Keysight Technologies has announced a new option for its industry-leading 89600 VSA software, that enables standard-compliant downstream modulation analysis of version 3.1 of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS 3.1). Option BHM provides decoding of physical-layer link channel (PLC) information and measurements of modulation error ratio (MER) and bit error rate (BER). At present, the option supports a variety of Keysight measurement platforms, including two that offer a bandwidth greater than 192 MHz - N9040B UXA X-Series signal analyzer and U5303A PCIe 12-bit high-speed digitizer. The UXA, which is Keysight’s flagship signal analyzer, provides the highest MER performance at all DOCSIS frequency bands over a wide power range. The U5303A is a lower-cost alternative that provides excellent MER.
With the DOCSIS 3.1 option, the 89600 VSA software provides post-processing analysis of PLC-coded, standards-compliant downstream signals. The software extracts the next codeword pointer (NCP) from acquired signals, creates the necessary OFDM map and demodulates DOCSIS 3.1 signals. It can then measure MER and BER and accumulate long-term results. The 89600 VSA software is a comprehensive set of tools for demodulation and vector signal analysis. These tools enable developers to explore virtually every facet of a signal and optimize their most advanced designs.
Developers can also use a separate option, BHF, custom OFDM modulation analysis, to characterize MER in upstream or downstream signals. This flexible diagnostic tool allows measurement and analysis of non-standard DOCSIS 3.1 signals with the full complement of capabilities in the 89600 VSA software.
You can read more about this on the Keysight Website.
