I/O Frame and I/O Frame Status Component

The I/O Frame, in the Q-SYS Designer Inventory list, represents a physical piece of equipment. It is the main means of input and output for the Q-SYS system, housing up to four different types of I/O boards and a GPIO connection. The I/O Frame in the Inventory list has components under it that are placed in the Schematic for use in your system.

When you add an I/O Frame to the Inventory, there is a Status Component, four empty slots for I/O cards, and a GPIO component. This topic covers the I/O Frame and the Status Component. Refer to the GPIO topic for information on the GPIO component.

Type 2 Hardware

Type 2 hardware provides new cables and connectors between the I/O cards and main boards in Cores and I/O Frames. Due to this change, the Type 2 hardware is not physically compatible with the older hardware. You can still integrate the new I/O Frames and Cores in the same system with older hardware, but the I/O cards are not interchangeable. Type 2 hardware can be identified by a yellow label on the back of the Core and I/O Frame, and the bottom of the I/O cards.

Controls

The I/O Frame in the Inventory list has no Controls.The controls, for the I/O Frame Status Component, listed below are divided into sections to match the Control Panel sections.

I/O Frame Status < Name>

Control

Function

Default / Range

Status LED

This LED changes color to indicate the current status of the I/O Frame. See Status for the meanings of the various colors.

N / A

Status

Displays the current status of the I/O Frame both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions.

NOTE: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field.

OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good.

Compromised – Orange – (1) – Audio is good but a redundancy mechanism is active (one LAN down but the other is still up) or a non-fatal hardware problem exists (fans too slow, temperature higher than expected, etc.)

Fault – Red – (2) – Audio is not passing, or hardware is malfunctioning or mis-configured (amplifier power off, audio streams broken, wrong type of I/O Card installed, loudspeaker short circuit, etc.)

Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware.

Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad.

Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.

N / A

Clock Offset

This text field displays the clock difference between the associated I/O Frame and the Master Clock. The unit of measure is indicated in the text readout.

N / A

Grandmaster

The clock master of the network. See ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_Time_Protocol#Architecture)

N / A

Parent Port

The device and interface name that this device is syncing to when it’s not the clock master. Usually it is the same as the Grandmaster name.

N / A

Temperature

Text field indicating the current temperature inside the associated I/O Frame, measured in Celsius. Typically about 60° C.

N / A

Fan 1 / Fan 2

Text field indicating the current RPM of the equipment fan.

The RPM is not specified, and will vary with temperature. Both fans should be approximately the same.

N / A

When the ID/Identify button, in the Q-SYS Designer Status component, or the Configurator's Network Configuration for the hardware,or on the physical hardware is pressed, the ID buttons in the Configurator and Status component flash, and the LCD on the physical Hardware flashes to indicate the association between the three.

The indicators will flash for 5 minutes unless you stop them by pressing any one of the buttons.

Off / On

Details

Text indicating the Details of any errors occurring with the I/O Frame. The information in this field is updated regularly and is cumulative. An item is displayed only when the value is not zero. If there are values associated with these, call Support.

fpga_fifo_error	sequence_error
recv_fifo_error	xmit_task_early
xmit_fifo_error	xmit_task_late
recv_dma_error	xmit_task_error
xmit_dma_error	xmit_overrun
sync_error	clock_sync_loss

N / A

Reset Details

Click this button to reset the information in the Details field to zero.

Momentary Off / On

Primary/Backup

These sections are displayed only when the Is Redundant Property of the I/O Frame is set to Yes.

Control	Function	Default / Range
Status	Displays the current status of the Primary I/O Frame both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions. NOTE: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field. OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good. Compromised – Orange – (1) – Audio is good but a redundancy mechanism is active (one LAN down but the other is still up) or a non-fatal hardware problem exists (fans too slow, temperature higher than expected, etc.) Fault – Red – (2) – Audio is not passing, or hardware is malfunctioning or mis-configured (amplifier power off, audio streams broken, wrong type of I/O Card installed, loudspeaker short circuit, etc.) Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware. Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad. Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.	N / A
Active	Displays only when the I/O Frame is redundant. Indicates that the associated I/O Frame is active.	true / false
Standby	LED indicating if the associated I/O Frame is in the Standby mode or not.	true / false
Go Active	Displays only when the I/O Frame is redundant. Toggle button to make the associated I/O Frame become the active one.	Off / On (Momentary)

Audio Streams

To see both input and output Audio Streams information, you must have cards installed in the slots giving both inputs and outputs. For example, a Line Input card gives you Input Audio Streams, a Line Out card gives you Output Audio Streams.

Control

Function

Default / Range

Input OK

LED indicating the status of the Input Audio Stream for LAN A or LAN B.

N / A

Input Details

Text indicating the details of the status of the I/O Frame Input Audio Stream. The information in this field is updated regularly and is displayed as running totals. An item is displayed only when the value is not zero. ¹

accept_count	size_mismatch
drop_count	not_audio
missing_count	to_early
duplicate_count	early
not_in_use	on_time
port_mismatch	too_late
check_mismatch	very_late

N / A

Output OK

LED indicating the status of the Output Audio Stream for LAN A or LAN B.

N / A

Output Details

Text indicating the details of the status of the I/O Frame Output Audio Stream. The information in this field is updated regularly and is displayed as running totals. An item is displayed only when the value is not zero. ¹

accept_count	size_mismatch
drop_count	not_audio
missing_count	to_early
duplicate_count	early
not_in_use	on_time
port_mismatch	too_late
check_mismatch	very_late

N / A

1. Notes:

In Input and Output Audio Streams, accept_count = (early + on_time). This is OK, everything else should be zero.

The units are 16 samples, so accept_count should go up by 3000 per second.

too_early, too_late, very_late indicate clock sync problems. If Clock Offset is larger than a single digit, check the QoS configuration on the switches for the clock traffic (the highest priority DSCP). If too_late or very_late are not zero but the Clock Offset is zero or very small, check the QoS configuration on the switches for the audio traffic (the second highest priority DSCP).

missing_count could mean network problems such as bad cables, check the CRC error counters on the switches.

Properties

I/O Frame and Status Component

The following properties are set when the I/O Frame in the Inventory list, or the I/O Frame Status component is selected.

Property	Function	Choices
Name	Identifies the I/O Frame component in Q-SYS Designer, enabling the connection between the design and the physical I/O Frame. This name should be the same as the I/O Frame Device Name (hostnameHostnames may contain ASCII letters 'a' through 'z' (case-insensitive), the digits '0' through '9', the hyphen, and the underscore. Hostname labels cannot begin or end with a hyphen. No other symbols, punctuation characters, or blank spaces are permitted.) in the Configurator. Click in the Name property and type the Name. The name must follow standard naming conventions. The Administrator restricts the name according to the following: ASCII characters a - z (case insensitive) Digits 0 - 9 Hyphen (cannot be at the beginning or end of the name) Underscore (acceptable with a Q-SYS implementation) No other characters, symbols, punctuation, or blank spaces.	User input
Location	User defined Location for the I/O Frame.	User input
Is Network Redundant	Indicates if the I/O Frame is connected to redundant networks.	Yes / No
Is Required	When Is Required is set to Yes, an error displays if the hardware does not exist on the network. This is the default behavior. When Is Required is set to No, the device is identified as not present, its status state is Not Present which is not considered an error. The color displayed for “Not Present” equipment is gray. If a device is dynamically assignable but has not been assigned, it is considered Not Present” even if it is required.	Yes / No
Is Dynamic	Indicates that this virtual component can be paired with the same type of hardware without changing the network id of the hardware, or the name of this component. Refer to Dynamic Pairing for more information.	Yes / No
Is Redundant	Indicates if the I/O Frame is redundant or not.	No / Yes
Backup Name	This field displays when Is Redundant is set to Yes. User defined name for the Backup I/O Frame.	User input
Verbose	Available only when the Status component is selected in the Schematic. Displays the Networking and Audio Stream details for LAN A and LAN B. You must have Is Network Redundant set to Yes to see LAN B details.	Yes / No
Slot A - D	These fields represent the four physical slots in the I/O Frame. Select the I/O card that is physically installed in each of these slots. The maximum number of channels an I/O Frame can support is 16 input, and 16 output channels. If, for example, you install one CobraNet card and configure it for 16 input and 16 output channels, you cannot use any other cards with that I/O Frame. When you attempt to compile the design on the Core, it will display an error message, and will not compile. IMPORTANT: If you install an input card in the I/O Frame, and connect an audio source to the card's inputs, you must wire at least one of the outputs of the input card component to something in your design to see the audio source levels on the meters of the input card component.	AES3 Input / Output CobraNet Input / Output DataPort Mic/Line In

Control Pins

The I/O Frame in the Inventory list has no Control Pins. The available Control Pins for the I/O Frame Status Component depend on settings in Properties.

Pin Name	Value	String	Position	Pins Available
Backup I/O Frame Active	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Backup I/O Frame Go Active	0 1	false true	0 1	Input / Output
Backup I/O Frame Standby	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Backup I/O Frame Status	0 1 2 3 4	OK (green) Compromised (orange) Fault (red) Unknown (red) Updating (blue)	0 0.250 0.500 0.750 1.00	Output
Clock Offset From Master	0.000 to n	0 ms to n ms	0 to 1.000	Output
Details	Text field
Fan 1 RPM	approximately 3800 RMP			Output
Fan 2 RPM	approximately 3800 RMP			Output
I/O Frame Status	Text field			Output
Identify	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
LAN A/B Input Stream Details	Text Field
LAN A/B Input Stream OK	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
LAN A/B Output Stream Details	Text Field
LAN A/B Output Stream OK	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Primary I/O Frame Active	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Primary I/O Frame Go Active	0 1	false true	0 1	Input / Output
Primary I/O Frame Standby	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Primary I/O Frame Status	0 1 2 3 4	OK (green) Compromised (orange) Fault (red) Unknown (red) Updating (blue)	0 0.250 0.500 0.750 1.00	Output
Reset Details	trigger			Input / Output
Temperature	nn.n	nn.n°C	0 to 1.00	Output