gstreamer/ext/avtp
Andre Guedes 352bf28a35 avtpsink: Implement synchronization mechanism
The avtpsink element is expected to transmit AVTPDUs at specific times,
according to GstBuffer timestamps. Currently, the transmission time is
controlled in software via the rendering synchronization mechanism
provided by GstBaseSink class. However, that mechanism may not cope with
some AVB use-cases such as Class A streams, where AVTPDUs are expected
to be transmitted at every 125 us. Thus, this patch introduces avtpsink
own mechanism which leverages the socket transmission scheduling
infrastructure introduced in Linux kernel 4.19.  When supported by the
NIC, the transmission scheduling is offloaded to the hardware, improving
transmission time accuracy considerably.

To illustrate that, a before-after experiment was carried out. The
experimental setup consisted in 2 PCs with Intel i210 card connected
back-to-back running an up-to-date Archlinux with kernel 5.3.1. In one
host gst-launch-1.0 was used to generate a 2-minute Class A stream while
the other host captured the packets. The metric under evaluation is the
transmission interval and it is measured by checking the 'time_delta'
information from ethernet frames captured at the receiving side.

The table below shows the outcome for a 48 kHz, 16-bit sample, stereo
audio stream. The unit is nanoseconds.

       |   Mean |   Stdev |     Min |     Max |   Range |
-------+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Before | 125000 │    2401 │  110056 │  288432 │  178376 |
After  | 125000 │      18 │  124943 │  125055 │     112 |

Before this patch, the transmission interval mean is equal to the
optimal value (Class A stream -> 125 us interval), and it is kept the
same after the patch.  The dispersion measurements, however, had
improved considerably, meaning the system is now consistently
transmitting AVTPDUs at the correct time.

Finally, the socket transmission scheduling infrastructure requires the
system clock to be synchronized with PTP clock so this patches modifies
the AVTP plugin documentation to cover how to achieve that.
2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00
..
gstavtp.c avtpsink: Implement synchronization mechanism 2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00
gstavtpaafdepay.c avtp: Introduce AAF depayloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpaafdepay.h avtp: Introduce AAF depayloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpaafpay.c avtp: Introduce AAF payloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpaafpay.h avtp: Introduce AAF payloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpbasedepayload.c avtp: Introduce AAF depayloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpbasedepayload.h avtp: Introduce AAF depayloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpbasepayload.c avtp: Introduce AAF payloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpbasepayload.h avtp: Introduce AAF payloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpcvfdepay.c avtpcvfdepay: Don't hide gst_pad_push return 2019-11-19 13:35:00 +00:00
gstavtpcvfdepay.h avtp: Add fragmented packets handling to CVF depayloader 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpcvfpay.c avtpcvfpay: Do not hide or modify gst_pad_push errors 2019-11-19 13:35:00 +00:00
gstavtpcvfpay.h avtp: Introduce AVTP CVF payloader element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
gstavtpsink.c avtpsink: Implement synchronization mechanism 2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00
gstavtpsink.h avtpsink: Implement synchronization mechanism 2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00
gstavtpsrc.c avtp: Refactor if_index code 2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00
gstavtpsrc.h avtp: Introduce AVTP source element 2019-07-03 09:59:35 -07:00
meson.build avtpsink: Implement synchronization mechanism 2020-02-05 22:28:12 +00:00