Time-interleaved ADCs for full-band cable television receivers

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For most Canadians, a coaxial cable provides the highest capacity data connection to our homes capable of carrying hundreds cable TV channels plus internet traffic over a 1 GHz bandwidth. Cable TV and internet receivers today typically employ analog filters tuned to receive only a single channel. This simplifies the rest of the receiver since signals occupying other channels can not interfere. However, a receiver with the ability to digitize wider bandwidths of the cable spectrum could select and separate channels using digital signal processing (DSP), enabling simultaneous reception of multiple channels. Such technology would also allow communication standards to evolve to permit the aggregation of channels to carry higher bandwidth data and higher quality video streams. The ultimate solution is to simultaneously digitize the entire cable TV bandwidth. This would obviate the need for analog filters, thus reducing the receiver's size and cost while also maximizing the receiver's functionality. Moreover, such architectures could be readily reconfigured for changing requirements by simply reprogramming the DSP. The key impediment to realizing such a flexible receiver is the implementation of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) capable of digitizing the entire cable TV spectrum. Its implementation using standard CMOS chip manufacturing technology would allow for its fabrication on the same chip alongside the DSP, reducing the overall power consumption, size, and cost. In summary, there is a growing need for CMOS ADCs with sufficient bandwidth to directly digitize the entire cable TV spectrum and sufficient dynamic range for 100's of cable TV channels. The project's industry partner, Kapik Integration, is located only 1 km from UofT labs and offices, has tremendous technical leadership and is pursuing growth in this area. It is our collective objective with this