Live Audio is an additional feature.
Please have your agency administrator contact our sales team at IaR-sales@rapidsos.com for details on the cost of adding it to your existing IaR subscription.
Please include the following in your email:
- Full Name
- Agency Name
- State/Province
This document describes the steps needed to begin using IamResponding’s new live audio feature. These steps include:
- Creating a new live audio channel using the IamResponding Administrative Functions page
- Generate an API key that will be used by the streaming audio client software
- Installing the IamResponding streaming audio client software on a PC that is connected to a radio or scanner
- Configuring the streaming software
- Using the IamResponding mobile app to listen to Live Audio
1 - Create A Live Audio Channel
Step 1In the IamResponding Administrative Functions page, navigate to the Live Audio=> Live Audio Channels page. |
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Step 2Click “Add New” to add a new Live Audio channel. |
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Step 3Fill in the required fields and then click “Save Changes”.
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2 - Generate a Live Audio API key
Step 1In the IamResponding Administrative Functions page, navigate to the Live Audio=> API Key Management page. |
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Step 2Click the Add New button to create an API key |
Step 3Enter a description for the API key and then click the Generate API Key button. Each instance of the IaR-Stream software should use a different API key. Use this description to differentiate them. For example "Fire Station" or "Dispatch Center". In most cases only one API key will be needed. |
Step 4Copy the API key to a safe location. The API key will need to be entered into the IaR-Stream software. This is the only time that the API key will be visible. If you lose the API key after this screen, you will need to generate a new one. |
3 - Installing the IaR-Stream Client Software
The steps below show how to install the IaR-Stream software on a Windows computer. For advanced users who prefer to use a Raspberry Pi single board computer, an SD card image with IaR-Stream pre-installed can be found here and a binary executable built for 64 bit Rasbian OS can be found here.
Step 1Download the IaR-Stream software ZIP file: |
Step 2Use the “Extract all” function to extract the contents of the ZIP file into a folder. |
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Step 3In the unzipped/extract folder, locate IaR-Stream.exe and double click on it to start the application. |
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Step 4If you are prompted to give IaR-Stream network access, click “Allow”. |
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Step 5The IaR-Stream application should now be running. You can now open its configuration window in a browser by clicking on the IaR-Stream icon in the system tray. |
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Step 8The configuration GUI should now open, or you can access by clicking on the system tray icon again. |
4 - IaR-Stream configuration
After clicking the IaR icon in the system try to open the configuration screen, paste your Live Audio API key into the Global Settings area and click “Save Settings”. The program will then retrieve the list of Live Audio channels associated with that API key.
To add a new Live Audio channel for IaR-Stream to send audio to, click the “Add Channel” button:
The IaR-Stream application can ingest audio in several ways.
- Radio or scanner audio output connected to a computer sound card input (typical)
- Audio over IP from Mindshare console/gateway networks (advanced)
- Audio over UDP from trunk-recorder software (advanced)
The sections below show how to configure the software for each of these options.
Using Sound Card Audio
Audio Connection
IaR-Stream receives audio from a radio or scanner that is connected to a sound card of the PC that it is running on. The radio or scanner’s line level audio output should be connected to the microphone input of the sound card.
Tips:
- If audio from a fire station radio is being used, a constant-level audio output from the radio’s accessory connector should be used. The audio level should not change when the volume control is moved.
- For analog radio systems, de-emphasized audio should be used instead of “flat” audio, if possible.
- If noise or hum is present in the audio, a ground loop isolation transformer may help remove these artifacts
USB Data Connection (Optional - supported scanners only)
If a supported Uniden Scanner (SDS100/200 or others that use the same USB data protocol) is used, an optional USB data connection between the scanner and the PC can be added in addition to the audio connection. IaR-Stream can use this USB data feed to add metadata to the streaming audio feed:
- Unit ID (on P25 radio systems)
- Channel name (if the scanner is set to “Scan” mode and not held on a single channel)
When a USB data connection is used, it is highly recommended to use a ground loop isolation transformer in the audio line (see above) to prevent hum and noise in the audio.
IaR-Stream Configuration
General Channel Settings
IaR Streaming Channel: Select the streaming channel that you want to send audio to from the dropdown. The channels available here will match the channels that you have added in the IamResponding Administrative Functions screen.
Audio Input Device: Select the sound card input that is connected to the radio or scanner from the dropdown menu.
Source ID: Specify the text that will be displayed in the IaR mobile app when audio is being received. For example: “Station 2 desk radio”.
Send to IaR Mode: If only an audio connection is being used between the radio/scanner and the PC, select “VOX”. If using a supported Uniden scanner with a USB data connection, select “Uniden”.
VOX Settings
TX Audio Level below VOX Audio Squelch Level - no audio will be sent
TX Audio Level above VOX Audio Squelch Level - audio will be sent
VOX Silence Time: The number of seconds of silence in the input audio that the program will wait for before ending a transmission on the streaming channel.
VOX Audio Squelch Level: Adjust this slider so that the “TX Audio Level” from the attached radio or scanner (as indicated by the audio level bar display above the slider) is below the slider point when there is no radio traffic present and above the slider point when there is radio traffic present. IaR-Stream will begin sending audio to the streaming channel when the audio exceeds this level and will continue to stream audio until the audio level falls back below this level for the “VOX Silence Time”.
Uniden Settings
Port: The serial/COM port that the Uniden scanner USB connection is using. Setting to AUTO will query every available port until a Uniden scanner is found.
Baud Rate: Baud rate of the data connection with the scanner.
Send Department Name: When selected, the “Department Name” from the Uniden scanner will be sent as metadata when transmitting audio. Note that the value sent is dependent on the programming of the scanner. Usually this is not needed.
Send Channel Name: When selected, the “Channel Name” from the Uniden scanner will be sent as metadata when transmitting audio. Note that the value sent is dependent on the programming of the scanner. Usually only needed if the scanner is in “Scan” mode monitoring multiple radio channels.
Send UID: When selected, the Unit ID from the Uniden scanner will be sent as metadata when transmitting audio. Usually only helpful on P25 radio systems where Unit ID is present in the radio transmissions that are sent over the air. Note: The Uniden SDS100/200 do not support older analog PTTID protocols like MDC1200.
Mindshare UDP Audio
Note: IamResponding does not provide support for Mindshare equipment or its configuration. The steps below show how to configure the IaR-Stream software with an existing Mindshare network. Information from that network’s administrator will be needed to complete these steps.
Network Configuration
In most cases the Mindshare UDP network is not connected directly to the public-facing internet. To send audio from an internal Mindshare network to IamResponding, the computer that is running the IaR-Stream software will need two network interfaces (network cards) - one that connects to the Mindshare network and one that connects to the internet.
IaR-Stream Configuration
To add a new Live Audio channel for IaR-Stream to send audio to, click the “Add Channel” button.
Channel Settings
IaR Streaming Channel: Select the streaming channel that you want to send audio to from the dropdown. The channels available here will match the channels that you have added in the IamResponding Administrative Functions screen.
Audio Input Device: Select ‘Mindshare RTP via UDP’
Default Source ID: Specify the default that will be displayed in the IaR mobile app when audio is being received when no unit ID is available from the over-the-air data. For example: “Station 2 desk radio”.
Radio Channels to Stream to This Live Audio Channel
Use the “Add Radio Channel” button to select which radio channel(s) should be sent to this Live Audio channel.
Multiple radio channels can be fed to a single Live Audio channel in a “scanning” mode, if desired. When multiple radio channels are sent to a single Live Audio channel, a scan mode of “scan” or “priority scan” may be selected.
Each radio channel requires the following parameters:
Channel Name: A human-readable name for the channel that will be displayed in the IamResponding app when audio from this channel is being transmitted.
Radio Port: The UDP port where audio from the radio connected to the Mindshare network for this radio channel is available.
Console Port: The UDP port where audio from the consoled connected to the Mindshare network for this radio channel is available.
Multicast Group: Optional UDP multicast group to join for this channel. If left blank, UDP traffic must be sent to the IP address of the machine running IaR-Stream.
Bind Address: Optional address to bind the UDP socket to. Allows selection of a specific network interface to use.
Scan Mode: Only available when sending more than one radio channel to a single Live Audio channel. When “scan” is selected, if traffic is present on more than one radio channel at the same time, whichever channel was active first will be streamed. When “priority scan” is selected, radio channels that are higher on the list will preempt traffic from channels lower on the list.
trunk-recorder UDP Audio
trunk-recorder is an open source software program that runs on Linux and interfaces with software defined radio (SDR) receivers to monitor analog and P25 trunked and conventional radio systems. It can be used along with IaR-Stream to feed multiple P25 talkgroups to one or more Live Audio channels with a single low-cost receiver.
Note: IamResponding does not provide support for trunk-recorder or its configuration. The steps below show how to configure the IaR-Stream software with an existing trunk-recorder installation. Deploying trunk-recorder is considered an advanced topic that requires some knowledge of both Linux and radio systems. trunk-recorder is preinstalled to run as a service (trunk-recorder.service) on the IamResponding Raspberry Pi image.
trunk-recorder configuration file
The simplestream plugin of trunk-recorder is used to send audio to IaR-Stream. The plugin should be configured to send all talkgroups to IaR-Stream by setting the parameters in the trunk-recorder config.json file as shown below. More details on the trunk-recoder configuration file and the simplestream plugin can be found here.
"plugins": [
{
"name": "simplestream",
"library": "libsimplestream.so",
"streams": [
{
"TGID": 0,
"address": "127.0.0.1",
"port": 9124,
"sendJSON": true,
"sendCallStart": true,
"sendCallEnd": true,
"shortName": "TrunkedSystem"
}
]
}
]
TGID - Setting this to 0 will send audio from all talkgroups to IaR-Stream. This is necessary if more than one talkgroup will be used for Live Audio channels sent by IaR-Stream. If only a single talkgroup will by used by IaR-Stream, the decimal value of that talkgroup may be specified here instead of 0 to reduce processing load.
address - In most cases trunk-recorder and IaR-Stream will be running on the same computer, in which case ‘127.0.0.01’ or ‘localhost’ should be used here. If IaR-Stream is running on a different computer than trunk-recorder, specify the IP address of the IaR-Stream computer here.
port - This should match the UDP port specified in the IaR-Stream configuration GUI
sendJSON, sendCallStart, sendCallEnd - must all be set to true
shortName - must be set to match the shortName of the system from the larger trunk-recorder configuration file
IaR-Stream Configuration
To add a new Live Audio channel for IaR-Stream to send audio to, click the “Add Channel” button.
IaR Streaming Channel: Select the streaming channel that you want to send audio to from the dropdown. The channels available here will match the channels that you have added in the IamResponding Administrative Functions screen.
Audio Input Device: Select ‘trunk-recorder simplestream via UDP’
UDP Port: Specify the UDP port that will be used to receive data from trunk-recorder. This must match the port specified in the simplestream plugin configuration in trunk-recorder’s config.json file.
Talkgroups to Stream to This Live Audio Channel
Use the “Add Talkgroup” button to select which talkgroup(s) should be sent to this Live Audio channel.
Multiple talkgroups can be fed to a single Live Audio channel in a “scanning” mode, if desired. When multiple radio channels are sent to a single Live Audio channel, a scan mode of “scan” or “priority scan” may be selected.
Scan Mode: Only available when sending more than one radio channel to a single Live Audio channel. When “scan” is selected, if traffic is present on more than one radio channel at the same time, whichever channel was active first will be streamed. When “priority scan” is selected, radio channels that are higher on the list will preempt traffic from channels lower on the list.
Default Source ID: Specify the default that will be displayed in the IaR mobile app when audio is being received when no unit ID is available from the over-the-air data. For example: “Station 2 desk radio”.
5 - Listening to Live Audio in the IamResponding Mobile App
Important: Before a user can access Live Audio channels, they must subscribe to those channels in their IamResponding member profile. This setting is currently only accessible via the IamResponding website, not via the mobile apps.
Live Audio channels can be accessed from the IamResponding app’s main menu or via the Live Audio “waveform” shortcut button from other screens. Once a Live Audio channel is connected, it will continue to remain connected and play in the background even if the IamResponding app is closed.