Post on 18-Dec-2015
The Fibre-to-
the-Distribution-
Point (FTTdp)
Option for the
NBN Dr Craig Watkins
Ing. Kelvin Lillingstone-Hall
FTTdp for the NBN, 4th August 2014 2
Presentation Outline
Why we need the NBN
What must the NBN deliver
How can this be delivered (technology
options)
FTTP, FTTN, HFC
Introduction to FTTdp
Cost considerations of FTTdp
Conclusions
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NBN Objectives
To provide communications renewal
Augment commercial delivery modes
Supply natural monopoly infrastructure
Facilitate enterprise growth/allow nation
to compete on the global stage
Supply infrastructure for today and the
future
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What Makes NBN A Challenge?
Commercial and regulatory concerns
Extensive requirements for skilled staff
Uncertain demand projections
Yet to emerge applications/technology ecosystem issues
Technology development that may reduce NBN usage base
Evolving and developing core technologies
An inherently complex problem with some uniquely Australian aspects
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Need for Informed Debate
Political and commercial forces can not be allowed to overshadow logic
Media focus/public interest in sensationalism doesnt aid national interest
The academic/industry divide appears stark A role for EA?
ITEE-driven position paper in the works EA engagement in the national and
engineering interest?
Tap collective expertise to find solutions to complex national infrastructure problems...
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What are future needs?
Communications convergence
Replace legacy fixed-line network?
Growth in demand, but do trends
continue?
Is wireless a real alternative?
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Nielsens Law
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Bandwidth Usage
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A slightly more recent
example:
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4K Video Bandwidth Demand
Netflix recently announced 4K streaming at 15.6 Mbps
Conservatively allow 20 to 25 Mbps for 4K
4K appears set to dominate, but higher formats may ultimately obtain market share
Multiple streams per premises already a reality for many
100 Mbps minimum must be short term target
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NBN Technology Options
FTTP Fibre-to-the-Premises
FTTN Fibre-to-the-Node
FTTdp Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point
HFC Hybrid Fibre Coax
FTTB (FTT-Building/Basement) discussed as part of FTTN
Fixed Wireless and Satellite are useful where higher levels of connectivity are not economic
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Fibre-to-the-premises
Clearly provides extremely robust
capability
Future proof in the sense that new active
equipment can ultimately provide almost
unlimited capability
Cost is a major concern, both financially
and in terms of network build time
$3260 per premises under NBN Co
radically redesigned FTTP for brownfields
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FTTP Advantages
Single national network build
No RF interference concerns
Low power consumption of optical fibre technology
Provides sufficient connectivity for demands of effectively all users
No relative advantage/disadvantage provided to those in fibre deployment areas
Possibility of removing artificial pricing structures that shackle usage
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FTTP Concerns
12 million construction sites problem (7 million?)
Overall cost that translates to stepped pricing structure that appears to provide little 'empowerment' stimulation
Complex Distribution Fibre Network/Local Fibre Network build
Little ability to exploit large numbers of independent contractors
Need for professional install of CPE (with concerns that this is overly bulky and ugly)
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FTTP Prospects Complexity in the Distribution Fibre
Network/Local Fibre Network may be reduced through judicious engineering that accounts for practical concerns of: Design complexity, and to what extent 'crowd
sourcing' can help provide design input; and
Physical installation difficulty, and incorporation of improved processes
FTTP deployment still appears expensive and slow
Aerial FTTP may need reconsideration? Existing HFC infrastructure can be exploited to
improve coverage concerns throughout the 10-15 year FTTP build process
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Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC)
DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) 3.0 and 3.1
Level of sharing must be reduced over time as demand grows
HFC receives fair criticism today, so significant room for improvement exists
Yet the existing assets have potential to be exploited
How does the nation ensure that the assets are exploited and yet a satisfactory service is provided?
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A push from global Cable
The global cable industry is far more competitive and progressive than the Australian HFC experience might suggest
The cable industry has been serious about the broadband data industry for some time (DOCSIS 3.0 or 3.1)
Cable community appears to acknowledge that judicious node splitting and deeper fibre deployment is necessary
End-game appears to be EPON, possibly exploiting RFoG (speculative at present)
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Engineering an HFC pathway
NBN Co must move from nebulous considerations related to HFC assets toward concrete engineering development plans for the assets
We must understand the level of investment and time required to migrate to a robust and capable access network infrastructure in HFC areas
Positive: New NBN Co CTO, Dennis Steiger, comes from cable background
Negative: Zero progress has been made on the HFC equation to date by NBN Co
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Fibre-to-the-Node
FTTN reduces the overall deployment cost by using copper pairs for the last several hundred meters connection
VDSL provides robust capability at short distances
Signal attenuation and crosstalk (interference), causes concern at large distance
Node equipment is bulky, requires power, cooling, battery back up
Retained copper is a maintenance issue
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FTTN Limitations
Distances involved, coupled with elementary geometry, imply many will obtain relatively poor FTTN bandwidth outcome
Vectoring is necessary for any hope of decent output, but even vectoring can not create miracles with large numbers of concurrent streaming users
Limited match to user demand profiles with limited scope of economic augmentation for high-demand users
Single VDSL profile limits ability to provide symmetric upload capability (very important for some users)
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FTTN Core Technology is Copper
Installed twisted pair copper still has
value, but caution is needed
The copper network is clearly not a
modern hassle-free technology
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Where FTTN Makes Sense
Small regional towns, highly clustered around central exchange facilities Vectored VDSL2 implementation in exchange provides far greater network capability than fixed wireless
For FTTB (FTT-Building/Basement). MDU deployment of Vectored VDSL2 involves short copper runs, providing high capacity, albeit with cross-talk complications
Some ability to reduce crosstalk component exists with future in-building wiring upgrade, but FTTP option would likely dominate at that stage
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Vectoring is Vital for FTTN
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The Vectoring Miracle!
Vectoring exploits crosstalk to maximise transmission bandwidth to individual lines
Primary limitation related to neighbouring lines transmitting concurrently
Prevalence of this limitation becomes more significant as bandwidth usage statistics continue to evolve
Problem for neighbouring high-demand users, or for moderate demand user in proximity to high demand users
Ultimately a more chaotic level of service is provided, with limited ability to guarantee anything
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The FTTN Risk Unknown future network demand growth is likely
to bypass FTTN capability very quickly The need to deploy fibre closer to premises may
become obvious well before a national FTTN build is complete, and long before the sunk investment pays off
FTTN does not provide for the needs of high-demand users economically, and hence does not act to more fully stimulate the domestic economy
FTTN only meets projected demand from average users on low-end projections
FTTN appears likely to fall short of demand requirements of a significant number of moderate users (neighbour issues etc.)
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The FTTN Value Equation
When compared with the challenges of
FTTP, FTTN appears to have some merit
However, we must consider whether other
technology options provide better value for
the nation
The possibility of extending fibre closer to
premises in the initial NBN build must be
properly considered
FTTdp Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point provides this option
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Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point
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The Short Copper Advantage
VDSL performs exceptionally well for short
loops
Profile 30a provides 100 Mbps symmetrical
Bonding and Phantom Mode allow ~250
Mbps (extra lead-in pair availability)
90% reduction in copper, and practical
elimination of all copper joints
G.fast and FTTP on demand become
possible
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The G.fast Promise
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Crosstalk with G.fast
Substantially increased G.fast bandwidth causes severe issues with crosstalk (from tens of MHz with VDSL to hundreds of MHz with G.fast)
New vectoring approaches show promise, but also promise to be CPU intensive
Short copper loops perfect for G.fast
FTTdp with lack of shared lead-in is ideal
G.fast has Time Domain Duplexing (TDD), providing symmetrical service
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Limiting Crosstalk
G.fast is unlikely to provide value in
environments with significant crosstalk, so
FTTB and FTTN are not promising
Short copper loop lengths of FTTdp
reduce crosstalk
Limited shared lead-in is the ideal situation
Statistical concerns apply to small shared
lead-in situations
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Beyond G.fast
G.fast is a maturing technology, and there are even faster speeds on the horizon for copper
Alcatel Lucent have recently publicised XG-Fast, promising up to 10 Gbps speeds on 30m copper pairs
1 Gbps symmetrical services are promised by future standards such as what may evolve from the Alcatel Lucent XG-Fast push and other commercial input
There are engineering considerations, and such technologies are clearly not a panacea
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The G.fast Prospect
It is as yet unclear whether G.fast provides
a next step for the masses
The FTTdp approach allows flexible
upgrade to GPON or G.fast on an
individual as-demanded basis
G.fast likely to have deployment value,
but FTTP upgrade is expected to be
competitive for many users
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FTTdp with VDSL2 Variation in end-user demand is a major consideration
Short-loop VDSL2 provides capability to reliably match the needs of all but extreme user demands for the immediate future, including prospects of bonded VDSL
Flexible on-demand GPON upgrade capability ensures that there is no requirement for a second major network construction effort
While large construction companies may prefer a secondary network build phase, the absence of such is positive news for the nation
Robust capability is provided by the FTTdp approach that greatly exceeds what is possible with FTTN
No user is left behind!
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FTTdp compared to FTTP
FTTdp (in the form of fibre to the lead in pit)
has a fibre deployment identical to that of a
dual-stage splitter FTTP deployment
We would not necessarily choose a dual-
stage split model for FTTP, but it does provide
benefits:
Smaller FDH enclosures, including retractable design;
Reduced fibre count in distribution fibre network, allowing deployment flexibility
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The Cost Equation for FTTdp
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Cost reduction compared to
FTTP NBN Co Strategic review quotes $2100 average
brownfields premises connection cost
$800 equipment allowance plus $800 for multiple truck rolls, gives $400 per premises
Saving of $1600 per premises, for 7 million premises, equals $11.2 billion
Lower fibre counts in LNDN may be already accounted for in NBN Co radically redesigned FTTP
Cost equation in aerial distribution areas differs here FTTP may still be preferable (also suggests the FTTP figure for underground installations is worse than the $2100 quoted above)
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Cutover in FTTdp Cutover of copper occurs on premises-by-
premises basis with physical connection at street pit, by a suitably approved installer
Avoids larger disruptions, as may be involved with FTTN cutover
Pre-delivery of CPE allows customer install concurrent with street-pit scheduled work
May be benefit to bulk scheduling of connections (to reduce truck rolls). This can be facilitated by a competitive private contractor industry. (Room for innovation on a small scale!)
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Is FTTdp cost-comparable with
FTTN?
We reduce time consuming copper patching work at nodes
No need to supply power or batteries to nodes
No large street cabinets, reducing council and community concerns
Improved work-flow practices with FTTdp
Cut-over greatly simplified compared to FTTN
No need for vectoring implementation
Reduction in maintenance costs as well
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The benefits of FTTdp
Robust capability with VDSL (~ 250 Mbps)
On-demand upgrade to G.fast and FTTP
Single network build phase
Effectively zero wasted infrastructure should future FTTP be necessary widely
No opportunity for criticism of network capability (PR benefit)
Encourage commercial installer eco-system
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Conclusions
It is vital that all options are weighed carefully
Modern communications infrastructure considerations are inherently complex
FTTdp appears to offer network capability very close to that of full FTTP for greatly reduced cost
FTTdp may be the ideal solution from all angles
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Contact Email
CraigRobertWatkins@gmail.com
KelvinLH@oaktelecom.com