Reliable UDP

This is a brand-new, highly effective method of sending video and audio over a network. Real-world testing has revealed that this version of NDI and other video protocols performs flawlessly in many difficult network setups that did not work well with earlier iterations.

With state-of-the-art congestion control and loss recovery (far superior to other reliable transfer protocols used in the industry), full inter-stream bandwidth management and connection sharing, no front-of-line queue blocking, a smaller number of open ports, and fully asynchronous sending and receiving, that uses a highly optimized UDP sender that supports very high latency connections (for example, WAN or WiFi networks).

Multipath TCP

This protocol is designed to leverage hardware-accelerated network adapters with adaptive bandwidth sharing among NICs, and it allows transport across multiple NICs and all network pathways.

Multipath TCP operates across a variety of network types, including wireless and mobile, and helps to maximize throughput, resource utilization, and network redundancy. It is unaffected by adding or removing paths.

UDP with Forward Error Correction

When the reliable transmission of data packets is not necessary, this alternative protocol to TCP is utilized. In applications like streaming media, teleconferencing, and voice-over-IP (VoIP), where timeliness is more important than accuracy, UDP is frequently utilized. A technique for establishing error control in data transmission known as forward error correction (FEC) transmits duplicated data from the source (transmitter) to the recipient (receiver).

Single TCP

This protocol for network communications allows two host systems to connect, exchange data packets, and guarantee that the proper location receives the intact data packets.

Cables

• Verify RJ-45 connectors termination quality to avoid issues related to bad performance or errors.

• Ethernet cable should be made of copper, avoid aluminum with copper coating.

Switches

• When selecting a network switch, prefer to use a managed layer 2 switch at minimum.

• Prioritize throughput speeds. Ensure all ports support full duplex communication with at least 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) upstream and downstream data speeds.

• For managed switches, manually set ports to 1 Gbps to avoid potential Auto Negotiation issues resulting in slower connections.

• Consider switches with 10 Gbps, but be cautious about shared bandwidth across multiple ports in the backplane, especially for inter-switch connections.

• To minimize security concerns and non desired traffice interference, isolate NDI traffic from important corporate data using VLANs.

• Disable QoS (NDI doesn't use), if you have other software that is QoS enabled (like Dante), then using VLAN to separate networks like mentioned above.

• Enable Flow Control, for preventing an interface from overloading a destination, which in turn would cause dropped packets.

• IGMP Snooping: For NDI Multicast. Activate this feature only if you have comprehensive expertise in networking.

Needs can vary and specific features might be required at times. However, this chart is meant to break down switch selection into three categories. Small, Medium and Large:

NIC

• Use all available NIC ports

• Do not mix ports speeds for NDI flows

• Use Multi-TCP

Network Monitoring

Deploy monitoring software to track NDI traffic and devise a comprehensive strategy for identifying, executing, and conducting detailed monitoring of:

• NDI Devices

  • Network bandwidth usage.

  • Network anomalies.

• NDI Sources and Feeds

  • Video resolution and frame rate.

  • Frame format.

  • Audio channel count.

  • Audio frame rate.

Network Security Recommendations