RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA says that its gallium nitride (GaN) amplifier family for the new DOCSIS 3.1 CATV networking standard has won the CableFAX Tech Award for Green Technology, which recognizes technology that helps cable companies and program distributors to cut energy consumption in equipment installed at the head-end and/or in equipment distributed to residential and business customers. RFMD was recognized during the CableFAX Digital and Tech Awards ceremony at the Yale Club in New York City.
RFMD claims that its GaN-based amplifier products improve the power efficiency of existing CATV systems supporting DOCSIS 3.1, reducing current consumption by as much as 20% compared with competing gallium arsenide (GaAs)- and silicon-based amplifiers. Beyond power savings, use of the firm’s GaN technology reduces material waste and the energy needed to produce line amplifiers made from either GaAs or silicon: a single GaN amplifier replaces 16 silicon-based amplifiers or two GaAs amplifiers.
“This award is a tribute to RFMD’s CATV hybrid amplifier team and to the power and space savings offered by the new GaN amplifier family they developed, which is helping customers upgrade equipment for the next generation of cable networking,” says Norm Hilgendorf, president of RFMD’s Multi-Market Products Group.
RFMD’s GaN family for DOCSIS 3.1 includes the RFCM4363 push-pull amplifier, RFCM3316 power doubler amplifier, and RFPD2580 hybrid power doubler amplifier. Compared with DOCSIS 3.0, the DOCSIS 3.1 standard increases effective downstream data rates from 160Mb/s to 10Gb/s, and upstream data rates from 120Mb/s to 1Gb/s. DOCSIS 3.1 extends CATV frequencies from 1GHz to 1.2GHz, enabling higher data speeds as well as additional high-definition television (HDTV) and video on demand (VOD) services.
