Flexible virtualisation of radio production and playout

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Abstract

A virtual browser-based radio production and playout system in a cloud environment has been built. The system audio processing is done in the cloud so that no specific hardware for studio and playout infrastructure is needed.

The system is built in the AWS cloud environment and it is based on HTML 5, Rest APIs, ActiveMQ messaging and WebRTC audio streaming. The system data model is compatible with existing enterprise-level radio production and playout system.

Proof of concept tests have been done with the cloud-based radio production system. The system combines all the functionality of radio studio operations, audio processing, playout control, program production and playout streaming.

Introduction

Radio needs to be close to the public and on the spot of action. The need to run radio broadcast operations from local or temporary studios on shopping malls, sports centres, schools etc. is increasing. This means that the transition between a studio-controlled playout session and a remote broadcast must be as easy as possible.

A large national broadcaster typically runs multiple national distribution channels and lots of regional operations. The number of workstations can be up to several thousands. In addition to broadcast planning and production applications, the workstations have many other applications running. Simultaneously, system maintenance and updates have become more and more complicated.

Up till now, large radio broadcast IT systems have been built with multi-tier client-server configuration. Client-Server architecture has been efficient for large fixed installations but it has some drawbacks that can be overcome with new possibilities.

The advent of networked IP-audio has removed the need to place the audio playout close to the audio infrastructure. Web-based architectures move the business logic and interfaces to back-end servers and enable the use of browser-based workstations. Virtualisation and cloud technologies make dedicated servers almost obsolete.