BMA 360D ceiling tile mic overview

Connecting your BMA 360D to your Dante network

The Biamp BMA 360D has a single RJ-45 interface that will connect to your network, this interface has two distinct MAC addresses and two IP address.

• The first listed MAC is for the Dante interface.
• The second MAC is for Device discovery, configuration, and control.

The Biamp BMA 360D microphone can connect to a number of options depending on your application.  Some options are:

• Connecting your Biamp BMA 360D to a Dante capable network switch.
• Connect your Biamp BMA 360D to TesiraCONNECT TC-5D to then feed it into an AVB-based Tesira DSP system.
• One of the Media ports on Forte X DSP.  Consider the Port Mode of your Forte X to determine which port used.

For more information about Dante networking please see our Dante tech note

Deciding PoE requirements

The Biamp BMA 360D requires Power over Ethernet (Poe) to function.  How much PoE the mic requires is based on your application, you have two options.

For more information on PoE see Biamp's tech note n the subject: Power over Ethernet (PoE)

Network ports and protocols

Here are the list of protocols that the BMA Config software uses for the BMA360D microphones:

• UDP and TCP packet data on port 3602
• mDNS (Bonjour)
• UDP data sent by broadcast and directed IP
• FTP file transference to and from devices
• FTP web server access for firmware/software updates

The following network ports are required:

• 21 - FTP
• TCP 4912 - Communication
• UDP 3602 - Discovery

Discovering and connecting to a BMA 360D

The BMA 360D microphone by default is set to DHCP, and will resolve to a link-local subnet in the absence of a DHCP server.  This is a Class B subnet and starts with 169.254.  Connect your computer to the same network as your BMA 360D mic array and make sure your network interface is on the same subnet. 

If you do not know the IP address of the mic array consult any available network documentation and, if needed, factory reset the device.  The factory reset will wipe any custom project off the array

Once you open the software the software should discover any microphone on the same subnet as your PC.  they will show up in the "Discovered Devices" window. If you have multiple NICs on your PC the BMA Config software will use all of them.

You can manually discover a BMA 360D by adding the IP address of a known Mic array using the "Add..." button. Once discovered the BMA will be present as a selectable device.

• Click the light bulb on the right side of the icon to engage a locate mode.  this will make the LEDs on the device flash
• Double-click on the Microphone to connect to the microphone which will open the "Channel Properties" window.  While connecting you shall see a progress meter on your screen

Setting speakers and LED behavior

From the channel properties window, select the microphone icon and you will see where you can select whether the outputs are bridged and your preferred LED color and brightness.

Which will take you to this screen.

Changes in LED settings take effect immediately.

Selecting from presets

The BMA Console application comes with several preselect-able shapes and sizes for applications.  This provides an easy starting point to your designs. see below for you list of options.

Also of note is that within presets you can move beams and direct them. These are starting points.

Size estimates are based on a 10ft ceiling

Adding/removing beams

Even if building from a Preset so long as there is not 12 in use, or if you need to disable a beam you can using the Console software. You can also remove beams as well.  Within the Channel Properties window you will find the buttons on the left side of the screen.

Directing your beams.

Within the BMA Console interface you can drag and move a Beam as needed.  As you move beams in the software take note that the LEDs of the mic are at the top of the mic array in the software so you can orient yourself

Beams can be moved around the virtual space, and a mouse scroll wheel can zoom in or out. There is an icon in the lower left corner to reset the beams back to the last recalled preset

Saving your layout

Backups are always a good idea within the Channel properties window of the BMA Console application there is a save Icon.  You can save a layout in case you must recall it at a later date or restore a previous setting.

Project files by default are saved to C:\Users\*YourUsername*\Documents\Biamp\BMA Config

Then in the future if you need to reload your saved project this can be done under the "Admin" window in the BMA Console software

Once the project is selected to load a progress bar is seen followed by a confirmation window

Dante controller Device discovery

Routing your Audio to the DSP and back in your system is done via Dante Controller from Audinate.  Just like the control IP address used for configuration of your BMA 360D the Dante IP address defaults to a DHCP address.  If you are already looking at the mic in the BMA console application you can also check your Dante IP address while connected to the mic in the "Admin" section:

Routing Audio in Dante Controller

Once you know that IP address then you know what subnet to be on to discover it in Dante controller.

From there enable the cross points to direct your audio channels from a transmitter, such as the BMA 360D mic array to a receiver, such as a Tesira DSP. 

Take note that for the microphone beams the BMA360D is a Transmitter and the DSP is the receiver, but for the speakers the DSP is the transmitter and the BMA360D is the receiver.

Note that regardless of how many beams you are using in your application all 12 beams plus the SmartMix are visible in Dante Controller.  

Changing settings for the BMA 360D in Dante controller

In order to change names and settings for Dante side of the BMA 360 double click on the device in the device list.

Under the device view in Dante Controller you can edit settings such as:

• Beam names - these settings are preserved in a power cycle and visible in Dante controller
• Dante IP address - You can set the Dante IP address statically and the change will be reflected in the BMA Config console
• Device name - this will be preserved for a power cycle but it will require re-establishing crosspoints
• Latency and Encoding settings - these settings very rarely need to be edited from their default values

Per Beam vs SmartMix

A Tesira DSP is capable of taking in the SmartMix from the BMA 360D or an unprocessed beam block

In both cases use a Dante I/O block. once you place a Dante I/O block in your file Tesira software (Post 4.10) it will ask if Dante should be made clock leader instead of AVB.  Generally this is a good practice if you need to make this change manually go to "System" then select "Media Clock setup"

From there you process the signal on your file or in the BMA Console.  If you are using the SmartMix you can access filter settings in the BMA console and send a processed signal to the DSP.  for the Raw per beam Dante flows then Biamp recommends that the processing be done in the DSP.  In all applications Biamp recommends that AEC be done in the DSP.

Loudspeaker output

To utilize the BMA360 amplifier then simply place a Dante Output block in your file.  One channel on the Output block per channel used on the BMA360D

LED control and Command strings

For controlling the LED of the BMA 360D from Tesira we will make use of the network command string block. you can test these commands using a terminal program such as putty.

Here are the key settings you will need to set under DSP properties for the block

• Protocol: TCP
• Server Address: This will be the CONTROL IP of the BMA mic, this is the same IP you use to configure it in BMA Console
• Remote port 3603

Some sample commands have been provided as well for quick reference.

In some instances you may need to add a line feed and/or carriage return to the end of your command.  If needed add ~0d~0a to any sent command.