INTERACTIVE VIDEO / CATV

KSA is an innovator in Video-On-Demand (VOD), Near Video-On-Demand (NVOD), Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) and Fiber-To-the-Curb (FTTC) technologies. We specified, architected, designed and manufactured the SONET/ATM/MPEG-2 multiplexer which went into the first commercially-deployed NVOD system in the U.S., and have since architected higher capacity, more scalable, higher density and more complex versions for several customers. We have also invented several techniques, some of which have been accepted by DAVIC, and architected several pieces of equipment to enable "upstream" control of HFC and FTTC networks. Here are highlights of some completed and ongoing product development efforts:

• Specified, architected, designed and manufactured the SONET OC-3c/ATM/MPEG-2 multiplexer that went into the first commercially-deployed video-on-demand system in the world. This was done on a total turnkey basis, in six and one-half months, including the manufacturing. All that was provided by our customer, a leading telecommunications product manufacturer, was a draft requirements document. Timely delivery of this product resulted in our customer winning a $150 Million initial order for end-to-end Video-On-Demand systems from a major cable MSO.

• Specified and architected an MPEG-2/AAL-5/OC-3 (with an OC-12 follow-on version planned) Video-On-Demand server multiplexer, essentially a "mirror image" of the video multiplexer mentioned above, including an algorithm which optimizes bandwidth utilization and minimizes jitter propagation to the set-top, substantially reducing per-stream cost.

• Specifying and architecting a 622 Mb ATM-in/18 X 28 Mb MPEG-2 channel-out Video-on-Demand multiplexer/"Interactive Cable Gateway" (which also routes IP traffic when the channel isn't occupied with MPEG-2) on a single card which plugs into several different router platforms for deployment in cable head-ends. As of this writing, this architecture represents the lowest cost per port and per video stream in the industry, and the highest port density available, as well as the first-in-the-world implementation of MCNS, an encryption algorithm devised by the MSO's to protect their MPEG-2 payloads.

This card does ATM reassembly, dynamic PID remapping, MPEG dejitterization (KSA's V.P. of Engineering, Ron Todd, was the first to dejitterize an MPEG-2 signal across the public network, per the ATM Forum), IP insertion into MPEG private data, LAN emulation, routing to appropriate output stream, SNMP management via a MIB and contains the first-ever implementation of MCNS.

Scalable - a chassis can be configured for from one to 20 OC-3c equivalents (in increments of one OC-3c), resulting in initial low cost with an easy upgrade path. A stand-alone version would allow fine-grain scalability (per OC-3 or OC-12, not per ATM switch), which would be more cost-effective in smaller installations, or in initial installations that will expand over time.

• As of this writing, KSA is specifying and architecting, with our customer's stated intention to award us the design implementation and manufacturing, several head-end subsystems, all DVB-compliant, of a Switched Digital Video system, including an MPEG-2 encoder module; a multi-channel Variable Bit Rate (I-Frame and IPB-Frame) MPEG-2 encoder bank which accepts NTSC and PAL, analog and digital satellite feeds, real-time digital video, stored MPEG-2 and local ad insertion; an MPEG-2 decoder module; an MPEG-2/ATM multiplexer/remultiplexer; DS3 and OC-3 transport modules/line interface cards; and an SNMP-based network management system

• Specified, architected and designed a system platform, oriented toward Private Cable Operators (PCO's), for the secure delivery of video, data, and voice services over coaxial and hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks to high density dwellings. System architecture is completely off-premises, meaning that no in-home equipment, such as a set-top box, etc., is required to make the system function, other than a cable-ready television receiver or videocassette recorder (VCR).

KSA is specifying, developing and integrating the digital electronics and software for the system's control system, which resides in a cable head end; a data modem for communication between the head end and approximately 1000 end-nodes (multiple controllers can manage multiple 1000's of end-nodes in a single system); the end node itself (mixed analog and digital motherboard, analog channel electronics, digital electronics to provide subscriber interface, downstream video control and communication with the control system and head end, and multiple subscriber drops); as well as the interface to upstream authorization, billing, provisioning, security, etc. systems. There is a subsequent develop effort planned for the cable Multiple System Operators (MSO's).

• Architected, designed and prototyped a QPSK/ATM/MPEG-2 network interface module (NIM) to interface the termination of the coax to the set-top box in a Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) system.

• Specified, to one degree or another, QPSK/MPEG-2/ATM interfaces to ethernet LAN's and to ATM workstations and the QAM and QPSK subsystems of hybrid fiber-coax systems.

• Specifying, architecting and designing an MVIP/WIN 95-based V.34 modem-behind-ISDN to provide modem functionality when the network connection is a digital channel (ISDN PRI or BRI) for a video teleconferencing system

• Architected and designed ASIC's, board-level circuitry and diagnostics associated with the JPEG compression/decompression subsystems of a multiple audio and video channel digital video editing engine designed to "plug and play" on either IBM PC-compatible, MAC or Silicon Graphics platforms

• Specified a network control system for a video dial-tone network which included protocols as well as the hardware for end-to-end signaling and MPEG-2 video distribution.

• Specified the system integration and test system for a hybrid fiber-coax Video-On-Demand/Near Video-On Demand (VOD/NVOD) network, which was being built for one of the RBOC's.

• Conducted the system integration and test of the hardware and system software portions of a video dial-tone network for one of the Local Exchange Carriers (LEC's)

• Wrote the specifications for the network control system for a video dialtone network which included protocols as well as hardware for end-to-end signaling and MPEG-2 video distribution, including retransmission mechanisms, power calibration algorithms and ranging algorithms and additional protocol elements which allow head end equipment to configure the operation of set-top terminals, to log errors on a channel and set top terminal basis, and to manage needed adjustments to the set top's transmit power level and its TDMA timing.

• Specified all elements of a hybrid fiber-coax system return path which used ATM cells as the basic unit from the set-top to the head end, augmented by forward error correction and a sequence-numbering scheme. The ATM cells are recovered in a demodulator which performs error correction and power level measurements as well as alignment measurements to a TDMA slot definition clock which allows ranging adjustments to be performed. Some aspects of the MAC-level protocol have been accepted by DAVIC.

• Developed techniques for providing consistent latency in the set-top messaging protocol (a single channel is shared by multiple set-tops in this system architecture) and for merging TDMA capabilities with Aloha capabilities, allowing for optimal sharing of upstream channels among multiple set-tops, etc. Also developed an Aloha scheme to allow limited-traffic interactive operations.

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