Broadband hybrids take control onboard

Philips is claiming a pair of firsts in broadband cable equipment with the release of a hybrid optical receiver with integrated gain control and a power doubler hybrid with integrated current control.

Philips is claiming a pair of firsts in broadband cable equipment with the release of an optical receiver hybrid with integrated gain control and a power doubler hybrid with integrated current control.

These products will enable service providers to optimise performance, power and easy alignment of their systems.

Both products are targeted at the high-end user, who until now has had to use discrete-based addons to achieve this functionality.

There has been a huge amount of investment in cable activities worldwide - with upgrades to 870MHz and new builds in the USA and Europe, and new builds of 550 to 870MHz in Asia.

The objective of networking today is the "all-optical network", where every communication would remain an optical transmission from start to finish.

The speed and capacity of such a network - with hundreds, if not thousands, of channels per fibre strand - is practically limitless.

Philips' CGO869 and CGD923 will enable service providers to improve the network signal in such a way as to drive it in a more controlled and efficient manner.

"The CGO869 optical receiver hybrid is a truly innovative solution - it integrates the photodiode and matching network onto the amplifier and combines this with a device to externally set the responsiveness of the device to cope with input levels of 3 to 0dBm.

It is smaller than other, purely discrete-built, options available today, and offers the best performance in the field", said Tinus van de Wouw, worldwide marketing manager for broadband communication at Philips Semiconductors.

"The major advantage of these devices is that their responsiveness can be set so that it is easy to handle varying optical input levels in an HFC network".

The CGD923 is the world's first CATV power-doubling hybrid with a very high output voltage and integrated externally controllable current.

Setting the current allows the user to have lower power dissipation when lower output levels are needed and is an easy way of lowering the current in high temperature situations without having to turn off the whole amplifier.

Samples of both products are currently available and volume production is currently ramping up.

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