Broadcom announced two new system-on-a-chip lines, one a new DOCSIS/Euro-DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem SoC that the company said improves RF performance and implements advanced power management, the other for high-definition digital terminal adapter (DTA) cable set-top boxes.
The chip designer said its highly integrated BCM3382 reduces box size, power requirements and overall bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, while increasing performance by adding packet processing ability and enabling over 500 kpps (kilo packets per second) of total throughput.
The SoC provides bonding support for up to eight simultaneous DOCSIS channels, delivering twice the speed of other DOCSIS 3.0 solutions at a lower system cost while extending the useable life of cable modems, Broadcom claims.
The wideband tuner has an extended bandwidth of 96 MHz. An integrated voice subsystem, including an audio processing module, high-voltage generator and battery management unit, is part of what enables the lowest BOM cost for EMTAs (embedded multimedia terminal adapters).
Broadcom claims its HD DTA chip is the first to combine HD video, a 1 GHz cable tuner and HDMI capabilities. The BCM7572 HD DTA solution enables North American cable operators to transition subscribers from analog programming directly to HD programming, the company said.
“Leveraging our proven track record in supplying DTA solutions for the digital transition, Broadcom’s next-generation DTA chipset adds HD, HDMI and an integrated tuner, enabling cable operators to cost-effectively reclaim precious bandwidth while deploying more HD content and additional value-added services. It also accelerates the time-to-market in deploying HD DTA adapters throughout North America,” said Dan Marotta, senior vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Broadband Communications Group.
