integration of multiple systems
In a conference center, the performance sound subsystem and the the voice alarm subsystem must be integrated to allow the performance subsystem to deliver voice alarm evacuation announcements. If both of these subsystems use AES70, this will be a straightforward exercise.
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is arising around AES70, in which supplementary products are offered to support the creation of fully integrated solutions. For example, a venue has two wall panels that control certain aspects of the subsystems. Using AES70 will make it easier to find cost-effective, off-the-shelf, general-purpose panel products for this purpose.
Future Proofing
Standards-based systems are more future-proof and easier to expand than those that rely on proprietary solutions. As a public standard, AES70 is committed to maintaining upwards compatibility in the future. Through this technical governance over AES70 as a standard, end users can be assured new amplifiers, signal processors, and control stations can be accommodated into control systems as they become available.
Lower risk of obsolesence
Standards-based systems tend to have lower risk of obsolesence than proprietary control schemes. Using AES70 will give a venue a control scheme that will stand the test of time, and will not depend on any one manufacturer’s success or technical direction.
FAQs
AES70 is a freely-available open standard that enables you to control and monitor audio equipment.
Anything! AES70 has been designed to be flexible so it can be used with any type of AV device.
The OCA Alliance is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of AES70 in the audio-visual, entertainment technology and broadcast industries. We provide guidance on how manufacturers can adopt it into their products and provide a hub for information about the standard.
AES70 is the formal standard developed by the AES and published in 2016 based on OCA (Open Control Architecture) which was developed by the OCA Alliance as a communications protocol architecture for control, monitoring and connection management of networked audio and video devices. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but what was OCA is now officially AES70.
You do not need a development kit to implement AES70, although having one makes the job easier. The downloadable specification contains all necessary information for building an AES70-compliant device from scratch, if desired. Commercial libraries and reference designs are available from multiple sources.
No, but of course there are benefits to being an Alliance member. See our membership page for further details.
The Alliance does not intend to operate an AES70 conformance testing program, however the OCA Alliance does provide free and publicly available tools to test and validate AES70 implementations for proper operation and conformance to the standard.
The OCA Alliance offers a free and publicly available OCA Compliancy Test Tool as a technical resource.
The OCA MicroDemo is a demonstration product being developed by OCA Alliance members. Its primary purpose is to prove that AES70 can run well in lightweight hardware environments. Download the OCA MicroDemo Summary v02.
For more detailed answers to these question please see the following PDF: OCA Availability v01