WHITE PAPER

Aurora Networks, Inc.

October 2001

©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
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Aurora Networks, Inc.

4151 Burton Drive
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Tel 408.562.1770
Fax 408.562.1778
www.aurora.com

2 ©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
INTRODUCTION
B roadband HFC telecommunications network
operators continually strive to lower
operating costs and the costs of subscriber
acquisition. The ability to self-install customer
premises equipment (CPE) devices for Internet
access and other IP-centric services (cable
modems) as well interactive digital video services
(set top boxes) could greatly decrease the cost of
subscriber acquisition. The main obstacle in
achieving the goal of self-installation is the need
for reverse path ingress mitigation. Today, the
most effective ingress mitigation technique is
based on filters installed selectively in customers'
installations to lower the amount of ingress. Two
objectives of filtering are:
1. limiting the level of in-channel ingress in
order to lower BER (given that in-channel
ingress is related mostly to impulse noise and
Figure 1. Several Examples of Reverse Path Spectrum (Sheet 1 of 2)
©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
that discrete ingress signals above 16 MHz
are avoided with appropriate frequency
allocation), and
2. lowering the total level of ingress to avoid
laser clipping (mostly below 16 MHz).
Filtering does not affect any intrinsic interference
(common path distortion, or CPD, impulse noise
generated by arcing, and so on) or extrinsic inter-
ference (ingress) that occurs in hardline coaxial
cable runs. Moreover, window filters do not limit
the level of ingress within their pass-band region.
Due to ingress and intrinsic interference, the
spectrum of the reverse path channels contains
significant amount of undesired energy (interfer-
ence) in the lower frequency region as shown in
the examples of figure 1.
3
 Figure 1. Several Examples of Reverse Path Spectrum (Sheet 2 of 2)

4 ©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR INGRESS MITIGATION
T o lower the level of in-channel and out-of-
channel ingress and intrinsic interference,
several alternative methods of ingress mitigation
have been applied or are being considered by HFC
two-way network operators:
1. Drop Windowed High-Pass Filters (WHPF)
2. Tap Equalizers/Drop Attenuators
3. Drop Sheath Current Attenuator
4. Node Step Attenuators/Filters.
The first three methods address ingress and
intrinsic interference occurring in the installations.
They have various advantages and disadvantages
and only if applied collectively can be most
efficient. (For example, filters applied on all
inside drops that do not carry reverse traffic within
the filter stop-band, drop attenuators applied on
all drops that do carry reverse traffic in the filter
stop-band and sheath current attenuators applied
at the tap would provide the most effective
solution.) However, none of the first three
methods mitigates ingress and intrinsic interfer-
ence occurring in hardline coax cable runs. Only
the last method (node step attenuators/filters)
addresses this issue. Step attenuators also help
mitigate ingress and intrinsic interference occur-
ring in installations, albeit on a cumulative basis.
The implementation of the last method signifi-
cantly improves the dynamic range margin of
reverse optical links by lowering the levels of
©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
undesired signals at the reverse optical link input.
This method may also allow for elimination of
filters, the main obstacle to self-installs. Its
implementation should also lower maintenance
requirements (operating costs) for the reverse
path. The node step attenuators/filters equally
attenuate both ingress/interference (undesired)
and desired signals at the input to the reverse
optical link (analog or digital). Hence, all else
remaining constant, the carrier to interference ratio
before and after the step attenuators/filter, and at
the output of the optical receiver, remains the
same. In many cases, due to long loop AGC, the
desired signals are adjusted upwards, thus increas-
ing the desired signal levels in the drops and
hardline coax cable runs and improving carrier to
interference. This is especially true for signals
fed through low-value taps.
Step attenuators are a good solution for retrofit-
ting into existing nodes, although the retrofit
requires additional capital investment (on the
order of approximately $200 per node, including
labor). This approach may be suitable for recently
rebuilt systems, especially systems with older
analog IPPV boxes (with fixed-frequency reverse
carrier) or older (proprietary) status monitoring
(SM) transponders (with fixed-frequency reverse
carrier). In these situations, the characteristics of
the step attenuators/filters must be adjusted to each
particular reverse frequency allocation. Figure 2
provides an example of their characteristics.
5
 Figure 2. Step Attenuator/Filter and Sloped Diplex Filter Characteristics

6 ©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
Advantages of Sloped Diplex Filters
I n areas to be upgraded or rebuilt for advanced
services, the same or better effectiveness can
be achieved with sloped diplex filters, starting
from 10 MHz and sloping upwards to 15 MHz,
with a stop-band between 48 and 54 MHz (see
figure 2). The new SCTE standard compliant SM
transponders and most of the transponders
installed in the last several years are agile over a
reasonable bandwidth, and all digital set top boxes
can operate above 10 MHz in the reverse path.
The portion of the reverse path spectrum between
5 and 10 MHz most "corrupted" with ingress and
IMPACT ON TERMINAL DEVICES AND SM TRANSPONDERS
Figure 3 shows the impact of the sloped diplexers
on interference and carrier levels below 15 MHz.
It also shows the resultant C-to-(N+I) ratios for
two different scenarios (selected by the user).
1. The first scenario, with constant C/(N+I) for
the carriers in the sloped region (noting that,
for manual level carriers, no activity is
needed, and for long-loop AGC carriers, the
insertion loss between the headend recover
and the carrier terminal must be lowered
adequately to maintain constant carrier level
at the input to the reverse optical link) results
in significantly lower laser load (given that
both interference and the carrier are lower at
the laser or A/D converter input), thus limit-
ing the possibility of laser clipping and
improving dynamic range margin of the
reverse link.
©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
interference can be totally abandoned with
significant benefit to maintenance costs and
service reliability. This is doubly true for fiber-
deep architectures, where SM transponders are
installed only in the nodes and power supplies.
An additional advantage of this approach is the
extended upper bandwidth limit (to 45 or 48 MHz
as opposed to the 40 or 42 MHz of traditional
diplex filters). This bandwidth can be used either
for service carriers (e.g., the European DOCSIS
standard extends beyond 42 MHz) or for network
maintenance carriers (status monitoring).
This anticipated improvement can be trans-
lated into raising all carrier levels or raising
the levels selectively in the flat region of the
diplex filters (if there is a margin in output
levels for CPE and other terminal devices),
hence improving operational C/(N+I) for those
carriers. Raising the level for all carriers with
long-loop AGC can be performed by
increasing attenuation in the receiver. This is
simplified even further in digital reverse links
because their output level is independent of
the link loss and should be approximately the
same from all digital receivers that are set to
the same attenuation setting.
2. The second scenario with improved C/(N+I)
for the carriers in the sloped region results in
significantly lower laser load (given that
interference levels are lower at the laser or
7
 Figure 3. Impact of Sloped Diplex Filter on Desired and Undesired Signal Levels and on C/(N+I)

8 ©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
 A/D converter input), thus limiting the possi-
bility of laser clipping and improving the
dynamic range margin of the reverse link. In
this case, the carrier levels in the sloped region
can be increased (for manual carriers, by
adjusting transmit levels, and for long-loop
AGC carriers, with no activity required) by
an amount equal to or lower than the relative
attenuation (user choice) of the diplex filter.
CONCLUSIONS
T he HFC, and particularly fiber-deep HFC,
architectures present a unique opportunity
for improving ingress mitigation techniques to
increase service reliability and allow for self-
installs. Node step-attenuators and, in newly
upgraded or rebuilt plant, sloped diplex filters can
amply contribute to this effort by lowering the
total level of interference at the reverse optical
link input, thus allowing for increased levels of
©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.
The additional anticipated improvement in
dynamic range margin (lower interference level
at the reverse link input) can be translated into
raising all carrier levels or raising the levels
selectively in the flat region of the diplex filters
(as explained above), hence improving opera-
tional C/(N+I) for those carriers.
desired carriers (with lower margin left for
dynamic range) and improved C/(N+I). In the
plant, where carriers in the reverse path cannot
be moved to frequencies above 10 MHz, modified
sloped filters (e.g., sloping from 6 to 15 MHz) or
node step attenuators/filters can be used, albeit at
lower effectiveness because they would pass more
interference to the input of the reverse path optical
link.
9
 Aurora Networks, Inc.
4151 Burton Drive
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Tel 408.562.1770
Fax 408.562.1778
www.aurora.com

10 ©2001 Aurora Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. PROPRIETARY. Use pursuant to Company instructions.