OCAP ATE Host

This product provides a suitable server platform for execution of the OCAP conformance tests available from CableLabs.

OCAP ATE Host consists of the following major components:

• HP Proliant DL360 G8 server.
• CentOS 6.3.
• Two ASI cards from Video Propulsion, Inc.
• SoftOC/OCAP, DSM-CC object carousel generator and OCAP transport stream encoder.
• Two copies of TSMux, software multiplexer which handles play-out through ASI.

In order to run the OCAP conformance tests, you need to construct an automatic test environment (OCAP ATE). The ATE will manage generation of thousands transport streams each containing a test xlet, control their play-out to the OCAP receiver under test and collect the test results.

OCAP ATE Host provides the basic server architecture which will build OCAP transport streams and play them out through an ASI interface. The remaining components of the OCAP ATE which need to be installed on the this system, are obtainable directly from CableLabs and require execution of the CableLabs OCAP Implementer License Agreement. These are:

• the conformance tests themselves, which are part of the Certification Test Package ("CTP"), Annex A, and,
• the OCAP Test Manager, which is part of the "OCAP Automated Test Environment" materials (Annex C).

In addition, two QAM modulators will be required, taking each ASI output, and producing a suitable QAM signal, each to be RF-combined before connection to the OCAP receiver under test.

The current version of the OCAP ATE uses the Out-Of-Band Reverse-Data-Channel (OOB-RDC) to communicate tests results and other information back from the receiver under test to the Test Manager via TCP/IP or UDP/IP sockets. The OCAP implementation does this by use of conformance testing APIs (org.ocap.test.OCAPTest) which must be present as part of the OCAP stack. For more information see Annex W of the OCAP specification.

As a consequence of the above, OCAP ATE needs to be integrated with either a DNCS from Cisco or a DAC from Arris in order to establish a TCP/IP connection (or UDP/IP) between the OCAP ATE and the receiver.

Similarly tests that need to be unbound OCAP applications require the headend for injection of XAIT signaling in the OOB. OCAP ATE Host includes a sendOOB command which will transmit XAITs to the DNCS or DAC for transmission in the OOB, necessary for the generation of unbound applications. For more information on this process, please contact us for further discussion.

There are a number of alternative output configurations available for OCAP ATE Host, including:

• R/F QAM as an alternative to ASI.
• Three ASI or QAM outputs rather than two.