By Larry Wolcott, Comcast Corporation; Rob Gonsalves, Comcast Corporation; Jonathan Leech, Comcast Corporation
Upstream noise and ingress can pose significant challenges for cable operators in maintaining coaxial cable networks. While Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) offers numerous advantages for optimizing cable plant performance, it has historically lacked a solution for the reactive tracking of noise. Traditional upstream noise and ingress troubleshooting processes are primarily manual, labor-intensive, and potentially affect customers’ service. Introducing the Upstream Data Analysis (UDA), a capability using PNM data that has been in development for a decade. The UDA technique is designed to automatically locate upstream ingress and noise sources. By utilizing the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS®) spectrum analyzers embedded in cable modems, the UDA samples the upstream frequency spectrum near the points of ingress, rather than at the receiver. This approach enables quick identification of individual premises and drop cables contributing to upstream noise, potentially resulting in operational efficiency improvements in network maintenance. The authors will provide an analysis of the PNM UDA's capabilities, limitations, and opportunities.