Nearly four years ago, the benefits of DOCSIS 3.0 were first introduced to the cable television industry. In the highly competitive cable television market, providers have been looking for ways to offer better services. In this market, quality of service and additional broadband features are the defining features that customers’ decisions are based on. As such, many cable providers are migrating to DOCSIS 3.0; with its higher data rates, additional subscriber capability, better bandwidth utilization, high-quality IP video, and the ability to carry IPv6 addresses, it is hard to ignore the benefits of D3.
As cable providers begin to implement DOCSIS 3.0 in their systems, the need to service these enhanced systems became an apparent and immediate demand.
Trilithic was among the first to anticipate this demand and has responded with a built-in CableLabs® certified D3 modem for the 860 DSPi multifunction cable analyzer. The inclusion of the D3 modem enables a full compliment of tests on DOCSIS 3.0 signals, including complete statistical information about each of the bonded signals, including individual downstream receive levels and upstream transmit levels, downstream MER and pre- and post-FEC BER. Additionally, a full range of throughput tests can be performed.
Cable MSO’s are rapidly deploying "wideband" technology (marketing speak for DOCSIS 3.0) in order to maintain a differentiating advantage of high speed data throughput in an increasingly competitive market.
These very high speed data services which are expected to be especially attractive to businesses and game enthusiasts are hoped to generate high margin revenue and increase ARPU (Average Revenue per User). Because the services are rolling out with a relatively high price tag, customers will very likely expect high quality and reliability. This means that the service provider must be able to verify signal quality, and troubleshoot quickly when problems arise.
While many physical tests can be performed on DOCSIS 3.0 signals that are configured as "primary" with existing DOCSIS 2.0 meters, a complete test process would be especially time consuming. With a DOCSIS 2.0 meter, the tech must tune to each of the bonded signals individually to run tests. A DOCSIS 3.0 meter runs a comprehensive set of tests on all of the bonded signals in one CMstat test. Note that the measurement display provides a complete set of continuously updated information about all of the DOCSIS 3.0 bonded signals, including the downstream carrier frequencies, receive levels, MER, and pre- and post-FEC BER, as well as upstream frequencies and transmit levels. The only way to accurately measure throughput in the DOCSIS 3.0 environment is to use an analyzer with an embedded DOCSIS 3.0 modem. The measurement display provides the upstream and downstream data rates based on transmission to and from an ACTS (Advanced Communication Test System) server located in the cable headend. While some non-IP related measurements are possible with a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, they are so time consuming that they are likely to be neglected. Having an embedded DOCSIS 3.0 modem ensures that the tech will be ready for testing on any type of DOCSIS 3.0 signal (primary or not). Systems are likely to be motivated to move away from "all-primary" configurations to only one configured as primary with the rest secondary to eliminate overhead and optimize throughput.
Here is a list of tests that may be performed with a D3 modem equipped analyzer:
