Technical Notes (the page for geeks and engineers)

What is the AirTrafficControl hardware?

OnAirWare believes in using non-proprietary hardware. This is the best way to take advantage of the rapidly improving and expanding array of technologies and hardware options available. AirTrafficControl can use any standard PC hardware, and any standard audio devices (cards). However, that does not mean we recommend, or supply, or support "just anything." Nor does it mean you will always get FULL functionality or performance from "just anything."

For audio cards, we only recommend and supply AudioScience cards for professional broadcast use. They are "built for broadcast," have solid design and manufacturing, and the features and performance that broadcast professionals can depend on with confidence. OnAirWare carries the entire line of AudioScience cards, and we supply them pre-installed in our "turnkey" workstations. We can also provide them at great "package" prices even if you are not buying a complete workstation with your ATC software.

For PCs we supply Dell. We have found their Optiplex line to be a good, consistent platform, with good value for the money. Again, please allow us to quote your complete configured and tested workstation. We think you will agree that this is the best choice for overall price and convenience. If you plan to install ATC software on a PC that you do not get from us, please let us know all the details about it. For studio use we require min processor speed 2.2GHz, min RAM 3GB, and min hard drive storage 60GB after OS and other software (more if the PC will be storing the station's audio library). Depending on the intended use, you may require certain types of ports (serial, USB, etc.), slots (PCI, PCIe), and adapters (LAN, video, etc.), all of which can vary.

What about Operating Systems?

AirTrafficControl is out there in the world running on every version of Windows from Win98 forward. However, for new systems we only supply and support Windows 7 and Windows XP sp3. We do not plan to support Vista.

What about Networking?

ATC is designed to work well in groups and with others. When we set up a LAN we use standard TCP/IP in a peer-to-peer configuration between all ATC workstations and any storage devices/servers that they will be accessing. We discourage the use of any other protocols on the mission-critical machines, and we reduce as much as possible the physical interconnection with other branches of your office network. In other words, we try to connect ATC machines together on switch(es) or router(s) that are only linked to other parts of your network through limited identifiable physical connections. We do not just plug all of your ATC machines into your existing office network. We also strongly discourage the use of DHCP, and we assign each ATC machine an IP address that will be fixed and compatible with the rest of your network.

For many support purposes, ATC workstations should have full-time Internet access. You will also want to have OnAirWare-approved malware (virus) protection. We currently recommend Norton Internet Security. OnAirWare will need control of the firewall and other settings on ATC workstations. For support purposes we may need to work with you to set up remote access ports on your Internet router.

If your business uses a more hierarchical client-server structure for your office network, that is normally perfectly compatible with our peer-to-peer approach. All communication required between the two will be possible. However, if you set up any kind of permissions restrictions on files or storage devices that need to be accessed by ATC, please inform OnAirWare support of such restrictions, and you will be solely responsible for maintaining and supporting such policies in a way that is compatible with normal operation of the software, including unattended operation and unattended power cycling.

What's up with DirectX/DirectSound

DirectSound is a technology from Microsoft, included wih Windows DirectX. It is not a new technology, but using it is a new option inside ATC and it is still considered beta. We have included this option to allow multiple playbacks on a single-channel playback device (i.e. a typical audio card). We did not provide this functionality in the past because it was not necessary when using professional multi-playback audio cards (like AudioScience), and we always provide such cards for professional studio ATC installations. We have provided DirectSound functionality now because it is handy for our demo, and it can be useful for specific purposes in your station operation. However, DirectSound is not the recommended mode of the system. For real studio use you will get better performance and reliability by not employing it, and using the functions of your professional audio card to achieve multi-play mixing. Therefore we do not enable DirectSound when we configure on-air workstations, and we do not support it for full-time mission-critical operation.