Date: 31/05/2012

High density QAM modulator chipset from Maxim for tomorrow's cable services

Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. has announced a new high-density, wideband, scalable QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) modulator chipset 'MAX5880' digital upconverter (DUC) and 'MAX5882' RF digital-to-analog converter (RF DAC).

Maxim claims that the MAX5880/MAX5882 delivers up to 32 times more broadband cable capacity per RF port compared to a conventional analog upconverter, and saves up to 93% in power dissipation per QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) channel. The QAM modulator chipset performance exceeds Cable Labs DOCSIS 3.0 RF specifications.

This integrated and scalable solution gives cable service providers the bandwidth for tomorrow's cable services while reducing CAPEX and OPEX today. A single RF port enabled by the MAX5880/MAX5882 chipset replaces multiple QAM modulator boxes needed to deliver broadcast TV, high-speed data and VoIP triple-play services, as well as video-on-demand, switched digital video, and future interactive IPTV in the home.

The MAX5880 DUC interfaces with the MAX5882, 14-bit 4.6Gsps RF DAC. The QAM modulator chipset synthesizes up to 128 QAM channels across the entire 50MHz to 1GHz downstream cable spectrum. Cable service providers can now deliver all their broadband content on a single RF port for an entire cable service group. The MAX5880 DUC is a scalable and software upgradeable solution that allows cable service providers to add future capacity without modifying existing hardware.
The MAX5880 DUC and MAX5882 RF DAC fit in two 17 x 17 mm packages.

A high-speed data-converter evaluation (EV) platform and EV kits are available to evaluate the MAX5880 DUC/MAX5882 RF DAC chipset. A reference design and development platform is also available.

The MAX5880/MAX5882 QAM modulator chipset is fully released and in production.

Data sheets:
http://www.maxim-ic.com/MAX5880
http://www.maxim-ic.com/MAX5882