Control Systems Adopting AES70 Standard
In the ever-evolving world of professional audio-visual (Pro AV) technology, AES70 is making waves as a game-changing open standard for networked audio and video device control. Actively promoted and developed by the OCA Alliance as of mid-2025, AES70 is a vendor-neutral, standardised remote control protocol that is transforming the way devices communicate across various manufacturers' products in networked AV systems.
At its core, AES70 provides a means for controlling devices and systems via a suite of software and tools, creating more complete and flexible media networking topologies. This open standard is being integrated into devices compatible with popular digital audio networking protocols like Dante, enhancing interoperability across hardware. For instance, FBT’s MIURA series loudspeakers utilise AES70 within OCA Alliance frameworks to receive 24-bit, 48-96kHz digital audio streaming from multiple devices.
The practical deployment of AES70 is evident in significant systems, such as the UOB Plaza in Singapore, demonstrating its effectiveness in large-scale networked environments. The openness and vendor neutrality of AES70 are key factors driving its uptake, as the AV industry moves towards unified and interoperable control standards.
AES70 is a formal device control standard, ratified by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in January 2016. It serves as a communications architecture for the control, monitoring, and connection management of networked audio and video devices. A developer can choose to use AES70 for device control in their product, or they can use an alternative control solution or build their own.
The OCA Alliance encourages participation from interested parties to contribute expertise or insight into future updates to the AES70 standard. Currently, the alliance comprises 17 member companies, including Elytone, Vizrt's NDI, and others, working together to advance the standard.
Work on AES70 is ongoing, with regular functional additions being made to the standard to enhance and extend its capabilities. Notably, Focusrite's RedNet series of audio interfaces utilise AES70 alongside their own control system, ensuring interoperability with other AES70 devices while retaining proprietary features.
Moreover, AES70 targets professional applications, working for up to 10,000 devices and functioning alongside any media transport protocol, providing a complete media network platform for digital audio and video systems of any size. It includes additional connection management functionality that works alongside media networking transports, such as AES67, MILAN, and others.
DeusO, for example, created an AES70-based Arduino UNO microcontroller board with 100 Mbps Ethernet, requiring minimal processing and implementable in a 1kB solution. This underscores AES70's versatility and accessibility, making it an attractive option for developers.
Furthermore, AES70 offers a level of interoperability with other devices, systems, and tools that also use AES70. NDI's membership in the OCA Alliance is beneficial due to its prolific ecosystem and potential for AES70 to bring benefits to a wider range of applications and industries.
In summary, AES70 is an increasingly important open control standard in the professional AV market for both control and streaming of networked audio/video equipment. Its flexibility, vendor neutrality, and interoperability make it a promising solution for the future of Pro AV technology.
The open standard, AES70, is being utilized not only in the control of devices but also in the integration of various products within the professional audio-visual (Pro AV) business, boosting interoperability and networked AV system efficiency. As more companies engage in the development of AES70 through the OCA Alliance, such as Elytone and Vizrt's NDI, the prospects for unified and interoperable solutions in data-and-cloud-computing-based technology are increasingly promising.
