The DOCSIS standard continues to evolve to meet the needs of cable operators and their subscribers worldwide. Emerging applications, such as high-definition television (HDTV), video streaming around the home, and in-room gaming, are driving the demand for multi-gigabit data rates. This need for increased bandwidth has led to the development of version 3.1 of the DOCSIS standard.

DOCSIS 3.1 achieves its increased speed and capacity through the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and low-density parity-check (LDPC) forward error correction (FEC) technology. The new DOCSIS 3.1 specification provides: up to 50 percent more data throughput over the same spectrum; the ability to deliver 2.5 Gbps in the upstream; and 10 Gbps in the downstream on an existing hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network.

DOCSIS 3.1's efficient spectrum use enables a significant decrease in the cost per bit for data delivery. It provides a cost-effective way for cable operators to increase capacity and speed, providing them a competitive advantage over satellite and wireless providers.

"While the DOCSIS 3.1 standard delivers much needed capacity and speed improvements, it also creates a number of new challenges in design and test," said Jay Alexander, Keysight Technologies' chief technology officer, previously vice president and general manager of Agilent's Oscilloscope and Protocol Division. "Agilent's portfolio of DOCSIS 3.1 test solutions easily handles the complexity of OFDM and LDPC FEC, while at the same time supporting legacy DOCSIS technologies."

Designing DOCSIS 3.1-based transmitters, receivers and components, and verifying their performance against the new standard, requires stringent testing. This process is made more challenging by the standard committee's adoption of new technologies and the need for backward compatibility with previous DOCSIS versions. Agilent's portfolio of hardware and software provides a complete DOCSIS 3.1 test solution required to address these technical challenges.