MVN time Code and Remote Control

Plug-in User Manual

RevisionD,February2012

XsensTechnologiesB.V.
phone +31889736700
fax
+31889736701
email info@xsens.com
internetwww.xsens.com

Revisions

Revision
C
D

Date
October2010
February2012

By
HBE
HBE

Changes
UpdatedforMVNStudio3.1
UpdatedforMVNStudio3.3

2012,XsensTechnologiesB.V.Allrightsreserved.Informationinthisdocumentissubjecttochangewithout
notice.XsensisaregisteredtrademarkofXsensTechnologiesB.V.MTi,MTx,MTiGandMVNaretrademarks
ofXsensTechnologiesB.V.

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TableofContents
1

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................1
1.1 APPLICATION................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 TIMESTAMP..................................................................................................................................................1
1.3 REMOTECONTROL.........................................................................................................................................1

INSTALLATION......................................................................................................................................2
2.1 SOFTWARE...................................................................................................................................................2

GETTINGSTARTED................................................................................................................................3
3.1 MVNSTUDIOCONFIGURATION........................................................................................................................3
3.2 TIMECODE...................................................................................................................................................3
3.2.1 Timecodereaderhardware.............................................................................................................4
3.2.2 Timecodereaderplugin..................................................................................................................4
3.2.3 Timepluginconfiguration................................................................................................................5
3.3 REMOTECONTROL.........................................................................................................................................5
3.3.1 Offsetissue.......................................................................................................................................7
3.4 UDPCOMMANDSSPECIFICATION......................................................................................................................8
3.5 LANSETUP.................................................................................................................................................9

MVNSTUDIOANDOUTPUT................................................................................................................10
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4

MVNSTUDIOTIMECODEDTIMESTAMP...........................................................................................................10
TIMECODEINMVNXFILEFORMAT.................................................................................................................10
TIMECODEINFBXFILEFORMAT.....................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................................11

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1 Introduction
1.1

Application

TheMVNtimecodeandremotecontrolpluginisdesignedincasesynchronisationofsingleormultipleMVN
systemswithothersystemsisrequired.ThedataofaMVNsystemistimestampedduringrecording,soitcan
belinedupafterwardswithdataofothersystemsi.e.cameras,audio.

1.2

Timestamp

ThisfunctionalityenablesthecorrelationofmotioncapturedatafromseveralMVNsystemsandthedatatobe
usedwithothermotioncapturesystems,camerafootageandaudio.
ThetimecodefunctionalityrequiresthatMVNissynchronizedtoanexternalsourcethatsuppliesatimecode.
Thesametimecodeusedalsobytheothersystems,whichtheMVNdataistobecombinedwith.
TheTimecodeplugincanachievetimesychronizationtowithin10ms.

1.3

Remotecontrol

Aspartoftheimplementedfunctionality,inthesetupwithmultipleMVNsystemsitispossibletostartand
stoptherecordingviaremotecommandsformultipleMVNsystemsandothersystems.

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2 Installation

2.1

Software

TheTimecodeandremotecontrolpluginisinstalledwithMVNStudio.Thepluginwillbemadeavailable
throughtheactivationprocess.
Tocheckwhethertheinstallationwassuccessfulyouopenfolder:
..\ProgramFiles\Xsens\MVNStudio3.1\MVNStudio\plugins,itshouldcontainfollowingfiles:
Timecodeplugin: avtimecode.dll

Remotecontrol:

udpremotecontrol.dll

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3 GettingStarted
3.1

MVNStudioconfiguration

1.

StartMVNStudio.

2.

Checktheinstalledplugins.
GotoOptionsPreferencesMiscellaneousandcheckthatallthenecessarypluginsareavailable
arethere;Alpermann+VelteTimeCodeandUDPRemoteControl

3.2

Timecode

Forcorrectfunctioningofthetimecodepart,thehardwareasseenindepicturebelowshouldbeinplace.

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3.2.1

Timecodereaderhardware

TheUSSocietyofMotionPictureandTelevisionEngineersintroducedthatwhichiscalledSMPTE("simpty")
timecode.Therearetwoversions:
TheaudiosynctoneversionofSMPTEiscalledLinearorLongitudinalTimeCode(LTC,pronouncedlitceeand
specifiedinSMPTE12M1999) 1 .Thebasicformatisan80bitcodethatgivesthetimeofdaytothesecond,
andtheframenumberwithinthesecond,sohh:mm:ss:frame.
VerticalIntervalTimeCode(VITC,pronounced"vitsee")isaformofSMPTEtimecodeembeddedasapairof
blackandwhitebarsinavideosignal.Theselinesaretypicallyinsertedintotheverticalblankingintervalofthe
videosignal.VITCcontainsthe64databitsoftheSMPTElineartimecodeframeembeddedinanewframe
structurewithextrasynchronizationbitsandanerrordetectionchecksum.TheVITCcodeisalwaysrepeated
ontwoadjacentvideolines,oneineachfield.
Tobeabletoreadthetimecode,theMVNworkstationsshouldbeequippedwithaprofessionalgrade
2
timecodereaderPCIcardfromAlpermann+Velte .ThiscardisabletoreceiveLTCorVITCsignals(depending
onthemodel)anddecodethetimecodefromit.Thepictureandproductnameofthecardaregiveninpicture
below.

TheAlpermann+VeltePCLPCILVtimecodereadercard

Asapracticalmatter,VITCcanbemore'frameaccurate'thanLTCatveryslowtapespeedsonanalogue
formats.FortheapplicationbothLTCandVITCseemtosuffice.
However,thereisoneissueconnectedwiththeLTCthatneedstobeclarifiedfirst.WithusingLTCcomesthe
issuecalleddecodingdelay,i.e.theslipofoneframebetweenthegeneratortimeandreadertime.Atthe
beginningofaframethetimecodemasterclockgeneratesanewLTCpacketinwhichthecurrentframe
numberisstored.Then,duringthenextfortymilliseconds(e.g.durationofaframeof80bitsat24frame/s),
thecodedinformationistransmittedafterwhichthenextframeistobetransmitted.Whenreading,all
informationintheframemustbereadbeforethereadercanretrievethetimecode.Atthispoint,the
generatorisreadyforthenextframe.Tocompensateforthissituation,thereadermustaddoneframetothe
valuereadout.Accordingtothedocumentationofthecard,thisisautomaticallydonebythecardalready.
Besidesinstallingthedriverthatcomeswiththecard,nootherconfigurationsarerequiredforthecard.To
installthedriverfortheAlpermann+Veltecard:
run Install Driver.bat, which can be found in the driver folder on the Alpermann+Velte
installationCD.
3.2.2

Timecodereaderplugin

Thetimecodecardgeneratesahardwareinterruptwhenanewtimecodeisread.Thisinterruptiscaughtbya
MVNpluginimplementedforthisparticularcard.Aftercatchingtheinterruptthecorrespondingtimecodewill
beread.ThepluginwillreadthetimestampandsendthetimecodetoMVNStudiowhentheframenumberis
0.InMVNStudiothetriggerisusedtoperformthesynchronization.
Testshaveshownthatthisprocessandtheassociatedjitterfallswithinsomemillisecondstimeframe.
Occasionallargerjittersarefilteredout.

Seewww.philrees.co.uk/articles/timecode.htm
Seewww.alpermannvelte.com
3
seewww.alpermannvelte.com/prod_e/epcl/epci_d.html(accessedJune11,2009)
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3.2.3
1.

Timepluginconfiguration

AfterstartingMVNStudioitcanbecheckedwhetherthepluginsareproperlyinitializedbygoingto:

OptionsPreferencesMiscellaneous.SelecttheAlpermann+VelteTimeCodeplugin
Enabletheplugin,thetimecodepluginmustbeconfiguredtouseLTC.

2.

Checktimecodereception.
RunthePclTest.exethatwhichcanbefoundontheAlpermann+VelteinstallationCDandseethatthe
timecodeisreceived.

3.3

RemoteControl

TosupporttheremotecontrolUDPcommands,apluginisimplementedthatattemptstoparseanyUDP
messagesitreceives.Whenitrecognizesthemessage,thecommandswillbeforwardedtoMVNStudiousing
thepluginsystem.MVNStudioreceivesthecommandsandtakestheappropriateactions:startanew
recordingandstorethemeasurementsinthegivenfileorstoptheongoingrecordingandclosetheopenedfile.
Thetimetostartorstopascontainedinthecommandisexpressedasatimecode.SinceMVNissynchronized
withthetimecodeitcanproperlydeterminetherightmomenttoperformtheaction.
1. Forcorrectfunctioningoftheremotecontrolcodepart,thehardwareasseenindepicturebelowshould
beinplace.ThesetuphastohaveasysteminplacethatgeneratestheUDPcommands,e.g.theCentral
Control.
4

WhentheSwitchinpicturebelowisonewithIGMPsupport ,theUDPcommandscanbemulticastedalso.
MulticastisakindofUDPtrafficsimilartoBROADCAST,butonlyhoststhathaveexplicitlyrequestedtoreceive
thiskindoftrafficwillgetit.ThismeansthataMVNSystemhastojoinamulticastgroupifyouwanttoreceive
trafficthatbelongstothatgroup.
IPaddressesintherange224.0.0.0to239.255.255.255(ClassDaddresses)belongstomulticast.Nohostcan
havethisasIPaddress,buteverymachinecanjoinamulticastaddressgroup.
ThereservedIPaddress224.0.0.1,specifiesallsystemsonthissubnet.Inthesetup,alllisteningsocketsjoin
themulticastgroup"224.0.0.1".Thisisthe"allhosts"group.Allsendingsocketstransmitto"224.0.0.1".This
endsupgoingtoallmachinesthathavejoinedthe"allhosts"group(224.0.0.1).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Group_Management_Protocol

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2.

AfterstartingMVNStudioitcanbecheckedwhetherthepluginsareproperlyinitializedbygoingto:

OptionsConfigurePlugins.TheConfigureInstalledPluginswindowwillshow.SelecttheUDPRemote
ControlpluginandclicktheConfigurebutton.
TheportusedbytheremotecontrolpluginandthemulticastIPaddresstojoincanbeconfigured.Thedefault
valuefortheportis6004.ThepluginwilljoinanyIPaddressotherthan0.0.0.0.TheTimeCodeFramerate
fieldspecifiesthenumberofframespersecond.Whenavalueisspecifiedhere,theframenumberspecifiedin
theUDPcommand(e.g.CaptureStart)isusedtospecifythestartoftherecording:
hh:mm:ss+<startframe>/FrameRate
Iftheframerateisunknown,orifitisnotrequiredtostartataspecificframe,thisvaluecanbeleftto0
causingtheframenumberintimecodeintheUDPcommandtobeignored.
Alsointhewindowthe(optional)SystemIDcanbespecifiedwhichwillbeappendedtothegivenfilename.

3.

CheckthereceptionoftheUDPcommands.

ACaptureStartandCaptureStopcanbesentrightaftereachotherintheformatasspecifiedinsection3.4.
IfnoactionisexecutedinMVNStudio,checktheLANsetup(seesection3.5).

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3.3.1

Offsetissue

Thecommandmustspecifyatimeinthefuture(expressedinatimecode)whentostarttherecording.When
thetimesintheMVNsystemsaresynchronizedtoanexternaltimecode,therecordingscanthenstartatthe
sametime.However,therewillbesomeoffsetasisdiscussedinthenextparagraph.
Afterhavingreceivedthestarttime(expressedasatimecode)intheremotecommand,thefirstkeyframein
therecordingistheoneforwhichthetimestampislargerthanthereceivedstarttime,assuminga
synchronizedMVNsystemofcourse.TheMVNstarttimethatisstoredintheMVNfilewillbethetimestamp
ofthatframe.So,worstcasetheMVNstarttimeis1sample(e.g.8.33msfor120Hzsamplerate)largerthan
thespecifiedstarttime.
AlsothismeansthatfortwoMVNsystemstheworstcaseoffsetbetweenkeyframeswiththesameindexis1
frameatthestartoftherecording.Ofcoursethisisaknownoffsetsinceitfollowsfromthevaluesstoredin
theMVNfile.
Theaboveisillustratedinpicturebelow.
Specifiedstarttime

Keyframenumber

MVN[1]starttime

MVN[2]starttime

PossibleoffsetbetweentwoMVNsystems.

Forlongertakes,twoMVNsystemsonlystaysynchronizedwhenthesynchronizationalgorithmisworking
properly.ThisisbecausetheclocksoftheMVNXbusMastersforbothMVNsystemsarenotrunningatexactly
thesamepace:theclocksarespecifiedtohaveanaccuracyof30ppm.Theresultwillbe,thatforlongertakes
(fewminutes),theclockswilldriftapartandsowilltheoffsetbetweentwoframeswiththesameindex.

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3.4

UDPcommandsspecification

TheUDPcommandsusecasesensitiveXMLliketextstringcontainingkeyvaluepairs.Thecommandsare
typicallybroadcast(e.g.destinationIPaddress<netmask>.255)overthenetworksoallrecordingdevicesare
triggeredsimultaneously,orbesenttoaspecificIPaddress.
Thecommandsaredefinedintablebelow:
Message

Attributes/Tags

Format

Description

IdentifyReq

RequesttoMVNStudiotoidentifyitself.

IdentifyAck

ResponseofMVNStudiototheIdentifyReq
IpAddress

Address

ddd.ddd.ddd.ddd

TheIP addressoftheUDPRemotecontrolplugin

InstanceName

String

Theinstancenameasenteredinthepreferences.

VALUE

IP or MAC address

TheaddressoftheUDPRemotecontrolpluginhostmachine.
Usuallymorethanoneaddressisreturned,thecallershould
determinewhichaddressisrelevant.

StartMeasuringReq

Requesttostartmeasuring.(wakeupfromlowpowermode)

StartMeasuringAck

ResponsetotheStartMeasuringReq
Result

Boolean

TRUEiftherequestwassuccessful

StopMeasuringReq

Indicationtostopthemeasurement(i.e.switchtolowpower
mode).

StopMeasuringAck

AcknowledgmentofreceivingtheStopMeasuringReq.
Result

Boolean

SessionName

Path

Usethesuppliedsessionname.Thisisarequiredattribute

StartTime

hh mm ss

TheStartTimeisexpressedasatimecode(hoursminutes
seconds).Iftheattributeisnotsupplied,animmediatestartis
triggered.Anyextravaluesafterthessfieldareignored.Note
thatatimethatismorethan4hoursinthepastisconsidered
tobeinthefuture.

Description

String

Descriptionoftherecording

Result

Boolean

TRUEiftherequestwassuccessful

StartRecordingReq

Requesttostarttherecording.

StartRecordingAck

ResponsetotheStartRecordingReq.
TRUEiftherequestwassuccessful

StopRecordingReq

Requesttostoptherecording.
StopTime

hh mm ss

TheStopTimeisexpressedasatimecode(hoursminutes
secondsframe).Iftheattributeisnotsupplied,animmediate
stopistriggered.Anyextravaluesafterthessfieldare
ignored.Notethatatimethatismorethan4hoursinthe
pastisconsideredtobeinthefuture.

StopRecordingAck

AcknowledgmentofreceivingtheStopRecordingInd.
Result

Boolean

TRUEiftherequestwassuccessful

Note:
Allfieldsareplacedbetweendoublequotes.
TheBooleanformattakesthevalues"TRUE"and"FALSE".
ThePathformatusesforwardslashes.

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Thefollowinggivesanexampleofthecommandthatstartsarecording:
<StartRecordingReq SessionName="C:/Xsens/MVN/session_01" StartTime="13 46 13 25" />
<IdentifyAck InstanceName=MVN Studio A>
<Address VALUE=192.168.3.4 />
<Address VALUE=CA:56:3D:23:45:67:67 />
</IdentifyAck>

3.5

LANsetup

TosecurethattheUDPcommandsisonlysenttotheMVNworkstations,itispreferabletoconfiguretheIP
addressesoftheMVNworkstations:
IPaddresswithonlytheLSB,e.g.192.168.2.<index>

Subnetmask:255.255.255.0

ConfiguretheIPaddressoftheMVNworkstation.

WhentheUDPcommandissenttoIPaddress192.168.2.255,onlytheMVNworkstationswillreceiveit.

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4 MVNStudioandoutput
4.1

MVNStudiotimecodedtimestamp

TobeabletoshowthetimecodesinMVNStudio,anoptionShowtimecodeforframeswillbeaddedinthe
InterfacetabofthePreferencesdialog.

SelectingtheTimeCodeoptionwillshowthetimecodeforthekeyframeinsteadofthestandardtimestamp.
Notethatthiscanonlybedoneduringprerecordingandplayback.DuringrecordingMVNStudiodisplaysthe
durationoftherecording.
TheMVNStudiotimecodeiscalculatedfromthetimestamps.Thismeansthatitcanoccasionallyhappenthat
therearemoreorlessthan120framesinatimecodesecondand/orthattherearedoubleframenumbers.
Also,afterlongtakes(e.g.>1hour)itcanoccurthatthetotalnumberofcapturedkeyframesdiffersbetween
theMVNSystemsasnotallclocksoftheMVNXbusMastersareexactlythesame(accuracyisaround30
ppm).

4.2

TimecodeinMVNXfileformat

TheMVNX(MVNOpenXMLformat)filestoresthestartoftherecordingintherecDatafieldofthemvnxInfo
tag.Withrespecttothetimestampthefollowingfieldsarestored:
<F>tag
Thecurrent<F>taghasanattributet=...whichindicatesthetimestampfortheframe,theformatting
dependsonanewtimeFormatfieldinthe<mvnxInfo>tagasdescribedinthefollowing.
<mvnxInfo>tag
The<mvnxInfo>tagwillgetanewtimeFormatattribute,whichspecifiestheformatofthetimefieldinFtags
asfollows:
timeFormat=msmakesthetimeYYYYMMDDHH:MM:SS.mmm,wheremmmisinms

timeFormat=timecodemakesthetimeHHMMSSFrame.FrameisthenumberofMVNframessince
thesecond,startingat0.

TospecifythetimeFormat,inMVNStudioanoptionTimecodeisavailableontotheMVNXtabinthe
Preferencesdialog.Whenchecked,MVNStudiowritesthetimecodeinMVNXfile.Bydefaulttheoptionis
checked.MoreinformationontheMVNXfileformatcanbefoundintheMVNStudioUserManualunder
MVNXfiledescription.

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4.3

TimecodeinFBXfileformat

TostorethepropertimecodeinanFBXfile,theFBXexporterpluginmustbesettoDynamictime
increments.Startatrealstarttime(seepicture).

4.4

[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

References
http://www.alpermannvelte.com/proj_e/tc_intro/tcintro.html
http://www.alpermannvelte.com/prod_e/etci70/etci70.html
http://www.alpermannvelte.com/prod_e/epcl/epci_d.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Group_Management_Protocol

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