By Ron Hranac; Jason Rupe, Ph.D. CableLabs®; Dan Torbet, CommScope; Brady Volpe, The Volpe Firm
DOCSIS® 4.0 specifications introduced two important changes beyond DOCSIS 3.1 specifications: extended spectrum, and full duplex transmission. As a result, the assumptions change around the interpretation of proactive network maintenance (PNM) data, how the PNM tests and queries may work, and the sensitivity of some frequencies to certain impairments. As such, PNM tools will likely evolve, and operator use of PNM will need to increase to assure service reliability is met.
This paper outlines expectations around how the network will change, and as a result how network operations may change. It can serve as the foundation for an industry project plan to develop network and service operations solutions to keep pace with new DOCSIS 4.0 technology.