STMicroelectronics unveils DOCSIS 3.1 chipset

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015
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ST Unveils its DOCSIS 3.1 Chipset Solution, Opening Multi-Gigabit Era to Cable MSOs

  • Cost-effective, no-compromise performance, using innovative and future-proof architecture, prepared for first DOCSIS® 3.1 market deployments

GENEVA — STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, today announced the STiD325 (codenamed Barcelona), its DOCSIS1 3.1 chipset for Broadband CPE2 Cable Modems, embedded Media Terminal Adapters (eMTAs), and Gateways, as well as for Video Gateways when associated to set-top-box chipsets. It is being demonstrated at CableLabs Summer Conference, August 2-5, 2015 in Keystone, Colorado, USA.

DOCSIS 3.1 has been engineered by CableLabs® to unleash the multi-gigabit data era on existing Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) networks through improved spectral efficiency using OFDM3 multi-carrier modulation combined with low-density parity-check-based Forward Error Correction.

“Prepared to be among the first commercial DOCSIS 3.1 deployments, our innovative platform architecture supports our ambition to make Barcelona a reference in the Cable industry,” said Philippe Notton, Group Vice President and General Manager of STMicroelectronics’ Consumer Product Division. “As a standalone for multi-gigabit cable gateways or combined with our Monaco SoC for an UltraHD media gateway, ST can offer complete solutions for fast design.”

Barcelona is fully compliant with the DOCSIS 3.1 specification, including:

  • Two 196 MHz OFDM downstream channels;
  • 32 single-carrier DOCSIS 3.0 QAM4 downstream channels;
  • Two 96 MHz OFDM-A upstream channels;
  • 8 single-carrier DOCSIS 3.0 QAM upstream channels.

ST has a long history with DOCSIS technology, having contributed to the standards and participated in all Acceptance Test Plan development committees and Interoperability tests. Demonstrating the value of that effort, the Barcelona early platform operated successfully in the world’s first end-to-end DOCSIS 3.1 field test conducted earlier this year.

Designed for economy and performance, Barcelona features solid technical capabilities:

  • Very high performance using multiple 64-bit ARM® CPUs to deliver >10K DMIPS, line-rate networking support on every port, and hardware acceleration for routing and switching, allowing Multiple System Operators (MSOs) to build future-proof CPE platforms with plenty of headroom to support the field introduction of new services;
  • Backward compatibility with DOCSIS 3.0 32×8 to allow a smooth, cost-effective transition to DOCSIS 3.1;
  • Flexible architecture facilitating independent software development and software upgrades with minimal coupling between stacks, as well as the introduction of new features like home surveillance and home automation; support of various Wi-Fi configurations;
  • 28nm FD-SOI silicon technology, providing outstanding power efficiency at all operating levels, including fan-less designs, along with highly-efficient RF and analog integration.

Currently sampling to lead customers, Barcelona comes with pre-integrated RDK-B software, including DOCSIS and Packet-Cable stacks.