By Takashi Hayakawa, Mike O’Dell, Paul Schauer, Larry Wolcott; Comcast
Cable operators are moving towards wider upstream spectrum for improved speed and bandwidth. Activating new upstream spectrum can come with a number of unforeseen challenges. Fortunately, over a dozen years of Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) experience can provide an excellent foundation for detecting, characterizing and repairing many of the common obstacles. The result is faster, smoother orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) deployments and finding and fixing network problems before our customers are impacted.
In this paper, the authors, Hayakawa, O'Dell, Schauer and Wolcott present the latest results of mid-split and OFDMA from the field. They review a number of unforeseen issues including technical and operational solutions. From frequency response issues caused by long-forgotten network equipment and filters to partial-bonding caused by in-home amplifiers, there are plenty of opportunities to get ahead of. This paper provides valuable insight for cable operators embarking on mid-split and high-split transformations in conjunction with OFDMA technology.