DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 Engineering Seminar

Course Description

Optical infrastructure is the paradigm of the day, but coax will be around in operational networks for at least another decade. DOCSIS® 3.1 and DOCSIS® 4.0 systems in combination with some legacy DOCSIS® 3.0 equipment still service millions of households in Germany and abroad, that need to be serviced and upgraded. For field engineers and techs, communications technology is getting ever more complicated to work with. However, in the end there is still only a 45-minute window given to complete the job. For a modern field engineer, it is imperative to understand holistically how modern communications networks operate, to keep up with technological advances and to incorporate it into the daily job on the network.

AXP DOCSIS® training seminars are designed to deliver precisely this knowledge.

  • DOCSIS® training seminars can be modified to the customer’s specific needs.
  • Custom modules designable
  • Onsite- and online presentation
  • Presentation in English or German

Target Audience:

This course is recommended for both independent cable and multi-system operator (MSO) engineering and technical professionals, including mid- to senior- level data engineers and technicians; maintenance and installation technicians; and technical operation (TechOp) managers.

Course Length:

8 Modules of ca. 2 hours each

Course Modules:

  1. Signals & Systems, RF & Modulation
  2. DOCSIS® history and fundamentals of operation, DOCSIS 3.0 overview
  3. DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 Enhancements and Benefits
  4. DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 PHY-Layer: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing in up- and downstream (OFDM/A), DOCSIS® frequency domain channelization
  5. DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 initialization process, ranging & probing
  6. DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 MAC-Layer: PHY-Link channel (PLC), Next Codeword Pointer (NCP), Service Groups, MAC domains, modulation profiles
  7. DOCSIS® security issues & BPI+
  8. Troubleshooting in DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0-networks

Course Objective

Upon completion of a DOCSIS® Engineering seminar, the client should be able to conceptualize the following principles:

  • The Physical Layer (OSI-Layer 1 PHY) requirements of a DOCSIS® network in up- and downstream
  • The key terminology and processes of DOCSIS® Media Access Control (OSI-Layer 2 Data Link)
  • The registration process for a cable modem (“boot-up”)
  • The differences between DOCSIS® 1.0 through 3.0 and DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0
  • Impairments typical to a DOCSIS®-network and strategies on troubleshooting, including proactive network maintenance and management
  • Principles of capacity planning, load balancing, service flows
  • DOCSIS® security issues

Modules

(ca. 2 hours each)

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 1 – Signals and Systems, RF and Modulation

  • Concept of using electromagnetic radiation for the transmission of information
  • Amplitude-, phase- and frequency-modulation.
  • Frequency division multiplexing (FDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time division multiple access
  • Quadrature-amplitude modulation, QPSK / m-ary QAM, signal up-conversion process
  • Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing principle (OFDM)
  • Analysis parameters and methods for signal quality: Bit-error-ratio (BER), Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Modulation error ration (MER), Codeword-error-ratio (CER)

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 2 – DOCSIS® History and Fundamentals of Operation

  • DOCSIS®-History: CATV-networks, architecture, hybrid-fiber-coax (HFC)
  • DOCSIS® passive and active network elements
  • Single-Carrier QAM operation in DOCSIS® 3.0 systems
  • DOCSIS® frequency allocation in up- and downstream DOCSIS® 3.0

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 3 – DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 Benefits & Enhancements 

  • Spectral efficiency enhancements
  • Forward-error-correction
  • Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing for long time-domain signals
  • Robustness of transmission
  • Large spectrum blocks, channelization in DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0
  • Principle behind modulation profiles

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 4 – DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 Physical Layer (OSI Layer 1 “Phy”)

  • Time- and frequency-domain
  • Discrete-time Fourier Transform, FFT
  • Differences between SC-QAM and OFDM
  • OFDM/A signal characteristics
  • Channel estimation, pilot carriers
  • Forward Error Correction: Low-density-parity-check (LDPC)
  • Modulation profiles & profile testing, bit-loading
  • OFDM-signals under the influence of linear and non-linear distortions
  • Deployment scenarios DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 technology

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 5 – DOCSIS® Cable Modem Initialization Process

  • What is cable modem initialization?
  • Scanning and synchronization process
  • Service group ranging
  • Authentication process
  • Registration process

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 6 – DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 MAC. Layer (OSI Layer 2 “Data Link”)

  • Physical Layer Link Channel (PHY-link channel, PLC)
  • Next codeword pointer (NCP)
  • Channel estimation, upstream pilots
  • Ranging and probing
  • Sounding
  • Echo cancellation learning

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 7 – DOCSIS® Security & BPI+

  • Need for security?
  • DOCSIS® security built-ins: Authentication & Encription, Baseline Privacy Interface (BPI)
  • Baseline Privacy Interface Plus (BPI+)
  • Security in times of Internet-of-Everything

DOCSIS® Engineering Module 8 – Troubleshooting DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0

  • Basic steps of troubleshooting, “divide-and-conquer”
  • DOCSIS® 3.1/4.0 requirements
  • Analysis of diagnostics: Constellation diagrams & MER, BER, CER
  • Overview of some common impairments on coaxial plants
  • Troubleshooting test equipment
  • Advanced troubleshooting

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