Announcing the Remote MACPHY Specification Working Group

The CableLabs Distributed CCAP Architecture (DCA) program is pleased to announce the recent launch of the Remote MACPHY working group. This new working group is comprised of operators, equipment manufacturers and CableLabs engineers and its charter is to develop one or more specifications that allow vendor’s Remote MACPHY solutions to interoperate when deployed.

Distributed Access Architectures and Remote MACPHY technology, in particular, provide several key benefits to the Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks that deliver cable TV and broadband to consumers and businesses:

• Takes full advantage of the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.1 technology, allowing more data capacity to be packed into the same amount of spectrum
• Supports the deployment of Full Duplex DOCSIS (now DOCSIS 4.0 technology), which will enable multi-gigabit upstream services on existing cable plants
• Reduces power and space requirements at the cable headend that allows operators to support the data capacities needed for future services
• Leverages lower cost/higher capacity optical Ethernet transport mechanisms, allowing cable operators to cost-effectively provide faster services to customers

The Remote MACPHY technology is a solution following the DCA model that CableLabs has previously published information about in the form of technical reports and specifications. You can find more information about the DCA program and the individual projects at the following links:

Distributed CCAP Architecture Program

Distributed CCAP Architecture Technical Report

Remote MACPHY Technical Report

Remote PHY Specifications

To join the Remote MACPHY Working Group, participants must sign the DOCSIS NDA and DOCSIS IPR Agreements. Contact Jennifer Bane or Jon Schnoor for more information.

Subscribe to our blog to stay current on Remote MACPHY. A follow-up video containing a deep dive into the Remote MACPHY technology and the scope of work we plan to accomplish will be posted later this month.