TEMS Investigation Video Streaming Client

– Technical Description

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014

© Ascom. All rights reserved.
TEMS is a trademark of Ascom. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014

 Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 RTSP Support 1
2.1 DESCRIBE Request 1
2.2 SETUP Request 1
2.3 PLAY Request 1
2.4 TEARDOWN Request 1
2.5 RTSP Request Usage 2

3 SDP Support 2
3.1 Supported SDP Commands 2
3.1.1 Session Description Tags 3
3.1.2 Time Description 3
3.1.3 Media Description 3

4 Supported Video Formats 4

5 Supported Codecs 4
5.1 Supported Audio Codecs 4
5.2 Supported Video Codecs 4

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014

 1 Introduction
This document describes the workings of the video streaming client that is part of the TEMS
Investigation software.

2 RTSP Support
The Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) is a network control protocol for controlling
streaming media servers in entertainment and communications systems. RTSP is used to
establish and control media sessions between endpoints. RTSP does not transport the
media itself; that is the task of another protocol called Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP).
Below are listed all RTSP requests supported by the TEMS Investigation video streaming
client.

2.1 DESCRIBE Request

A DESCRIBE request includes an RTSP URL (rtsp://...) and the type of reply data that can
be handled. The default port for the RTSP protocol is 554 for both UDP and TCP transports.
The reply includes the presentation description, which is typically in Session Description
Protocol (SDP) format (see chapter 3).

2.2 SETUP Request

A SETUP request specifies how a single media stream is to be transported. This must be
done before a PLAY request is sent. The request contains the media stream URL and a
transport specifier. The specifier typically includes a local port for receiving RTP data (audio
or video) and another local port for RTCP data (meta information). The server reply usually
confirms the chosen parameters and fills in the missing information, such as the server’s
chosen ports.

2.3 PLAY Request

A PLAY request will cause one or several media streams to be played.

2.4 TEARDOWN Request

A TEARDOWN request is used to terminate the session. It stops all media streams and frees
all session related data on the server.

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014 1

 2.5 RTSP Request Usage
Depicted below is an example of how the TEMS Investigation streaming client communicates
with a streaming server using RTSP requests.

Streaming Client (TEMS) Streaming Server

Describe rtsp://x.x.x.x/VideoClip.3gp

Reply with SDP (Session Description Protocol) Info

Setup rtsp://x.x.x.x/VideoClip.3gp/VideoIdentifier

Reply

Setup rtsp://x.x.x.x/VideoClip.3gp/AudioIdentifier

Reply

Play rtsp://x.x.x.x/VideoClip.3gp

Reply

RTP data with video and audio

Teardown rtsp://x.x.x.x/VideoClip.3gp

Reply

RTSP signaling between streaming client and server.

3 SDP Support
The Session Description Protocol (SDP) is intended for describing multimedia
communication sessions for the purposes of session announcement, session invitation, and
parameter negotiation. SDP does not deliver media itself but is used for negotiation of media
type, format, and associated properties between client and server.

3.1 Supported SDP Commands

The syntax of SDP is designed to be extensible to allow introduction of new media types and
formats. New attributes are therefore occasionally added to the standard. What SDP
commands are currently supported by the TEMS Investigation video streaming client
appears from the tables that follow.
An SDP session is described by a series of attribute/value pairs, one per line. Each attribute
name is a single character, followed by ‘=’ and a value. Attribute names are unique only
within the associated syntactic construct, i.e. only within one of “Session”, “Time”, or “Media”.

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014 2

 3.1.1 Session Description Tags

Tag Optional Mandatory

v = protocol version 
o = owner/session id 
s = session name 
u = URI of description 
e = e-mail address 
c = connection 
b = bandwidth info 
p = phone number 
z = time zone 
k = encryption key 
a = zero or more session attributes 

3.1.1.1 Session Attributes

Attribute Name Description

Range Duration of streaming file

3.1.2 Time Description

Tag Optional Mandatory

t = session active time 
r = repeat time 

3.1.3 Media Description

Tag Optional Mandatory

m = media name and transport address 
a = zero or more media attributes 

3.1.3.1 Media Attributes

Attribute Name Description

control Media identifier
framesize Size of frame
fmtp Format-specific parameters
height Height of frame
width Width of frame

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014 3

 Attribute Name Description
rtpmap Payload type, encoding name, clock rate, etc.

4 Supported Video Formats

CIF (Common Intermediate Format) is a standard video format used in video conferencing. It
defines the horizontal and vertical resolutions in pixels.
The following video formats are the ones currently supported by the TEMS Investigation
video streaming client:

Format Resolution
CIF (Full CIF) 352  288
QCIF (Quarter CIF) 176  144
SQCIF (Sub Quarter CIF) 128  96
QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) 320  240

5 Supported Codecs
5.1 Supported Audio Codecs
The following audio codecs are currently supported by the TEMS Investigation video
streaming client:
 AMR NB
 AMR WB, AMR WB+
 AAC

5.2 Supported Video Codecs

The following video codecs are currently supported by the TEMS Investigation video
streaming client:
 H.263
 H.264
 MPEG4

NT14-36748, 1.0, 8/28/2014 4