This is huge news -- A link on frontpage today as well,.. but as I spoke about in my "let's talk DOCSIS 3.1" thread some weeks back -- DOCSIS 3.1 is great,.. but it's still Asymmetric with the upload being the problem side due to limited RF Spectrum.
Most American Cable systems are ~1 Ghz wide in their RF Spectrum.
Cablelabs is now working to make Echo Cancellation a reality faster than anyone could really have anticipated. First it's staying in the DOCSIS 3.1 revision,.. and they are moving ridiculously quick. Though it makes sense as to why they are moving so fast because D3.1 is just now starting to be deployed and this 'feature' needs to be a part of the deployment because it's one of the most fundamentally ground breaking parts of the new standard.
In short,.. cable operators will be able to nearly double their RF Spectrum without expanding the RF spectrum at all. Echo Cancellation allows for full duplex Download/Upload (Forward/(RX) / Return (Tx)) transmission. In other words it allows for data to be uploaded and downloaded simultaneously over the same spectrum.
Anyhow,.. the article was fairly short, so I'll just paste it here for anyone curious to the statement from Cablelabs:
By Belal Hamzeh, VP of Wireless, CableLabs
During the CableLabs 2016 Winter Conference, CableLabs announced the Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 specification project that will significantly increase upstream speeds on the DOCSIS network. The announcement of the Full Duplex extension of the DOCSIS 3.1 specification, and its potential of offering multi-Gbps symmetric services over the HFC network, created a lot of excitement in the industry. Since then a lot has been going on behind the scenes.
CableLabs has been actively collaborating with the vendor community to further refine the concept and system architecture of a Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 system. The ecosystem support for the Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 technology has been staggering, with many vendors collaborating and contributing to the development of the technology. A recent example is Ciscos contribution of a new silicon reference design of a digital echo canceler that maximizes the use of HFC capacity to provide a scalable multi-gigabit return path.
In June, CableLabs officially launched the Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 project, transitioning it from the innovation phase to the R&D phase focused on specification development. Our first face-to-face meeting held in Louisville last month featured strong participation from CableLabs members and the vendor community including several new participants. Working group meetings will be held on a regular basis until the specification development is complete.
Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 technology will radically change the art-of-the-possible on the HFC network by delivering an unparalleled experience to cable customers.
Now this won't be out in practical use this year, or even in 2017.... but with this speed of development,. I can certainly see it beginning to be available to implement before the decade is out which is a HUGE leap for every Cable company on the planet.
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