Another media processor. They are targeting China's cable STB market................
eet.com
China primes pump for software-defined cable
By Sunray Liu
EE Times
(09/15/99, 6:02 p.m. EDT)
BEIJING ? A new player has jumped into the market for the MPEG-2 decoders used in an emerging technology known as software-defined cable (SDC).
Based on the very long instruction word (VLIW) architecture, SDC "will be widely applied in the broadband cable TV network for nonstandard decoding," predicted Julong Du, general manager of Cathay Roxus Information Technology Co. Ltd. The startup, founded by a group of Canadian-based Chinese engineers, recently announced a software-defined 720-line MPEG-2 decoder that targets the SDC market.
SDC received another boost here recently when a provincial cable operator announced plans to incorporate the technology into its 4 million-subscriber cable TV network. A network trial is scheduled to begin soon.
China's cable systems are expected to carry a wealth of new services in addition to analog and digital video. Although ASICs are faster and cheaper, software-based cable systems are expected to be more capable and therefore commercially successful in the long run.
Faster processors and better software compilers are overcoming some of the bottlenecks presented by VLIW, and software vendors such as Cathay Roxus have written improved programs based on the architecture. VLIW is thus considered a force for making software-defined electronics faster and cheaper.
Philips Electronics' TriMedia Group was one of the earliest investors in VLIW-based TV. Seattle-based Equator Technology Inc. has also developed a VLIW media processor. And several Japanese broadcast equipment manufacturers have signed on to the SDC concept.
"We believe the future of broadband communications will be software-based," Du said. Noting that the software-defined cable approach has been approved for use in narrowband communications such as V.90, he added that the concept "needs some new idea to get it [started], and we want to be the pioneer in this area."
Cathay Roxus is the first Chinese SDC developer in the all-important Beijing region. Its technology is based on research conducted by parent company Roxus Electronic Ltd. (Vancouver, British Columbia). The startup has focused on algorithms and software for VLIW processors.
SDC includes application, network and physical layers. Du said Cathay Roxus developed network and physical-layer technologies in Canada, eventually incorporating them with the applications layer of a Chinese product.
China's first application of SDC technology will be a software-defined set-top box for use in a variety of information devices expected to connect future cable networks. Most new functions are stored on front-end servers and can be downloaded by users through the cable system modems. "Our product [will be] different from a set-top box," Du said. "You just need to download software from the server for a new function."
The Cathay Roxus platform will support existing image-compression decoding standards, including MPEG-1, -2, -4 and -7, as well as future video specifications. It will also support MPEG, MP3, AC-3 and future audio standards.
Cathay Roxus will use the software-defined approach for data encryption and decryption, forward error correction, modulation and demodulation, and hardware and software upgrades.
Roxus Electronics, meanwhile, is designing a coprocessor for compute-intensive tasks at the physical layer. Its X-bridge chip will be used with a partner's processor to increase speed and cut costs. Meanwhile, research on network-layer technology focuses on better media access control (MAC) and other protocols for a variety of international digital video standards.
Support coalesces
Broadcasters, OEMs, investors, customers and government agencies here are said to be eagerly awaiting the emergence of the SDC industry. Local hardware manufacturers are seeking to buy the Roxus system design, and operating system developers are also beginning to cooperate with Roxus.
"The [state-run] Chinese broadcasting authority has paid much attention to SDC, and we also passed the high-tech enterprise evaluation hosted by the government recently," said Michel Zeng, deputy general manager of Cathay Roxus. The government's high-tech enterprise certificate gives recipient companies a far better Chinese income tax rate.
Local broadcasters, meanwhile, are pressing Roxus to speed its SDC solution to market. The company declined to identify its broadcast partners but said one partner operates a cable network with 4 million subscribers and plans a trial for next year.
Industry experts said China will likely adopt SDC after the trial is completed. "We shall offer a testing prototype system to [a] provincial network operator in China" by the end of the year, said Du. Roxus also expects to announce a working version of its X-bridge chip by the end of the year in Vancouver.
Cathay Roxus is a 40-engineer team focused specifically on SDC applications for the Beijing cable market. "It's difficult to [find] plenty of experienced engineers in the SDC area in China," said Du, adding that four project managers from Canada are spending much time on training. He said the key technical challenges are the set-top modem, MAC and other communications software. |
