Can COTS Ethernet Switches Handle Uncompressed Video

The carriage of realtime video over Ethernet networks promises significant benefits to the broadcast industry. But there has been some concern about whether commercial-off-the-shelf Ethernet switches can meet broadcast quality of service requirements. This paper describes the results of a range of static and dynamic tests of Ethernet switches using packet flows that are representative of uncompressed high-definition video encapsulated in SMPTE 2022-6, looking specifically at packet loss, packet reordering, latency, and packet delay variation. Flow test generators and analyzers include a new flexible field-programmable gate array architecture, controlled using a RESTful application programming interface.