We’ve already talked about how Broadcom is helping connect the car.  Today we’ll take a look at Broadcom’s role in connecting the home.

Broadcom’s set-top box chips support four technologies for home networking: Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), HomePlug powerline networking (IEEE P1901), and MoCA (coaxial networking).

A little about each technology:

802.11(a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi
With an abundance of mobile devices such as notebooks, tablets, and smartphones in the market today, it’s no wonder that Wi-Fi is such a popular choice for the home network. It provides the most versatile networking solution.

Broadcom has a long history of producing chips in support of various Wi-Fi standards.  Recently, Broadcom announced its first line of 802.11ac-compliant 5G WiFi chips.

HomePlug AV
HomePlug AV is the powerline networking specification developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a trade association led by 70 industry members including Broadcom. It certifies the IEEE 1901 standard for powerline networking.

Powerline networking uses existing residential electrical wiring to create a home network. HomePlug AV adaptors offer a plug-n-play solution to easily bridge a home Ethernet network over any power outlet. The HomePlug AV specification supports up to 200Mbps, fast enough to support common 100Mbps Ethernet.

Yesterday, Broadcom joined Qualcomm Atheros in officially endorsing HomePlug AV as the powerline networking technology of choice in the home.

MoCA (1.1/2.0)
The Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance is a trade group – of which Broadcom is a member – that promotes a standard that uses coaxial cables to connect the home entertainment network. Coaxial cabling is attractive because it can support very high bandwidths and is already installed in most people’s homes.

Many of the big cable providers support MoCA, including Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirectTV, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS.

Broadcom recently announced its next generation of MoCA chips (2.0). MoCA 2.0 more than doubles the bandwidth of MoCA 1.1, supporting throughput of over 800Mbps.

Check out Broadcom’s Stephen Palm, Ph.D., senior technical director in Broadcom’s Broadband Communications Group, demonstrating how Broadcom enables MoCA 2.0 integrated set-top boxes to push low-latency, high-throughput content across dozens of streams for viewing on multiple devices in the home.

802.3 Ethernet
Last but not least, there is the good old-fashioned wired Ethernet connection. Networking extremists will swear by nothing but Ethernet, as a wired connection is the fastest and most reliable network.

Current consumer Ethernet products support speeds of 10Mbps, 100Mbps, and 1Gbps; although, 10Gbps and 100Gbps have been demonstrated. The drawback to Ethernet, however, is that it is not commonly found pre-wired in residential homes, and the option to pull cables around the house may be impractical or unattractive.

It’s actually not uncommon to see all four of these networks in the same residence. The IEEE 1905 standard for home networking specifications interoperability will ensure that these four technologies can coexist seamlessly and harmoniously.

The bottom line: Which technology should you choose to connect your home?

While many would be satisfied with just Ethernet and Wi-Fi, there are still voids to be filled in such a network.  It may be too impractical to wire Ethernet to that new Internet-enabled HDTV in the living room, and it may be located too far away from a router for a Wi-Fi adaptor to be useful. A HomePlug AV adaptor would be the perfect solution in this case, coupled with MoCA 2.0 for reliable video distribution for popular applications.

In fact, there are as many possible scenarios as their are homes and businesses, and people with individual digital requirements. That’s what makes this industry so exciting.

Eric Lin

Eric has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Irvine, and currently works as an RFDVT engineer in his internship with the Broadcom Bluetooth Group in Irvine. He’s a skilled photographer and shows off his work on his blog.

 

 

Prashant Mantha

Prashant is a student at University of California, San Diego, while also working as an intern for Broadcom’s Mobile and Wireless Group.  He’s an experienced writer who started as the editor of his high school newspaper, then created a blog-styled database of challenging roads across the country for his last job at Automotive.com.