Connectivity starts at home.
From the first TV set-top box chips to the creation of the DOCSIS cable architecture standard, Broadcom has shaped the connected home over its 21-year history.
But what will the future of home connectivity look like?
Stephen Palm, Broadcom Senior Technical Director, Broadband Communications Group, looks back at more than two decades of home networking and considers how the next generation of technologies need to evolve in this article featured in the June issue of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, a semiannual journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Consumer Electronics Society.
Read Stephen Palm’s “Home Networks: From Bits to Gigabits” (Paid Registration Required)
A few key takeaways from the article:
- No single home networking technology has emerged as the clear winner: Homes today use a combination of technologies including MoCA, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and HomePlug. With hundreds of millions of devices already deployed in today’s networks, tomorrow’s successful networks will build upon these technologies to meet future demands with MoCA 2.0, 5G WiFi (802.11ac), HomePlug AV 2.0.
- Layering IEEE 1905 on those multiple technologies will allow easier installation and maintenance through topology discovery, metrics, and unified security and allow devices to select the most appropriate path.
- Home networking technologies will become an increasingly important component of delivering satellite, cable, telecom and over-the-top content, including premium movies, sports and Internet-based services.
- Gateways will emerge as a media hub in the home that streams content over the home network directly to devices such TVs and game consoles and will support the proliferation of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.
- Broadcom is the only company to offer a complete portfolio of home networking standards to create a high performance and reliable plug-n-play connected home network.
About Stephen Palm
Dr. Stephen Palm received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Irvine, his master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. He started tinkering with home networking in the 1980s by installing X10 to remote control room lights. He’s currently a senior technical director responsible for Broadcom’s home networking strategy to enable multimedia and smart energy services for distribution via residential wired and wireless networks. He chairs and participates in committees including DLNA, MoCA, Wi-Fi Alliance, HomePlug Alliance, RVU Alliance, and IEEE, with emphasis in home networking applications and QoS technologies.
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