ANSI E1.

31-2018 sACN Packet Structure

Key The Flags and Length field appears frequently throughout
the packet structure, the field contains 2 parts. The flags
Grey boxes and arrows are added explanation
which are the upper 4 bits and for sACN is always 0x7.
Bold numbers show the next octet index (start at 0) The length is the bottom 12 bits and is the length of the
Colours within the diagram refer to specific explanation in the same colour. rest of the packet in bytes including the flags and length
field.
General Packet Structures (Not to Scale)
Data Packet ACN Packet Root Layer Data Packet Framing Layer Data Packet DMP Layer

Synchronisation Packet ACN Packet Root Layer Synchronisation Packet Framing Layer

Discovery Packet ACN Packet Root Layer Discovery Packet Framing Layer Universe Discovery Packet Discovery Layer

ACN Packet Root Layer

16 bytes (all packets to scale unless otherwise noted)

Octet 2 bytes 2 bytes 12 bytes 16

0 Preamble Size Post-amble Size ACN Packet Identifier, Has a fixed static value of 0x41 0x53 0x43 0x2d 0x45 0x31 0x2e 0x31 0x37 0x00 0x00 0x00

Shows the packet is part

The preamble is the size of the packet upto the end of the ACN packet identifier
of ACN (ANSI E1.17)
and so is always 16 bytes. The post-amble size is always 0x00. Base ACN
Packet Header
2 bytes 4 bytes 10 bytes, 16 bytes total 32
Shared By All
16 Flags and Length ACN Root Vector Sender CID
ACN Packets
Identifies the type of packet, for sACN it is The sender CID is a unique identifier for the sender, the protocol
either a data packet or an 'extended' packet provides no mechanism to guarantee this is unique however.
(synchronisation or discovery)

6 bytes, 16 bytes total 38

32 ... Sender CID (cont)

Reserved space which is ignored by receivers The sequence number field

Synchronisation Packet Framing Layer and transmitted as 0's by senders. (described in more detail in report body)
ANSI E1.31
Octet 2 bytes 4 bytes 1 byte 2 bytes 2 bytes 49 Framing Layer
End of Syncronisation for a
38 Flags and Length Framing Layer Vector Seq No Synchronisation Addr Reserved
Packet Synchronisation
The sychronisation address that this Packet
Identifies this framing layer as the framing layer for a
synchronization packet by containing the constant value synchronisation packet is triggering
of VECTOR_E131_EXTENDED_SYNCHRONIZATION

Discovery Packet Framing Layer

Octet 2 bytes 4 bytes 10 bytes, 64 bytes total 54
38 Flags and Length Framing Layer Vector Source Name

Identifies this framing layer as the framing layer for a The human-readable source name of the sender which transmitted
discovery packet by containing the constant value of the discovery packet. Encoded as a UTF-8 string that must be
VECTOR_E131_EXTENDED_DISCOVERY null terminated.
ANSI E1.31
16 bytes, 64 bytes total 70 Framing Layer
54 ... Source Name (cont.)
for a Universe
Discovery
16 bytes, 64 bytes total 86 Packet
70 ... Source Name (cont.)

16 bytes, 64 bytes total 102

86 ... Source Name (cont.)

6 bytes, 64 bytes total 4 bytes 112

102 ... Source Name (cont.) Reserved

Universe Discovery Packet Discovery Layer

ANSI E1.31
Universe
Octet 2 bytes 4 bytes 1 byte 1 byte Variable between 0 and 1024 bytes Inclusive Max 1144
Discovery
112 Flags and Length Discovery Layer Vector Page L-Page List of universes. NOT TO SCALE
Packet
End of Discovery Discovery
Identifies this universe discovery packet discovery layer Packet Layer
as containing a universe discovery universe list.

Page: The page number of this discovery packet. The list of universes within this discovery packet. Each universe is expressed
L-Page: The last page expected as part of this universe discovery list. as a Network Byte Order (Big Endian) unsigned 16-bit value. The universe list
must be numerically ordered. It doesn't specify within ANSI E1.31-2018 the
This is used as part of the universe discovery fragmentation mechanism ordering required so assumed to be ascending order.
to split universe discovery lists over multiple packets as described in more
detail in the report. The last page field indicates the number of the last page
expected as part of the fragmented universe discovery list.

Data Packet Framing Layer

Octet 2 bytes 4 bytes 10 bytes, 64 bytes total 54
38 Flags and Length Framing Layer Vector Source Name

Identifies this framing layer as an E1.31 data packet The human-readable source name of the sender which transmitted
framing layer by containing the constant value the data packet. Encoded as a UTF-8 string that must be
VECTOR_E131_DATA_PACKET null terminated.

16 bytes, 64 bytes total 70 ANSI E1.31

Framing Layer
54 ... Source Name (cont.)
for a data packet
16 bytes, 64 bytes total 86
70 ... Source Name (cont.)

16 bytes, 64 bytes total 102

86 ... Source Name (cont.)

6 bytes, 64 bytes total 1 byte 2 bytes 1 byte 1 byte 2 bytes 115

102 ... Source Name (cont.) Priority Synchronisation Addr Seq No Options Universe Number

The priority of this packet The synchronisation address of The universe that this data packet
as an unsigned 8 bit number this data packet, this is 0 if the is meant for. An unsigned network byte
that must be in the range 0 to data packet is unsynchronised. order 16 bit number.
200 inclusive. A priority of 200
is the highest priority and 0 is the The options field which is split into 8 bits.
lowest. The highest bit (bit 7) indicates if the packet
is marked as preview data. Bit 6 indicates
if the packet is a termination packet. Bit 5
indicates if the receiver should switch to
force synchronisation mode.

Data Packet DMP Layer Variable between 1 and 513 bytes

Octet 2 bytes 1 byte 1 byte 2 bytes 2 bytes 2 bytes inclusive MAX 638
115 Flags and Length Vector Addr T 1st Property Addr Addr Increment Property Value Count Property Values, NOT TO SCALE

End of Data
Identifies this data packet DMP layer as The address of the first The size of each property The number of properties Packet
ANSI E1.31
containing set property data. property value in the value, always 0x0001 in within the property values Framing Layer
Uses constant property values data field. E1.31-2018 data packets field. Is always at least The actual data +
start-code. Length for a data packet
VECTOR_DMP_SET_PROPERTY. Always 0x0000 in E1.31- to indicate each property 0x0001 as all packets
up to 513 bytes.
2018 data packets. has a 1 byte length. contain at least a start-
code. Max value of
The Address Type & Data Type Field. Indicates the format
0x0201 as 513 maximum
of the address and data. Always 0xa1 for ANSI E1.31-2018
property values per data
data packets.
packet.

Diagram inspired by layout used in Fig. 5. ICMP packet structure from Determining proximal geolocation of IoT edge devices via covert channel
- Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/ICMP-packet-structure_fig5_316727741 [accessed 20 Apr, 2020]