Magazine Sections :: Columns :: Broadband :: Communications Technology

Broadband: Finding Spectrum for Channel Bonding

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 0:00:00 EDT

The latest iteration of Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification - DOCSIS 3.0 - has been in the news recently. Several cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) and cable modems have received qualification and certification respectively from CableLabs, and pre-DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding deployments have...

Broadband: The Mathematics of Field Strength Measurements

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 0:00:00 EDT

In July 1991, I penned an article with the same title as this month's column. It was inspired by a call from friend and colleague Ralph Haimowitz, who commented that he had seen a recent paper discussing, among other things, the conversion between microvolts (µV) and microvolts per meter (µV/m)...

Broadband: Grounding Effectiveness at RF

Thu, 1 May 2008 0:00:00 EDT

Various codes such as the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) and National Electrical Code (NEC) - which are often adopted into law by local, county or state governments - mandate grounding and bonding of cable networks. The fundamental purpose of grounding and/or bonding is safety of people and...

Broadband: Silly Cable Tech Terms

Tue, 1 Apr 2008 0:00:00 EDT

We redefine cable's acronyms and ugly-looking words....

BROADBAND: Transient Voltage Surge Suppression

Sat, 1 Mar 2008 0:00:00 EST

Among the highlights of this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was Panasonic President Toshihiro Sakamoto's introduction of the company's Life Screen, a concept 150-inch high definition (HD) plasma display panel. At 4,096 x 2,160 pixels, this HDTV set has four times the resolution...

Broadband: RF CNR vs. Baseband Video SNR

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 0:00:00 EST

If one were to measure RF carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) and baseband video signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the same analog TV channel, how would the numbers compare? This definitely falls into the "it depends" category. Much has been written over the years about CNR vs. baseband video SNR, but the...

BROADBAND: Chemistry Class

Tue, 1 Jan 2008 0:00:00 EST

How many times have you or someone you work with visited a subscriber’s home in response to a service call about snowy pictures on some of the analog channels, and perhaps problems with some of the digital channels?...

Broadband: Service Availability

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 0:00:00 EST

For several years, I've said cable operators can provide reliable high-speed data, voice, and digital video services if the entire cable network—headend, distribution plant, and subscriber drops—meets or exceeds certain minimum technical performance parameters....

Broadband: A Closer Look at BER, Part 2

Thu, 1 Nov 2007 0:00:00 EDT

Let’s say we want to ensure the BER - bit error rate or bit error ratio - at a cable modem’s input is less than 1 x 10-8, also expressed as 1.0E-08. Recall from last month’s column that transmitting three times the reciprocal of the specified BER without an error gives 95 percent confidence...

Broadband: A Closer Look at BER, Part 1

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 0:00:00 EDT

I'm occasionally asked about BER, one of several ......