XL 6/11/99

HFC Architecture In The MakingHFC Architecture In The Making

Oleh Sniezko, Tony Werner, Doug Combs

and Esteban Sandino

AT&T Broadband & Internet Services

Xiaolin Lu, Ted Darcie, Alan Gnauck, Sheryl Woodward

Bhavesh Desai and Xiaoxin Qiu

AT&T Labs

Rob Mclaughlin

AT&T Broadband Services Engineering

XL 6/11/99

What is this?What is this?

The first joint presentation (AT& Labs

and AT&T Broadband – former TCI) on

NCTA Cable Show 1999

The invention and evolution of the mini

Fiber Node (mFN – Lightwire and later

OXiom) technology At that time an extensive field trial was going on in Salt

Lake City

And why we do this

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Adel Saleh

(former A-Laber)

ABIS

Patrick O’Hare

Larry Cox

Tim Peters

Sam Barney Bill Scheffler

ABSE

Mark Dzuban

Cameron Gough

Marty Davidson

Quasar, Inc

Bogdan Lomnicki

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HFC IN THE MAKINGHFC IN THE MAKING

SH

SH

SH

Primary

Hub

FN

FN

DOCSIS Modem

DWDM

SONET

Segmentation

Node Splitting

Ring-In-Ring

FSS

DWDM

BDR

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CHALLENGESCHALLENGES

Bandwidth Demands Take rate and multiple lines

New services (streaming)

User behavior (always-on, SOHO)

Operation Savings Sweep

Maintenance

Powering

Performance Reliability

QoS

Network

Evolution

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ARCHITECTURESARCHITECTURES

FN

Tree-and-Branch

Broadcast

Cascaded

Cell-Based

Narrowcast

Clustered

RN

???

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FIBER OPTICS ?FIBER OPTICS ?

Node 2,000+HP 1,200HP 600HP 200HP 100HP

Size

HOW Deep ?

HOW To ?

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5 50 550 1G

Analog videoAnalog video

Initial MiniInitial Mini--Fiber Node ArchitectureFiber Node Architecture

HE FN

mFNmFN mFNmFN

New ServicesNew Services

Fiber to mFN For Digital OverlayFiber to mFN For Digital Overlay

550/750 550/750 -- 1000 MHz Two1000 MHz Two--Way per 50 HHPsWay per 50 HHPs

LowLow--PowerPower--Consumption Digital PathConsumption Digital Path

Simple Protocol and TerminalsSimple Protocol and Terminals

Local Signaling

for MAC

XL 6/11/99

Initial MiniInitial Mini--Fiber Node ArchitectureFiber Node Architecture

HE FN

mFNmFN mFNmFN

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Initial MiniInitial Mini--Fiber Node ArchitectureFiber Node Architecture

HE FN

mFNmFN mFNmFN

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SIX MONTH STUDYSIX MONTH STUDY

completed 3/99completed 3/99

Network Design and Cost Analysis: 600+ miles, multiple scenarios

Key Results: Incremental cost with deep fiber penetration

Opportunities in: Reducing power consumption for 2-way services

Reducing terminal and operation cost

Ability to support future demands

Opportunities to Improve Current System

While Migrating to New Infrastructure

Define Network Upgrade Strategy to Balance Define Network Upgrade Strategy to Balance

NearNear--term and Longterm and Long--term Needsterm Needs

XL 6/11/99

MULTIPLEXED FIBER PASSIVE COAXMULTIPLEXED FIBER PASSIVE COAX

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LightWireLightWireTMTM

Passive coax between mFN and subscribers Reduced actives, power consumption, and maintenance

MuxNode to reduce cost of deep fiber penetration Multi-dimension Multiplexing/demultiplexing

mFN

mFN

Existing/reduced New fiber along coax branch

HUB MuxNode

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Increased bandwidth and flexibility for DOCSIS-based services

HUB MuxNode

10 50 550 750 1G

Analog &

Digital TV TSD

Today

TV

DOCSIS

DTV

New IP New IP

New IP

New IP

Simultaneously support current & future (new IP) systems

LightWireLightWireTMTM

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MIGRATIONMIGRATION

Phase 1:

Establish A New Infrastructure

Reduce actives and system power consumption

Create more bandwidth for DOCSIS-based services

Improve reliability

Phase 2:

Future Proofing

More capacity & flexibility (10-100Mbps/50-100 HHP)

Low-cost, low-power-consumption user terminals

Provisioning for future opportunities

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PLATFORM COMPARISONPLATFORM COMPARISON

750 1G

Current Services

Phase

2

B

/

R Mux/

Demx RFI

MAC

100 1G

HUB MuxNode mFN

Mux/Demx

RFI

MAC B

/

R

5 5 550 750 1G

AMAM--VSBVSB DTV Data

Voice

Phase

1

RF End-to-End

MAC Demarc

RF Demarc Digital Baseband

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AN INTEGRATED PLATFORMAN INTEGRATED PLATFORM

---- Option #1Option #1

TV XTR

TSD

Today

D

W

D

M

ITU-A D

W

D

M RCV-A ITU-A 1:8

Filter

Coupler

RCV

XTRV

XTR

RCV-D DWDM C ITU-D

ITU-D C DWDM RCV-D

New

IP

Mux

Demux

RCV-D Modem

ITU-A: Analog ITU

ITU-D: Digital ITU

RCV-A: Analog RCV

RCV-D: Digital RCV

Integrated Platform with Phased Development

Off-the-shelf for Phase 1 with Phase 2 provisioning

PH SH MuxNode mFN

Phase 2

RCV-A

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AN INTEGRATED PLATFORMAN INTEGRATED PLATFORM

---- Option #2Option #2

TV XTR

TSD

Today

D

W

D

M

ITU-A

RCV-A

New

IP ITU-D

RCV-D DWDM

C DWDM

C

D

W

D

M ITU-A

RCV-A

1:8 Filter

Coupler

RCV-D

ITU-D Mux

Demux

RCV

XTRV RCV-D

XTR

Modem

ITU-A: Analog ITU

ITU-D: Digital ITU

RCV-A: Analog RCV

RCV-D: Digital RCV

PH SH MuxNode mFN

Phase 2

Integrated Platform with Phased Development

Off-the-shelf for Phase 1 with Phase 2 provisioning

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MUXNODE PLATFORMMUXNODE PLATFORM

ITU-A 1:8 RCV

XTRV

1:8

RCV-D

ASK Dem

Mux

ITU-D

Demux

Multi-dimension (RF, optical, and digital) mux/demux

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mFN PLATFORMmFN PLATFORM

RCV-D

GaAs high-gain amplifiers for maximum mFN coverage

Phase 2: RF and MAC demarcation

RCV

XTR-A

FSK

Mod

ASK

Mod

FSK

Demod

FPGA HPF

HPF

HPF

HPF

D D

Standard

Fiber Node

Platform

Phase 2

Add-on

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ADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

Operation Savings

61% reduction in active components

Reduced power consumption

Simplification of maintenance

Improved Performance

Reduced ingress noise funneling (10-48MHz operation)

Increased RF bandwidth

Improved reliability

Future Proof

Flexibility between current track and future opportunities

Improved QoS and potential terminal cost reduction

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OPERATION SAVINGSOPERATION SAVINGS

Current Network: 5.5 actives/mile

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OPERATION SAVINGSOPERATION SAVINGS

61% reduction in active components

21+% improvement in reliability

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COST AND SAVINGCOST AND SAVING

0

50

100

150

200

250

Current MFPC

Fiber Optics mFN Amplif ierReverse Sw eep PassivePow er Supply Engineering Taxes

Potential Saving:

Mitigates Future Node

Splitting

Customer Satisfaction

$11/HHP/year Operating

Saving:

$5 - 8/HHP Sweep

$1 - 2/HHP Powering

$1/HHP Service call

$1/HHP Customer call

$1/HHP Credit/churn

Potential Terminal Cost

Reduction

Cap

ital

Co

st/

HH

P

$40/HHP Incremental Cost

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Aver

age

del

ay

(m

s)

Number of active users

DELAY COMPARISONDELAY COMPARISON

mFN-NAD Cable modem

0.01

0.1

1

10

100

1000

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

mFN-NAD

CM

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26

0

10

20

30

40

50

26 51 77 102 128 154 179 205 230 256 282 307

Low (20)

Medium (10)

High (20)

Uti

lizati

on

(%

)

Request Packet Rate (Kbps/station)

PRIORITY PROVISIONINGPRIORITY PROVISIONING

150Kbps150Kbps

240Kbps240Kbps 100Kbps100Kbps

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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Ave

rag

e D

ela

y (

ms)

Request Packet Rate (Kbps/station)

BOUNDED DELAYBOUNDED DELAY

High Priority (20)

Medium Priority (10)

Low Priority (20)

100 200 300

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Field TrialField Trial

Objective:

Support planned upgrade: bandwidth expansion

Test technology, verify cost & operation saving

Trial Scope: 520 miles (66,619 HHP) in Salt Lake Metro

Phased development and implementation

Schedule:

Service launching: October, 1999 Data collection: January, 2000

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PROJECT SCOPEPROJECT SCOPE

Design Optimization Maximize the number of amplifiers replaced per mFN

Minimize overall network power consumption

Define design limiting factors

Investigate MDU compatibility

Equipment Development:

Technology feasibility

Cost and time to market

Implementation and Data Collection Front-end labor cost

Baseline and new data (service call, number of failures,

MTTR, etc)

Change in sweeping and certification due to the new

architecture

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CURRENT STATUSCURRENT STATUS

Vendor Selection: 4/29/99

Trial Area Selection: 4/29/99

Design Guideline: 5/3/99

Project Scope Documentation: 5/7/99

First Unit Delivery: 6/16/99

Installation: 6/22/99

Service Launching 10/99

Data Collection/Proposition 1/2000

XL 6/11/99

We’ll see