Two companies involved in G.fast said they have conducted the first public demonstrations of the technology that promises to accelerate ordinary DSL networks up to rates fast enough to support the delivery of 4K ultra high definition (UHD) video, and possibly on even to a gigabit per second.
In deployment, the approach is to install a specialized distribution point unit (DPU) to accelerate communications on traditional twisted copper pair (TCP) wires, using reverse powering – drawing power from the user, rather than supplying it on the network.
Sckipio Technologies, which specializes in G.fast chipsets, demonstrated the basic functionality of G.fast. The demonstration consisted of Sckipio’s 16-port DPU reference design and 16 Sckipio CP1000-EVM CPE reference design bridges, running over a 50 meters binder. The DPU ran a full G.fast stack with vectoring. It was connected to a media center with 4K content streaming to a CPE system, which then was connected to a 4K set top box (STB) and TV. In the demonstration, each 4K video stream ran over the G.fast line and consumed around 65Mbps.
Microsemi and Sckipio Technologies together announced the first demonstration of reverse power feeding over G.fast broadband access network infrastructure.
Reverse power feeding enables operators to deploy DPUs in more convenient locations without the need for dedicated AC power. The role of reverse power is central to many fiber-to-the-distribution-point (FTTdp) deployments of G.fast, the pair said.
The demonstration shows DC power injected by Microsemi’s RPF PSE chip PD81001-based injector into the Sckipio CP1000-EVM G.fast consumer premise equipment and transmitted to an eight-port power extraction and aggregation module based on Microsemi PD70201 RPF PD chip, which converts the equally shared power into 12 volts for use by the Sckipio DP3000-EVM G.fast Distribution Point device.
“Consumers want their broadband supplier to support 4K TV services,” said David Baum, CEO of Sckipio Technologies. “However, DSL isn’t fast enough.”
