Hardware Architectures for the Efficient Implementation of Multi-Service Broadband Access and Multimedia Home Networks

In multimedia applications, the stringent requirements for balancing transmission capacity, flexible service provisioning and cost reduction lead the manufactures to provide highly integrated System-on Chip (SoC) solutions. This paper analyzes the application of high-bandwidth-networking SoCs to improve on the cost efficiency of multimedia service distribution in home networks. We present a case study, where we utilize the inherent protocol processing capabilities and high bandwidth interfaces of a modern network processor, scaled down to match the performance targets and low cost requirements of the home networking environment. An efficient, low cost Residential Gateway architecture results by mapping the home services onto the processing and memory blocks of this SoC. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.