Micro Controllers

(Cable Modems)

ABSTRACT

The present need to access internet in

homes, offices, companies etc in affordable way
results in selection of efficient technology and as
a result cable modems are used. Cable modem
technology brings high-speed broadband
networking to desired places through cable
television lines. Cable modems are devices that
allow high-speed access to information at a
distant server may it be Internet server or video
on demand server, via a cable television
network. While similar to the traditional (analog)
dialup modems, a cable modem is significantly The Tele Vision signals are usually spread in the
more powerful, capable of delivering data 50 MHz to 750 MHz spectrum. With each TV
approximately 500 times faster. This not only Channel such as CNN, BBC, and CNBC occupy
gave subscribers an opportunity to experience 6MHz. Similarly the Internet services via the
new level of speeds of browsing the net but also cable (downstream and upstream separately)
eventually make it affordable. occupy a 6 MHz channel too.

The paper further discusses the following

topics on the subject of cable modems: working,
the factors based on which the cable modem
speed varies, traditional cable system, hybrid
fiber coaxial system, types of cable modems,
external cable modem, internal cable modem,
and interactive set-top box. Inside the cable
modem, tuner, demodulator, burst modulator,
MAC (Media Access Control), interface and
CPU.

Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................01
Working …………………………………………………………………..02
Speed……………………………………………………………………...03
Traditional Cable System............................................................................04
Hybrid Fiber Coaxial System……………………………………………..04
Types of Cable Modems..............................................................................05
External Cable Modem................................................................................05
Internal Cable Modem.................................................................................06
Interactive Set-Top Box...............................................................................06
Inside the Cable Modem..............................................................................07
Tuner............................................................................................................07
Demodulator................................................................................................07
Burst modulator...........................................................................................07
MAC............................................................................................................07
Interface.......................................................................................................08
CPU.............................................................................................................08
Some Acronyms..........................................................................................08
Conclusion...................................................................................................09
 INTRODUCT
ION
During the early to mid - 1990s, the two-
way interactive communication capability of the
existing cable network infrastructure was
realized which would imply a much greater
bandwidth for accessing the Internet. This
realization resulted in several field trials being
conducted in various areas of United States and
western European countries. As a result of these
field trials, several types of cable modems were
developed.
The idea is simple - To use the existing cable
networks to hook up to the net. This not only
gave the subscribers an opportunity to
experience new level of speeds of browsing the
net but also eventually make it affordable. Along
with this would come Video on demand and
Media Home Platform (MHP). Entrepreneurs
immediately realized the immense revenue
potential of this technology by the sheer number
of subscribers that would be able to log on to the
net via their already existing cables connections
and make technologies like MHP a reality.
The Technology: A “Cable Modem” is a
device that allows high-speed data access (such
as to the Internet) via a cable TV network. It
operates over the ordinary TV network cables.
The subscriber just connects the Cable Modem
to the Cable TV outlet at his end and the cable
TV operator connects a Cable Modem
Termination System (CMTS) in his end (the
head end).
A cable modem will typically have two
connections, one to the cable wall outlet and the
other to a computer (PC) or a set top box. Most
cable modems are external devices that connect
to the PC through a standard 10Base-T Ethernet
card (or 100Base-T Ethernet card) and twisted-
pair wiring. Alternatively they could be
connected via the Universal
Serial Bus (USB) or may be available as internal
PCI modem cards.

Working
The fact that the word “modem” is used to
describe this device can be a bit misleading. It is
a modem in the sense it modulates and
demodulates signals. But the similarity to a
typical telephone dial-up modem ends there
because cable modems are more complicated
than their telephone counterparts. Cable modems
in addition can be
* Modem
* Tuner
* Encryption/decryption device
* Bridge
* Router
* Network interface card
* SNMP agent
* Ethernet hub
The Tele Vision signals are usually spread in
the 50 MHz to 750 MHz spectrum. With each
TV Channel occupying 6 MHz. In the same way
as we receive MTV or CNN or BBC as a
channel. All of these occupy 6 MHz bandwidth.
Similarly the Internet services via the cable
(downstream and upstream separately) occupy a
6 MHz channel too.
A cable modem sends and receives data in
two slightly different fashions.
* Downstream
* Upstream
In the downstream direction, the digital data
is modulated and then placed on a typical 6 MHz
television channel, somewhere between 50 MHz
and 750 MHz (refer Table 2 - Frequency Band
Utilization). Currently, 64 QAM † is the
preferred downstream modulation technique,
offering up to 27 Mbps per 6 MHz channel.
The upstream channel is more complex.
Typically, in a two-way activated cable network,
the upstream (also known as the reverse path) is
transmitted between 5 and 42 MHz (Refer Table
2 - Frequency Band Utilization). This tends to be
a noisy environment, with RF interference and
impulse noise. Additionally, interference is
easily introduced in the home, due to loose
connectors or poor cabling. Since cable networks
are “tree and branch” networks, all this noise
gets added together as the signals travel
upstream, combining and increasing. Due to this
problem, most manufacturers use QPSK or a
similar modulation scheme in the upstream
modulation techniques in a noisy direction,
because QPSK is more robust scheme than
higher order environment. The drawback is that
QPSK is “slower” than QAM.
Table 1 - Common Television Broadcast Bands
To provide a meaningful relationship between
the common television broadcast bands listed in
Table 1 and use of the frequency spectrum for
different applications, consider Table 2 -
Frequency Band Utilization, which indicates the
typical use of different frequency bands. The
assignment of frequencies for channels varies by
global location. The following table lists U.S.
off-air channel frequencies.
Speed
Cable modem speeds vary widely,
depending on the following parameters
* Cable modem system
* Cable network architecture
* Traffic load
In the downstream direction (from the server
to the user or from CMTS to user Cable
Modem), network speeds can be up to 27 Mbps.
This is an aggregate amount of bandwidth that is
shared by users.
Table 1 - Common Television Broadcast
Bands, lists the common television broadcast
bands and their frequency assignments. A TV
channel can be considered to fall into one of the
seven predefined frequency bands.
Table 2 - Frequency Band Utilization
Only a few user systems will be capable of
connecting at such high speeds. A more realistic
number is 1 to 3 Mbps. In the upstream direction
(from user system to network), speeds can be up
to 10 Mbps. However, most modem producers
have selected a more a Kbps and 2.5 Mbps.
An asymmetric cable modem scheme is
most common. The downstream channel has a
much higher bandwidth allocation (faster data
rate) than the upstream; this suit the common
usage of cable modems. Activities such as World
Wide Web (http) navigation and newsgroups
reading (nntp) send much more data down to the
computer than to the network. Mouse clicks
(URL requests) and e-mail messages are not
bandwidth intensive, (which are primarily in the
upstream direction). Image files and streaming
media (audio and video) are very bandwidth
intensive, (which are primarily in the
downstream direction).

Within the coax cable system signal level the

bandwidth intensive, (which are
amplifiers are placed at regular intervals in the
primarily in the upstream direction). system. There may be as many as 35 amplifiers
Image files and streaming media (audio cascaded between the head end and the
and video) are very bandwidth intensive, subscriber station. The following Figure
illustrates a conventional cable system.
(which are primarily in the downstream
direction).

Traditional Cable System

Traditional Cable System

Each TV cable box listens to all the Hybrid Fiber Coaxial System
downstream transmissions that is, transmission
coming “down” from the network (CMTS). Each Currently cable operators are in the process
transmission, or TV channel, is transmitted at a of modifying the cable infrastructure by
different frequency. The original cable system introducing fiber optic cables, replacing the
was based on coaxial cable, end to end. analog signals with digital transmissions, and
The cable TV head end takes video feeds replacing the amplifiers so that the system
from various sources and introduces the signal becomes a two-way system.
onto the coax cable.
 Types of Cable Modems

A number of different Cable Modem

The new infrastructure is referred to as Hybrid
configurations are possible. The following 3
Fiber Coaxial (HFC) system. With HFC, the
configurations are the main products that we see
cable TV head end has a fiber interface instead
now.
of conventional coaxial interface, and with the
* External Cable Modem
introduction of fiber, many of the characteristics
* Internal Cable Modem
of a conventional cable network change.
*Interactive Set-Top box
Over a period of time more systems will arrive.
Most importantly, the fiber optic amplifiers
are capable of regenerating signals rather than
External Cable Modem
simply amplifying it. Also, base band filter RF
amplifiers replace the conventional echo
The external Cable Modem is a small
cancellation amplifiers. These filters allow a
external box that connects to your computer
certain frequency range to traverse the network
normally through an ordinary Ethernet
in one direction and a different frequency range
connection. The downside is that you need to
to traverse the network in the opposite direction.
add a (inexpensive) Ethernet card to your
Thus, the new HFC system is a two-way system.
computer before you can connect the Cable
Note that upgrading to HFC is a nontrivial task.
Modem. A plus is that you can connect more
It is essentially a complete rebuild of a
computers to the Ethernet. The available Cable
significant portion of the cable system.
Modems work with most of the operating
Fortunately, the last drop, from the fiber node to
systems and hardware platforms, including Mac,
the neighborhoods and into the homes, does not
UNIX, laptop computers etc.
change, it is still coax based.
 Interactive Set-Top Box
The interactive set-top box is really a cable
modem in disguise. The primary function of the
Another possible interface for external Cable
set-top box is to provide more TV channels on
Modems is USB, which has the advantage of
the same limited number of frequencies. This is
installing much faster (something that matters,
possible with the use of digital television
because the cable operators are normally sending
encoding (DVB).
technicians out to install each and every Cable
Modem). The downside is that you can only
connect one PC to a USB based Cable Modem.
The following Figure depicts an External Cable
Modem. The following Figure depicts an
External Cable Modem.

Internal Cable Modem

The internal Cable Modem is typically a PCI

bus add-in card for a PC. That might be the
cheapest implementation possible, but it has a
number of drawbacks. First problem is that it can
only be used in desktop PC’s. Mac’s and laptops
are possible, but require a different design. The
following Figure depicts an Internal Cable
Modem.
A Second problem is that the cable connector is
not galvanic ally isolated from AC mains. This
may pose a problem in some CATV networks,
requiring a more expensive upgrade of the
network installations. Some countries and/or
CATV Cable TV system) networks may not be
able to use internal cable modems at all for
technical and/or regulatory reasons. Interactive
set top box provides a return channel - often
through the ordinary plain old telephone system
Tuner
(POTS) - that allows the user access to web
The tuner connects directly to the CATV
browsing, email etc. directly on the TV screen.
outlet. Normally a tuner with built-in diplexer is
Though this technology is now obsolete and the
used, to provide both upstream and downstream
latest set top boxes allow the return path via the
signals through the same tuner. Then tuner must
cable itself. The following Figure depicts an
be of sufficiently good quality to be able to
Interactive Set-Top Box.
receive the digitally modulated QAM signals. A
new concept of a silicon tuner is in the works.
This is basically a tuner on a chip, and is
expected to cut the cost down quite a bit
compared to a more conventional tuner module.

Demodulator
In the receive direction, the IF signal feeds a
demodulator. The de modulator normally
consists of A/D converter, QAM-64/256
demodulator, MPEG frame synchronization, and
Reed Solomon error correction. The demodulator
component is required both in a cable modem
and in the more mature product, the digital
(receive-only) set-top box; so many companies
have developed products for this part of the
game.

Burst modulator
Inside the Cable Modem
In the transmit direction, a burst modulator
feeds the tuner. The burst modulator does Reed
Figure gives a brief idea about a typical Cable
Solomon encoding of each burst, modulation of
Modem architecture
the QPSK/QAM-16 on the selected frequency
and D/A conversion. The output signal is fed
through a driver with variable output level, so
the signal level can be adjusted to compensate
for the unknown cable loss. The burst modulator
is unique to the cable modem (and some two-
way set-top boxes) chips are also available as the
integration race drives more and more functions
into a single chip.
MAC
A Media Access Control mechanism sits
between the, receive and transmit paths. This can
be implemented in hardware or split between
hardware and software. The MAC is pretty
complex compared to an Ethernet MAC, and in
reality no MAC’s are able to handle all of the
MAC layer function without some
microprocessor “help". For DOCSIS cable
modems, many companies are known to have
MAC ASIC’s available as a standard products
some are also in the market with a MAC that rely
more on software to handle the various
functions, supposedly giving more flexibility.
Other companies are known to be working on
various MAC chips for both DOCSIS and
DVB/DAVIC, with different partitions of what
goes in software and hardware. Some cable
modem manufacturers even develop their own
MAC apparently in an attempt to be more
competitive or to differentiate their products.
Interface
The data that pass through the MAC goes
into the computer or set-top box interface of the
Cable Modem, be it Ethernet, USB, PCI bus or
whatever. These have been discussed in detail
earlier in this document.
CPU
The microprocessor is not explicitly shown
in the diagram, but for external cable modems a
CPU is required. Some work is being done on
host based processing cable modems, which use
the processor in the host (PC or Mac) to do all
(or almost all) processing. Much like how dial-
up (analog telephony) modems (WinModem - a
controller only modem) rely on the PC processor
to do the processing. Single devices combining
MAC, demodulator, burst modulator, processor,
Ethernet/PCI/USB interfaces and more are
emerging, in effect integration the guts of a cable
modem in a single chip. There will still be some
additional parts for memory, tuner, analog stuff,
lower supply etc. so we are still no-where near
the true single-chip cable modem.
Some Acronyms
A short list of some of the other technical
terms and acronyms that you may stumble across
in trying to understand the cable modem world.
1. CATV: Cable TV system. Can either be all
coaxial or HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) based.
2. CMTS: Cable Modem Termination System.
Central device for connecting the cable TV
network to a data network like the Internet.
Normally placed in the head end
of the cable TV system.
3. CPE: Customer Premises Equipment. Used to
describe the PC and/or other equipment that the
customer may want to connect to the cable
modem.
4. Downstream: The data flowing from the
CMTS to the cable modem.
5. Downstream frequency or Downstream
bandwidth: The frequency used for transmitting
data from the CMTS to the cable modem.
Normally in the 42/65-850 MHz range The available Cable Modems work
depending on the actual cable plant capabilities. with most of the operating systems and hardware
6. Head end: Central distribution point for a platforms, including Mac, UNIX, laptop
CATV system. Video signals are received here computers etc. Currently cable operators are in
from satellites and/or other sources, converted to the process of modifying the cable infrastructure
the appropriate channels by introducing fiber optic cables, replacing the
7. QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. A analog signals with digital transmissions, and
method of modulating digital signals using both replacing the amplifiers so that the system
amplitude and phase coding. Used for becomes a two-way system
downstream and can be used for upstream.
8. QPSK: Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying. A
method of modulating digital signals using four-
phase states to code two digital bits per phase REFERENCES
shift. 1.www.ieee.org
9. SID (Service ID): Used in the DOCSIS 2.www.ericsson.com
standard to define a particular mapping between 3.www.ciscon.com
a cable modem (CM) and the CMTS. The SID is 4.www.wipro.com
used for the purpose of upstream bandwidth
allocation and class-of-service management.
10. Subscriber Unit (SU): An alternate term for
cable modem.
11. Upstream: The data flowing from the CM to
the CMTS.
12. Upstream frequency or Upstream
bandwidth: The frequency used to transmit data
from the CM to the CMTS. Normally it is in the
5-42 MHz range for US systems and 5-65 MHz
for European systems.
Conclusion
The aim of the paper is to present an
overview of cable modem technology which
brings high-speed broadband networking to the
home and small business user through cable
television lines. A “Cable Modem” is a device
that allows high-speed data access (such as to the
Internet) via a cable TV network