By John Schlack, Rina Hayashi; Comcast Cable
Operators of Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) have a long history of delivering continuous advancements in speed, capacity and performance. With the rise of DOCSIS 4.0 and 10G, operators are poised to take the next huge leap in delivering faster speeds, greater capacity, advanced security, and improved reliability. Anytime we update the HFC plant, we must conduct a thorough analysis of the drafted plant to decide whether the existing maps are accurate and if so, where and how plant upgrades should be made. This document will refer to this analysis as “pre-vet.” While HFC plant maps are a reliable source for beginning a pre-vet, changes to the area (new streets, buildings, plant repair, etc.) may not always make it into the plant map in time for the analysis. Layering additional data onto the plant maps can further enrich the data and increase the level of accuracy for the designer to make an informed decision on where capacity upgrades and plant extensions should take place.