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3 New communication networks

Communication
Systems

Master Universitario en Ingeniería de Telecomunicación. SISTEMAS DE COMUNICACIONES 1


3 New communication networks

CHAPTER 3:
New communication networks
for triple-play services

3.6 : Access network

Master Universitario en Ingeniería de Telecomunicación. SISTEMAS DE COMUNICACIONES 2


3 New communication networks

Evolution of the hybrid


3.6.4
access network

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3 New communication networks

Long-Haul
Transmission network
Aggregation and Switching

Core/Backbone network
BTS/NodeB/eNodeB

Enterprise
HFC
Access Network

xDSL
Ethernet
Enterprise
xPON
Microwave Terrestrial
radiolink
Subscriber
Small Office
Home Office

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3 New communication networks

HFC network To/From Other


HFC Access
networks

ACCESS Bidirectional
NETWORK Amplifiers

PSTN Cable
(VoIP) Modem

INTERNET
GbE
Network TAP
HEADEND
Cable
Cable Modem Modem
Termination
System
(CMTS)/EQAM
Fibers Coaxial
Fiber Node Cable

Hub Downstream Cable


signal Up to 1200 subscribers per Modem
Upstream fiber node
signal
Broadcast
Sources
VoD Sources

Cable Cable
Modem Modem

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3 New communication networks

Introduction

• Now we will revise:


– Which is the latest standard for HFC networks
– Possible evolution of the transmission over coaxial
cable
– Evolution of the HFC network architecture
– Evolution of HFC networks towards xPON architectures
with the implementation of RF over Glass technology

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3 New communication networks

HFC Access Network


• Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) is an access
technology developed during the 80s, that was
targeted, at first instance, to reduce the
cascading effects of active electronic devices in
the signal quality found by cable operators in
their coaxial-based tree and branch networks to
give the service of broadcast video.
• Cable operators recognized as well the need to
evolve their networks to support two-way
interactive services offering video on demand,
high speed connections to the Internet and
telephony as well, requiring more bandwidth
than just the one coaxial-based networks could
offer.

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3 New communication networks

HFC Access Network


• Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (Docsis) is an international
telecommunications standard that covers this technology for the transporting of data over
a cable (CATV) plant utilizing QAM and/or QPSK RF modulation.
• Docsis has been modified for use in Europe published under the name EuroDOCSIS (ITU-T
J122 Annex F). The difference stands in the bandwidth, because European cable TV
conforms to PAL standards of 8 MHz bandwidth and North American cable TV conforms
to ATSC standards which specify 6 MHz.

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3 New communication networks
HFC connectivity
• “Hybrid fiber-coaxial and other cable accounted for 20% of the total of all fixed
broadband connections. Point Topic's report shows that the latest standard of
this technology is now deployed throughout various markets and is capable of
providing gigabit download speeds. The technology is notably popular in North
America” 3. COMUNICACIONES FIJAS - 3.2. Banda ancha fija - b) Líneas
39. Líneas de los servicios de banda ancha fija

IV/2015 IV/2016 IV/2017


Residencial 10.843.663 11.180.208 11.696.353
xDSL 6.076.565 4.854.890 3.884.032
FTTH 2.561.279 4.027.160 5.476.204
HFC 2.118.355 2.185.817 2.189.197
WIFI-WIMAX-LMDS 57.944 53.072 30.303
Sobre red móvil 14.825 46.861 109.140
Otros 14.695 12.408 7.477
Negocios 2.517.225 2.760.930 2.777.535
xDSL 1.579.547 1.454.247 1.163.813
FTTH 555.545 853.479 1.135.353
HFC 360.438 426.607 441.294
WIFI-WIMAX-LMDS 12.401 9.009 4.802
Sobre red móvil 5.669 14.248 29.958
Otros 3.625 3.340 2.315
Total 13.360.888 13.941.138 14.473.888

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HFC Access Network from Fiber node to Cable


Modem
• HFC transmits downstream
(from fiber node to cable
modem), using radio
frequency subcarriers ,
broadcast analogue TV
signals for legacy systems
or digital signals MPEG-2/4
transport stream frames
over QAM channels .
Multicast has been included
in Docsis 3.0. Channel
bandwidth being used in
Europe as mentioned
before is 8 MHz. Possible
modulation schemes are 64
or 256 QAM.

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HFC Spectrum allocation in the coaxial cable

Guard Analogue TV First


upstream Band
(PAL, NTSC,..) HFC networks

Guard Analogue TV Digital TV


upstream Band (PAL, NTSC,..) Downstream Data (MPEG-2/4)

Guard Digital TV Current HFC


upstream Band IP (Data, Voice, VoD,…) (MPEG-2/4)

5 42 (US) 770 (Japan) MHz


88 (Docsis 2.0)
52 (Japan) 860 (US)
65 (EU) 862 (EU)
111 (Docsis 3.0)

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3 New communication networks

HFC Access Network from Fiber node to Cable Modem


• HFC transmits as well upstream ( from cable modems to the fiber node) and downstream, using
again radio frequency subcarriers, Ethernet frames mainly encapsulated inside DOCSIS frames for
narrowcast services.
– First networks had problems with the uploading, because of the noise aggregation
– It has been solved for the novel DOCSIS standards
• Channel bandwidth being used from 200 kHz to 6.4 MHz. QPSK, 16-QAM (for Docsis 1.0 and 1.1) , 32-
QAM, 64-QAM (for Docsis 2.0) or 128-QAM (Docsis 3.0) can be chosen for its implementation.
• Channel bonding that allows to take four DOCSIS channels and transmit data over them as if they
were one single channel is a possibility offered by Docsis 3.0 (ITU-T J222.3). Also going up to 85 MHz
for the upstream traffic and to 1002 MHZ for the downstream is offered in this standard, removing
some analogue TV channels if required.

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Elements in a HFC network

HEAD-END LOCAL HUB

Rx Tx

Fiber
Node

SDH SDH
Terminal Terminal

Return

Example of Narrowcast service traffic combination with Broadcast services at RF in Local Hub
– CMTS: Cable Modem termination system -> used to provide high speed data services
– HDT: Host Digital Terminal -> connects digital telephony switches to hybrid fiber coaxial
distribution equipment.
– VoD: Video delivery

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Fiber Node

1310 or 1550 nm wavelength Media Converter


RF Amplifier
Fiber

Diplexer
Coaxial Cable
Photo
diode

5-65 / 88-862 MHz


Laser
Fiber

To/From CMTS/EQAM To/From Cable Modem

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Current update: DOCSIS 3.1


• Including downstream (DS) and upstream (US) spectrum
expansion,
• New PHY -> OFDM
– Adding Cyclic Period (CP is used to compensate for any Inter
Symbol Interference (ISI) caused by the channel reflections and
to avoid data loss caused by inaccurate timing in the FFT trigger
• Modern FEC -> LDPC
• DS Multiple Modulation Profiles (MMP),
• High modulation orders (up to 4096 QAM)

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3 New communication networks
Docsis 3.1 standard
• interoperability tests of equipment of different suppliers where launched in October
2014.
• Another similarity is that the full capability of the system can only be unleashed if the
number of amplifiers is reduced (thereby improving SNR), and the
upstream/downstream spectrum is expanded (e.g., current systems have ~50 MHz
for upstream, while DOCSIS 3.1 would like to have 200 MHz). Doing either of these
things is very expensive, requiring installation of more nodes and new amplifiers and
taps.
• DOCSIS 3.1 promises to support a shared 10 Gb/s downstream, certainly enough to
keep up with the average cable MSO's (multiple-system operator) competitors if the
number of subscribers per node is kept relatively low.
– For now, most DOCSIS 3.1 technology vendors quote an upstream target of 1 to 2 Gb/s.

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Dimensioning the channel

* Table by AYHAM AL-‐BANNA, DISTINGUISHED SYSTEM ENGINEER, ARRIS

QAM independent spectral efficiency for asynchronous channels with 8K FFT size can be
estimated to be 0.7954 sps/Hz (i.e., ((7,680-80-88-60-16-48)/7,680)* (40/42.5)* 0.8785).
-> In 1 GHz in the coax cable and 4096 QAM -> 9540 Mbps
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3 New communication networks

HFC evolution (spectrum)


• Although for greenfield deployments xPON is the technology to be assumed to be
used, for brownfield deployments this is a possible evolutions to increase available
transmission capacity:
– Use of up to 1 GHz spectrum in the coax cable.
• The HFC networks were designed to use up to about 860 MHz (UHF terrestrial TV band),
but that is not the limit of possible transmission through coaxial cable.
• Using a 4096 QAM modulation the extra about 140 MHz can give a transmission
capacity of 1.4 Gb/s (in theory The DOCSIS 3.1 PHY and MAC standards have specified
the QAM modulation order as high as to 16384QAM, currently not reachable).
• Anyhow using this spectrum range implies the request of amplifiers working in it and
with higher gains due to the higher attenuation at higher frequencies as well.
– to expand the cable spectrum to a very high frequency like 1794MHz is
also planned, but the 1794MHz expansion in cable spectrum appears too
challenging and currently leaves tremendous concerns

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HFC network architecture evolution


• Another possible evolutions for deployments towards NG-HFC for brownfield scenarios
that increase the capacity can be:
– Fiber node split- having mini-nodes at the same location as the current ones with the same
spectrum available and less number of homes to share the capacity. For connection to the
CMTS WDM could be used for the mini-nodes to share the same fibers.
– μ-CMTS approach: place small CMTSs at the position of the optical nodes.
– μ-edge QAM* approach, this solutions is based on the Modular-CMTS architecture. It
consists of:
• one main Core CMTS based at a Head End or CO and Edge QAMs placed remotely at the position of
the optical fiber node.
• The Core CMTS will perform all DOCSIS functionalities while the Tx- and Rx Edge QAM will perform
the transmitting and receiving of the DOCSIS signals and the translation to Gigabit Ethernet.
– (*) Edge-QAM can be used to deliver TV using Switched Digital Video (“SDV”),
where live video channels are only transmitted over a cable system on an as-
needed basis (whereas DTV is occupying more spectrum)

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RFoG
• RFoG (Radio Frequency over Glass) is
network design in which the coax
portion of the HFC network is replaced
by a single-fiber passive optical
network, making possible the use of
the same headend and home
equipment deployed for the legacy HFC
network, requiring the installation of
RFoG Optical Network Unit (R-ONU).
• Downstream and upstream
transmission use different wavelengths
to share the same fiber (typically
1,550 nm downstream, and 1,310 nm
or 1,610 nm upstream)
• In case of deploying the solution using
1610 nm wavelength upstream RFoG is
compatible with xPON technologies

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RFoG
• Also it is planned to be compatible
with the transmission of XG-PON or
10 GEPON 1577 nm wavelength for
downstream.
• PON splitter for up to 32 subscribers
and up to a range of 20 km is
considered in designs of RFoG
networks, although a possible
solution to increase number of
subscribers and distance can be to
include virtual hubs closer to
customers premises.
• RFoG is a standard from SCTE, Society
of Cable Telecommunications
Engineers (SCTE 174 2010) and ANSI
• Additionally, higher-performance
RFoG systems not only support
DOCSIS 3.0 with bonding, but also
enable 64 QAM upstream.
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HomeGrid
• There are different solutions that service providers are implementing to distribute triple-play signals
at home. ITU-T G.hn, promoted by HomeGrid Forum, is one of those.
• ITU-T G.hn (home network) or HomeGrid, included in G9960 (10/09) for its physical layer and
architecture description, is a standard for existing-wire home networking so over power lines, phone
lines or coaxial cables with data rates up to 1 Gb/s

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HomeGrid

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G.hn HomeGrid
• G.hn standard includes for the physical layer OFDM with possible modulation schemes
of up to 4096 QAM for the different subcarriers
• Although most elements of G.hn are common for all three media supported by the
standard, G.hn includes media-specific optimizations for each media. Some of these
media-specific parameters include:
– OFDM Carrier Spacing: 195.31 kHz in coaxial (frequency band from 300 to 2000MHz), 48.82 kHz in
phone lines (from 0 to 100 MHz), 24.41 kHz in power lines (from 0 to 200 MHz).
– FEC Rates: G.hn's FEC can operate with code rates 1/2, 2/3, 5/6, 16/18 and 20/21. Although these rates
are not media specific, it is expected that the higher code rates will be used in cleaner media (such as
coaxial) while the lower code rates will be used in noisy environments such as power lines.
– Automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanisms: G.hn supports operation both with and without ARQ (re-
transmission). Although this is not media specific, it is expected that ARQ-less operation is sometimes
appropriate for cleaner media (such as coaxial) while ARQ operation is appropriate for noisy
environments such as power lines.
– Power levels: G.hn defines different power masks for each media.
• MIMO support: Recommendation G.9963 includes provisions for transmitting G.hn
signals over multiple AC wires (phase, neutral, ground), if they are physically available.
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G.hn HomeGrid
• Data link layer description of G.hn is included in ITU-T G9961 (06/10)
• The G.hn Media Access Control is based on TDMA architecture, in
which a "domain master" schedules Transmission Opportunities
(TXOPs) that can be used by one or more devices in the "domain".
There are two types of TXOPs
– Contention-Free Transmission Opportunities (CFTXOP), which have a fixed duration and
are allocated to a specific pair of transmitter and receiver.
– Shared Transmission Opportunities (STXOP), which are shared among multiple
devices in the network. STXOP are divided into Time Slots (TS).
• Security is by way of AES 128 encryption.

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G.hn
• Main focus of G.hn is on home-networking:
– As the standards do not cover needed functions for access networks such as
security, provisioning, management ,etc…
– It does not work in coaxial networks with amplifiers, so not possible to be
implemented in HFC networks
• There are other options for the transmission over coaxial cable such
as MoCA and HomePNA, and options over power lines which
include HomePlug and HD-PLC.
• Anyhow, lack of interoperability and minimal coexistence has
prevented widespread deployment of these wired technologies
• Industry is moving towards promotion of G.hn as the sole
technology for wireline networks at home

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Annex I: Other approaches for


communications inside home
Annex

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Home-networking over coaxial cable


• For the communications over coaxial cable G.hn is based on the open standard of the
MoCA, Multimedia over Coax Alliance for delivering data over the unused spectrum of
coax cable.
• The latest specification is MoCA 2.0:
– Works in the frequency band between 500 and 1650 MHz.
– Expected net throughputs of 400 (baseline mode) or 800 Mb/s (enhanced mode)
– Uses a 100MHz channel for the baseline mode and channel bonding for enhanced mode
• HomePNA standarized by ITU-T. Last standard HomePNA 3.1 (ITU-T G.9954), specifies a
home networking protocol with a physical layer that supports transmitting and receiving
frames using quadrature amplitude modulation QAM over twisted-pair wiring or coaxial
cabling.
– The twisted-pair physical layer specification defines two frequency ranges, 4–20 MHz and 12–28 MHz, with
QAM constellation sizes between 2–10 bits per symbol and data rates from 4–160 Mb/s.
– The coaxial cabling physical layer specification, by contrast, specifies four frequency ranges between 4–52
MHz, QAM constellation sizes between 2–10 bits per symbol and data rates between 4–320 Mb/s.
– The HomePNA 3.1 media access control (MAC) layer is based on a carrier sense multiple access with collision
avoidance (CSMA/CA)

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Home-networking over power line


• The IEEE 1901-2010 standard defines a method of broadband PLC that can achieve a data rate of 500
Mb/s. Two technologies can be implemented following it, one is based on FFT modulation, the basis
for HomePlug, and a second based on a wavelet modulation the basis for HD-PLC.
• HomePlug (HP) is the trade name of standard developed by the HomePlug Alliance. HomePlugAV2 is
the latest version, released in 2011.
• HomePlugAV2 extends the OFDM spectrum on the line from 30 to 86 MHz with up to 4096 QAM,
allowing data speeds up to 1 Gb/s or a net rate over 500 Mb/s considering network overhead.
Furthermore, it features a power line version of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless
technique for further link reliability and higher data rates.
• HD-PLC frequency band occupies from 2 to 28 MHz, getting a 240 Mb/s maximum transmission
capacity

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