Achieving interoperability in the broadband industry is no small feat. It takes time, patience and attention to detail. Collaboration, problem-solving and flexibility. But, once achieved, interoperability powers innovation and competition within the ecosystem. It enables expanded market opportunities for equipment suppliers and offers operators more options for their subscriber services.
CableLabs provides a neutral testing ground for those suppliers and operators to come together and showcase compatibility across interfaces defined in our DOCSIS 4.0 specifications. Since the launch of the CableLabs DOCSIS 4.0 Cable Modem Certification program in June 2023, we’ve spent many action-packed weeks hosting DOCSIS 4.0 Interop·Labs events. And how far we’ve come in just a year! To recap briefly:
- We’ve achieved a downstream speed of over 9 Gbps through a DOCSIS 4.0 modem — a speed record.
- Testing scenarios have focused on combining DOCSIS 4.0 modems and Remote PHY equipment, as well as DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 equipment together, to demonstrate flexibility and backward compatibility.
- We’ve explored network reliability — in particular, DOCSIS 4.0 cable modem proactive network maintenance (PNM) functions in DOCSIS 4.0 cable modem termination systems — and DOCSIS 4.0 security technologies.
DOCSIS 4.0 and DAA Technologies
That momentum is continuing with the success of CableLabs and Kyrio’s most recent event, which combined DOCSIS 4.0 technology and Distributed Access Architecture (DAA). Combining interoperability events for these technologies drives home the importance of compatibility across all system components.
During the June 24–27 event, attendees pushed even deeper into testing the products to examine the intricacies of interoperability in a more nuanced way. Thank you to the participants who helped make the event successful — and once again — helped us unlock a new level of productivity.
The featured exercises involved DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems and DAA equipment. The DAA products included Remote MACPHY devices and Remote PHY equipment such as virtualized cores and Remote PHY Devices (RPDs) that support DOCSIS 4.0 technology. All of these systems came together during the week of exercises to demonstrate multi-supplier interoperability across the DOCSIS ecosystem.
Continued High Level of Participation
Attendance remained high with new suppliers and new products. Operators joined us to observe, interact with the suppliers and talk about their own DOCSIS 4.0 network progress.
Among the suppliers were Casa Systems, CommScope and Harmonic, which brought DOCSIS 4.0 cores to the interop. Remote PHY Devices (RPDs) from Casa Systems, CommScope, DCT-DELTA, Harmonic and Vecima Networks offered a mix of DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 technologies. DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems were provided by Arcadyan, Askey, Hitron Technologies, MaxLinear, Sagemcom, Sercomm and Ubee Interactive. Calian attended with its Remote PHY test system, which can be used to verify interoperability between DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems and a DOCSIS 4.0 core. Microchip Technology participated with its clock and timing system. Rohde & Schwarz brought its DOCSIS Signal Analyzer for continued development on DOCSIS 4.0 systems.
Testing scenarios involved using a virtual core from one supplier, and multiple RPDs and DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems from various suppliers. The products were mixed and matched to verify interoperability scenarios and speeds through the system. As before, DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 equipment were combined to demonstrate the cross-compatibility of existing and new technology. The test equipment suppliers used these setups to verify their solutions.
This interop had a different vibe than past events but proved that DOCSIS 4.0 modems continue to mature, which is enabling new investigations into the technology.
Sustained Speed
Achieving a rate of 9 Gbps (or more) downstream through a DOCSIS 4.0 cable modem is now the new normal. We’ve now achieved it on multiple modems and multiple cores. (And stay tuned. We’re now expecting DOCSIS 4.0 modems that can exceed speeds of 10 Gbps!)
In the July interop, we began looking at sustained speed — that is, the stability of very high-speed traffic over several hours. One test used two modems on a virtual core and RPD and ran 4 Gbps through each modem (8 Gbps through the core) for three hours, with no loss of data. That was over 5 terabytes (TB) of download per modem in 3 hours!
We also tried to find out how fast a system could download 1 TB. By putting 9.2 Gbps through a modem, we reached the 1 TB download in 18 minutes. That’s up to 50 hours of 4K movie content. More importantly, imagine what these speeds could mean for future services like home health care. This rate of high-speed data transfer will no doubt lead to transformative new products and services for the connected home.
Cable Modem PNM Operations
PNM is an important function for cable modems. These proven tools are used by engineers and technicians for maintenance, troubleshooting and improvement of the cable plant. More and more, the signals on the plant are orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), which provide higher speeds and capacities than traditional quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals.
At this interop, we looked at five different PNM tests, specifically getting data from DOCSIS 4.0 cable modems and verifying interoperability with the application programming interfaces (APIs) and with the data generated by the modems. This PNM data will enable the most efficient operation of the coaxial cable network, keeping the data levels at their peak by using the more efficient OFDM and OFDMA signals.
Remote PHY Interoperability
While the modems were the focus, this event also included a deeper look at the interoperability between DOCSIS 4.0 cores and RPDs. These will be new infrastructure for operators and another interface around which interoperability must be proven. To facilitate best-in-class infrastructure for new DOCSIS 4.0 products and services, this interface has to demonstrate flexibility to allow configurations and channel plans that work best for an operator.
At the interop, we spent time purposely trying these new configurations. We sought to ensure the components asking for resources and assigning those resources can communicate and allow for flexibility in configuration that can be used in the new future as DOCSIS 4.0 technology moves into the field.
Join Us at SCTE TechExpo
The next DOCSIS 4.0 interop is planned for the week of Aug. 12 at CableLabs’ headquarters in Louisville, Colorado. The event will provide suppliers an opportunity to sharpen their products — and pitches — for the upcoming SCTE®️ TechExpo conference in Atlanta.
At TechExpo, the must-attend event for the broadband industry, CableLabs will highlight the products and efforts that occur at our Interop·Labs events. Full-access passes are free for CableLabs members. Register now to join us!