Introduction

As part of your SimCapture Cloud purchase and outlined in your services agreement a project manager will contact you to begin planning your installation. This will include reviewing all installation requirements, networking requirements, and a site readiness survey before installation begins.  

Our SimCapture Cloud AV products include cameras, microphones, and audio modules and may include speakers, amplifiers, and digital signal processors for use in recording and paging (when control station packages are purchased). Most of these devices use PoE and PoE+ (802.11af & 801.11at) and the client providing the network is responsible for providing switches capable of providing PoE+ and enough wattage to support all devices. 

To allow for a stable connection from the Customer’s network to the SimCapture Cloud servers, a minimum of a one Gigabyte (1GB) uplink is strongly recommended.

For basic SimCapture Cloud communication, outgoing internet access must be allowed from the Capture Nodes (the recording device) internal network to *.simcapture.com (443 TCP, 5000-5100 TCP/UDP) and *.amazonaws.com (443 TCP). More detailed information is found below.  

Note: You may need to reference purchased equipment to understand specific network requirements. Please consult with your project manager or support.

Networking

If the advanced audio package with the control station or headphone package is purchased, you are expected to provision 2 VLANs: a primary VLAN referred to as SIMULATION CENTER VLAN and an audio only VLAN referred to as the Dante VLAN. 

If you did not purchase an Advanced Package (ADV) with the control or headphone package, then only the SIMULATION CENTER-VLAN requirements are needed and the inter-VLAN SIMULATION CENTER/Dante routing section is N/A for your site. Your site only needs 1 VLAN.

Simulation Center VLAN

General Bandwidth Requirements

Upload

When a simulation starts recording, every configured video feed (~1500 kb/s), is uploaded to the cloud service and to any number of Live streaming viewers external of the Simulation VLAN per recording node: 

Download

Any previously recorded simulation debriefs will be downloaded from the cloud service. A stable connection to the cloud services is strongly recommended for seamless playback. 

Inter-VLAN Outgoing Internet Connections

SimCapture Cloud services are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) – any devices interacting with SimCapture will need to be able to communicate with those services over HTTP (443/TCP). Additionally, live viewing of video requires webRTC (5000-5100/UDP/TCP). Whitelisting by FQDN/IP address is not recommended as these may change within the AWS infrastructure.

All connections from SimCapture Cloud are outgoing and never require incoming internet access. 

Improving Live Video Connections

On particularly complex networks with very severe restrictions. On particularly complex networks with very severe restrictions ephemeral TURN relay ports between 49152 and 65535 UDP may be required to view live video.. These are necessary only when a live viewer is not able to make a peer-to-peer connection directly with a CaptureNode. Relay connections are higher latency and lower quality, so IT teams should attempt to update their network configuration to facilitate this peer-to-peer connection. If this is not possible, the ephemeral relay ports are required to view live video.

Peer-to-peer video sessions can be established via multiple pathways (a core feature of WebRTC):

"Host" Connection

A "host" connection is a simple direct peer-to-peer connection via the devices local IP address. The following changes may help facilitate this type of connection:

• Put CaptureNode and monitoring station on same VLAN/subnet
• Enable Multicast on the network (WebRTC uses mDNS for enhanced privacy)
• Open the ephemeral ports (49152-65535) inbound on the CaptureNode
• Ensure the CaptureNode is directly reachable by IP address from the monitoring station

"Reflexive" Connection

A "reflexive" connection is a peer-to-peer connection established by way of hole punching when the other peer is not directly accessible by IP. It requires access to a STUN and/or TURN server to begin the hole punching process. The following changes may help facilitate this type of connection:

• Ensure there is no Symmetric NAT between the CaptureNode and monitoring station
• Open port 3478 inbound on the CaptureNode for access to the onboard STUN server
• Open ports 5000-5100 outbound on the CaptureNode and monitoring station for access to the TURN server

If the above changes still do not resolve live video issues, open the ephemeral ports (49152-65535) outbound to the TURN server to guarantee relay connections can be established.

WebRTC Turn Server Outgoing Port Information

Internal Simulation Center VLAN

The Simulation Center VLAN connects all cameras, audio modules, and capture nodes. This VLAN is used to transmit the video and data streams from the cameras and audio modules to the capture nodes for recording. The capture nodes process, encode, and transmit the data for live viewing and storage.

SimCapture Connected Equipment on Simulation Center VLAN

Client Furnished Equipment on SIMULATION CENTER VLAN

Dante VLAN (Turnkey Only)

The Dante VLAN (D-VLAN) connects all Digital Signal Processors (DSP) and Dante audio amplifiers for real-time audio transmission over ethernet without the need to run extra audio cabling. This is used for in-room and hallway paging. 

The workflow starts at the control station microphones: > DSP > in-room Dante amplifiers > speaker. The DSP takes the analog microphone signal, processes it, and transmits it over UDP to the amplifiers, which then send the amplified analog signal to the speakers.  

This setup can also be used to transmit a copy of the audio (from the room microphones) to the control station headphones to provide low-latency monitoring audio.    

*The Dante VLAN is only required when SIMULATION CENTER control room(s), headphone station package(s) or Hallway Paging package(s) are purchased.*

Inter-VLAN Routing (SIMULATION VLAN and Dante VLAN)

AV Devices on Dante VLAN

Dante VLAN Switch Requirements

Remote Support Access

Remote support access, such as VPN access, Go2Assist, RemotePC, or another remote access option is required and must be provided to both networks for remote SimCapture and AV support. Without access, support may be delayed or unavailable.

*The VPN connection must provide an IP address within the same subnet as the Dante VLAN - if applicable*

Sample Network Diagrams

SimCapture Cloud with ADV+STD AV & Software Paging  North-Latin-South America	SimCapture Cloud ADV AV+STD AV & Hardware Paging North-Latin-South America

Typical Network Drop and Power Requirements

The following are typical network and power requirements for each package. Your exact number of connections may vary based on the products purchased. 

• All Ethernet connection types are assumed to be 1000 BaseT Gigabit Ethernet.
• Some PCs outline below are Customer Furnished Equipment (CFE).
• Some sections are not applicable (N/A) for each device.

Standard AV Package

Advanced AV Package

Control Room

Additional Fixed Camera

Additional PTZ Camera

Hallway Paging

Headphone Station Package

Pillow Speaker Package

Voice Changer Package

Confederate Microphone Package