Re: Cable modem spec(s) sites - lookie here

[Ed Heffernan <eheffernan at excitehome.net>]

Hello, 

The DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 specs are broken out into several categories.  Major
categories of interest would be:

RFI:  Radio Frequency Interface - Details the PHY/MAC layer of DOCSIS
focusing on CM to CMTS protocol interop.

OSSI: Operation Support System Interface Spec - Details SNMP protocol
interopability and MIB specific issues. 

BPI/BPI+: Baseline Privacy Spec - Details CM to CMTS encryption and BPI+
includes certificate based authentication. 

There are additional specification categories such as:  CMCI (Cable
modem to CPE Interface Spec), NSI (CMTS Network side interface spec), TR -
Telco Return spec, etc..

Cablelabs also maintains ATP's (Acceptance Test Plans) which detail the
sets of tests performed to verify DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 interoperability.
these will be of interest to vendor wishing to submit a device (CM or
CMTS) to a Cablelabs test wave for certification or qualification.  Also
maintained is a PICS/proforma conformance check list. 

All DOCSIS specifications (which can be found at: 
http://www.cablemodem.com/specifications.html) begin with an 'SP' in the
document identifier.  The specification naming convention is:

SP-<Category>-<interim_spec_number>-<date>.pdf

So, SP-RFI-I06-010829.pdf is the DOCSIS 1.0 Radio Frequency Interface
Specification, interim release 06 dated 2001-08-29. 

Many of the DOCSIS 1.1 specs will have a '1.1' appended to the category
identifier. 

The above specs are all for North American cablesystems, Cablelabs also
has a 'EURO-DOCSIS' initiative as well and information on this can be
found at: http://www.tcomlabs.com

Cablelabs also has a PacketCable initiative which is an attempt to
develop interface specs for 'real-time' delivery of content over 2-way
HFC. See: http://www.packetcable.com/

A DOCSIS interim specification is developed around Cableslabs ECR's
(Engineering Change Requests) which become (after approval) ECN's
(Engineering Change Notifications).  At the end of most spec's you will
find a list of ECN's which were added to the spec from the previous
release.  To get access to ECN's/ECR's I believe you have to be a
Cablelabs member. 

Under IETF there is the IPCDN working group:

http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/ipcdn-charter.html


With the following RFC's of interest:

RFC 2669 - Cable Device MIB
RFC 2670 - RF MIB
RFC 3083 - BPI MIB

Under the ITU-T:

ITU-T J.83: Details transmission signalling, MPEG transport, FEC,
etc.. for digital television signals.  J.83 Annex A/B are contained
within. 

Hope this helps, 

Regards, 

-Ed. 


On Fri, 30 Nov 2001, Dan Kolis wrote:

> >hi,
> >
> >Cablemodem means you would like info on DOCSIS (Data
> >Over Cable Systems Interface Specs) right!! Well i
> >guess DOCSIS 1.1 is currrent. Following are the MIBs
> >for DOCSIS:
> >
> 
> Hi
> Probably full specs in PDF (about 800 pages in pieces by ISO layer) at:
> 
> http://www.cablelabs.org
> but you have to poke around. Some detailed stuff is at:
> 
> http://www.scte.org/standards/standardsavailable.html
> 
> 
> and less detailed stuff is at:
> 
> http://www.cablelabs.com/about_cl/publications.html
> 
> 
> If you think how this interacts with the RFC's and ANSI, IEC, CCITT, SCTE,
> etc it would be unlikely a pickup truck would hold all the 'specs' on paper,
> so expect to piece together what you need. If you want more help I can try
> to help (no promises).
> 
> good luck
> Dan K
>