Philadelphia, PA (SCTE® Cable-Tec Expo® 2022 #4037) – September 19, 2022 – Hitron Technologies announced the publication and presentation of the technical paper “DOCSIS® Time Protocol Proof of Concept Phase II Results,” co-authored by CableLabs®, Charter Communications, and Hitron Technologies. 

The paper presents proof of concept (PoC) testing results that show DTP can successfully deliver accurate timing information for 5G and mobile services, thus enabling multi-service operators (MSOs) to offer 5G services using their HFC infrastructure as backhaul. 

The paper will be presented September 20 at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022 during the session, “Intersection of Time and Space.” The paper’s co-authors are: Ruoyu (Roy) Sun, Aaron Quinto and Mark Poletti, CableLabs; Charles Cook, Vikas Sarawat, Praveen Srivastava, and Lei Zhou, Charter Communications; and Elias Chavarria Reyes, Hitron Technologies. 

DOCSIS Timing Protocol (DTP), first introduced in CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.1 MULTI specification enables the passing of network timing over DOCSIS 3.1 networks. As such, it can provide the timing precision needed for MSOs to use their HFC infrastructure as the backhaul for high performing, cost-effective 5G services. The team’s PoC testing proved that DTP meets the ETSI 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) requirement of 1.5 µs of timing accuracy for 5G services. 

The PoC testing was split into two phases. Phase I tests were conducted in a basic lab environment, and the results were published in an SCTE 2021 paper and CableLabs Technical Report. This second phase evaluated DTP performance in a complex field environment similar to a field deployment. 

“Network timing is one of the biggest hurdles for using DOCSIS networks to provide backhaul for mobile services. It’s not cost-effective to use expensive GPS receivers in small-cell 5G deployments. Further, a GPS signal is unreliable in the indoor environment of the customer’s home. It’s very exciting to see DTP pass this stage of testing and meet 3GPP’s timing requirements,” said co-author, Elias Chavarria Reyes, Ph.D., Hitron Technologies. 

For more information, please visit SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022.

About Hitron Technologies Inc.

Hitron is changing the way the world works, plays and connects. With a growing count of eleven first-to-market DOCSIS launches and powering DOCSIS 3.0 24×8, 32×8, and DOCSIS 3.1 deployments, Hitron has shipped over 40 million DOCSIS units to customers worldwide. Our leadership in broadband and Wi-Fi technology, combined with our vertically integrated manufacturing services, enable us to continually push the envelope of what’s possible and deliver custom, cost-effective and scalable solutions.