Dissertation in Digital Audio Networking...any ideas?

[_Brutalism_]

Hey guys, I'm in my final year of studies in computer networks, aiming to graduate with a Bachelors in Networking; I am at the point of drafting some ideas for a solid thesis and thought that I would explore the subject of Digital Audio Networking, hopefully studying some concepts and building a hypothesis on something interesting. I was thinking along the lines of studying network topology, latency (between consoles, for example), packetization, data compression and the protocols used for transmission.
However, I am still uncertain on what route to take.

Do you guys have any suggestions on an interesting topic worth researching in this field? Are there any particular problems which present grounds on which to build an interesting hypothesis?

I'd really appreciate any feedback!

Thanks in advance

 

[Sloan]

There are a few different network protocols, maybe you could discuss the differences between them?

 

[_Brutalism_]

Yes, that would be interesting. However, since anyone can google information on networking protocols and know the difference, I have to provide a scenario in which these protocols present something to be studied - ideally in the digital audio realm. I was thinking along the lines of how TCP or UDP will affect audio quality in different scenarios in the digital audio domain; however I think the answer is way to simple and won't hold much merit.

 

[Schlumpfkralle]

Could this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_over_Ethernet) be of interest? Perhaps compare them and choose one for a a case study.

 

[Yhanthlei]

I think something along the lines of parallel processing for audio plugins could be interesting.
Something like MPI in scientific computing, but distributing audio chunks around to different nodes to be processed with different plugins.
I think Reaper tries to do something like this, but a solid examination of the possibilities might be something for a thesis!

 

[_Brutalism_]

Wow, thanks guys These look like promising subjects. I'll look into them further to find something I'm somewhat familiar with and can manage.

If anyone has any more ideas, please feel free to contribute

 

[arvoitus]

Haha, i'm in my final year of my education as well for Network Design and i've been thinking the same about doing something with Networking and Audio.

But the downside is ... i'm used to configuring large "complicated" Cisco setups. And when it comes to Audio Networking some companies (like Riedel) have their own switching hardware (not based on Ethernet at all), and some use standard switches.

Anyway, i think there is (hardware-wise) nothing interesting/challenging for me. Which is a bummer, cause i would have loved to combine IT Networking and Audio together.