FP7 - 217014

White Paper

Concepts and Solutions

for improving the Performance of HFC Networks

2 May 2010

ReDeSign – 217014
Research for Development of Future Interactive Generations
of Hybrid Fiber Coax Networks

Information for Publication:

Version: final
Status: Public (PU)
 FP7 -217014

Executive summary
Hybrid Fibre Coax (or ‘HFC’) networks were originally designed to provide broadcast
services to cable customers by means of analogue signals. In recent decades, net-
works were upgraded to broadband telecommunication infrastructures capable of
carrying all kinds of electronic media services mainly via digital transmission. Huge
investments were necessary to make this evolution happen. Strong competition from
incumbent telecommunication networks and emerging infrastructures FttH providers
is now challenging cable operators to push forward the technological evolution of
HFC networks in order to maintain their position as providers of one of the most cost
effective components in the European broadband infrastructure.
In order to address these issues, the FP7 ReDeSign project focused on new tech-
nologies allowing operators to extend the life expectancy of current HFC network ar-
chitectures as well as on strategies helping them to migrate to Next Generation archi-
tectures. The achievements of the project, which were published in deliverables and
other documentations were communicated directly with the operators’ community
through regular Operators’ Forum meetings, to vendors through an implementers’
workshop as well as to the European trade association of operators and the US-
based CableLabs®. Most importantly for the ReDeSign work, liaisons were agreed
with the recognised standardisation body CENELEC, the standards developing or-
ganisation DVB, and the Society of Broadband Engineers SCTE ensuring the find-
ings and results could be implemented in specifications and standards as quickly as
possible.
Major research achievements of the project include the project’s contribution to the
DVB efforts producing a new physical layer for digital transmissions in cable net-
works (DVB-C2). The new technology has the potential for replacing DVB-C which is
implemented in millions of devices world-wide. One of the major contributions of the
project here was a simulation platform used in DVB for performance investigation
and system verification. In addition, the development of a new prototype amplifier
based on state-of-the art (Gallium Nitride – GaN) semiconductor technology allows
operators to further increase the capacity in their networks in complement with DVB-
C2 and other new HFC upgrade techniques such as network segmentation. Imple-
menting the results produced by ReDeSign could thus increase network capacity
from 5 to 7 Gbps and beyond.
Looking at longer-term evolution, several approaches were short-listed and advan-
tages and disadvantages were described. This resulted in a clear advice to the cable
industry to migrate to a common approach starting with the implementation in
greenfield situations of an FttH architecture and migrate in brownfield situations (i.e.
where there is an existing HFC network in place) to this architecture via deeper fibre
solutions such as FttLA (Fibre to the Last Amplifier) complying with various pre-
requisites driving down the cost per bit transmitted.

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 FP7 -217014

Concepts and Solutions

for improving the Performance of HFC Networks

Authors:
• Bart Brusse (ContestConsultancy)
• Rui Castro (ZON TV Cabo)
• Carsten Engelke (ANGA)
• Manfred Geilert (BLANKOM Digital)
• Tim Gyselings (ALCATEL-Lucent Bell)
• Dirk Jaeger (TU Braunschweig, IfN)
• Maciej Muzalewski (VECTOR)
• Jan De Nijs (TNO)

Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4
2 The European Cable Industry – a brief analysis.................................................... 5
3 ReDeSign and its major objectives ....................................................................... 5
4 Current architectures and future service requirements ......................................... 6
5 Advancements for today’s technologies................................................................ 7
5.1 Advanced physical layer (DVB-C2) ............................................................... 7
5.2 Implications of high-scale signal introduction in HFC networks ..................... 8
5.3 Next Generation broadband amplifiers .......................................................... 9
6 Future Generations HFC architectures ............................................................... 10
7 Conclusions, dissemination of results and outlook.............................................. 11
8 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. 11

The document and further information can be found at the web site of the project:
www.ict-redesign.eu

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1 Introduction
Cable networks are an important part of Europe’s broadband infrastructure as they
provide millions of citizens with High Speed Internet, voice telephony, and digital TV
services. Moreover, as research carried out by the ReDeSign project shows, cable
operators have the potential for increasing this role even more, as the nature of their
networks enables them to meet mid to longer term challenges with relatively mod-
erate investments. This will enable them to provide very High Speed Data services to
their customers in a very cost effective and hence competitive way, thus boosting the
development of the information society as a whole.
This White Paper provides a brief overview of the current potential and market posi-
tion of cable networks and documents the research and results carried out by Re-
DeSign as well as the objectives the project started out with. In this respect, chapter
4 highlights the results of a survey carried out among operators with the aim to
gather information about the current state of cable network architecture across
Europe as well as on future service requirements. The results of this survey establish
the starting point for the technical work carried out by ReDeSign.
The first part of this technical work focused on technical solutions addressing short to
middle-term capacity shortages potentially arising in some regional markets. Results
of this activity that were largely carried out around a new transmission technology
(DVB-C2) as a central concept can be found in chapter 5. Subsequently, chapter 6
documents the second part of the activities carried out by ReDeSign which concen-
trated on longer-term architectural evolution and the migration path towards the Next
Generation HFC infrastructure.
Chapters 7 and 8 finally summarise the results of the project and underline that it has
been successful in achieving its objectives and hence in defining the cost effective
scenarios that will allow the cable industry to preserve and even increase the consid-
erable economic and societal value it has managed to build up through the years.

2 The European Cable Industry – a brief analysis

The history of cable started in the middle of the last century with the installation of
small Community Antenna TV (CATV) systems providing analogue multichannel TV
and radio services. Through the years these cable islands were interconnected by
broadband systems and merged into large two-way telecommunication infrastruc-
tures by combining the traditional Radio Frequency (RF) technology with optical fibre
components. These kinds of networks are referred to as HFC networks. They are
capable of providing a huge variety of multimedia services based on a cable commu-
nication platform called DOCSIS.
The cable industry therefore clearly represents a large economic and societal value.
In order to preserve this value also on the longer term, cable operators need to fur-
ther evolve their technical cable infrastructures to ensure compliance with their con-
tinuously changing business requirements. One strong pre-requisite to stay competi-
tive is the effective use of the frequency spectrum available; an example of which
showing a mixture of analogue and digital signals is depicted in Figure 1. It can be

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Figure 1: Example of an RF frequency spectrum usage in today’s HFC networks

seen that the frequency spectrum is almost fully occupied. Therefore, new methods
are needed to increase the spectral efficiency per signal and channel, respectively
Today, 73 million homes in the European Union receive services via HFC networks.

3 ReDeSign and its major objectives

In line with the issues described above, the aim of ReDeSign was to determine the
most cost effective way to further enhance HFC infrastructures in consideration of
commercial and technical requirements which operators expect to emerge in the
2008 – 2018 timeframe. For that purpose a consortium was formed consisting of ca-
ble equipment manufacturers, network operators, and research institutions. Two work
streams were set up to develop technical solutions for short to middle-term network
enhancements, on the one hand, and concepts focussing on middle to longer term
issues, on the other hand.
Major objective of the first work stream was to develop concrete technical solutions
exploring the full capabilities of the coaxial networks by applying state-of-the-art
transmission techniques systems and by enhancing the performance of amplifiers.
In the second work stream, the main aim was to evaluate several longer term evolu-
tional concepts for the traditional HFC network and to define the most attractive and
cost-effective longer term migration path for cable operators.

4 Current architectures and future service requirements

As a result of historic, economic, and regulatory differences, HFC networks across
Europe are far away from being coherent in a technical sense. Moreover, the nature
and quantity of services offered to consumers may differ between regional markets,
as may the views on the future development of these offerings. For both work-stream
activities it was of utmost importance to define the existing technical differences as
well as the varying expectations of cable operators for their future major business
requirements.
Such fundamental knowledge was gathered by ReDeSign by means of a survey car-
ried out among the European cable operator community. It was the first time that a
detailed study on these topics was successfully executed providing meaningful re-

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Larger nodes, tree-and-

branch
Larger nodes, hybrid

Larger nodes, star

Smaller nodes, tree-and-

branch
Smaller nodes, hybrid

Smaller nodes, star

Figure 2: Market share of different access network topologies in Europe

sults. Based on the responses from cable operators serving almost a third of all
European cable customers, cable reference architectures were defined. In addition,
the differences in commercial developments between regional markets in Europe
were used as bases for determining relevant technical requirements for these mar-
kets. Data emerging from the questionnaire revealed that technical differences were
to find predominantly in the coaxial parts of HFC networks as explained in Figure 2.
Two thirds of subscribers are connected to cable networks which could be character-
ised as a so called ‘tree-and-branch’ or ‘hybrid’ network with a large number of cus-
tomers being serviced from a single fibre node. This architecture builds the basis for
ReDeSign’s subsequent technical developments.
Furthermore, the survey results revealed considerable differences between current
service levels and packages in regional markets, however anticipated a convergence
between these markets on the longer term. This meant that although requirements
for solutions addressing short to middle term capacity issues would most likely differ
between markets, a migration path towards a single concept replacing the various
existing HFC architectures on the longer term could be feasible.

5 Advancements for today’s technologies

One of the most important business perspectives of cable operators is to continue
using their cable networks for a number of years rather than switching to a new to-
pology. One short-term business demand identified was to enhance the transmission
efficiency which could be achieved by an increase of the spectral efficiency resulting
in a transport of more bits per Hz bandwidth and per channel, respectively. With
DVB-C2, a new physical layer was developed which has the potential to replace the
antiquated DVB-C technology used today in many million devices world-wide.

5.1 Advanced physical layer (DVB-C2)

The ReDeSign project entered the DVB process developing an advanced physical
layer technology for the transmission of digital signals in HFC networks at an early
stage. The contributions generated by the project partners in terms of computer
simulations were essential for the definition of the final DVB-C2 solution. Core tech-
niques adopted were a flexibly configurable LDPC channel coding as well as a Data-

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Figure 3: Spectral efficiency as function of signal-to-noise ratio

generated by computer simulations
Slice based OFDM concept which constitutes a novelty in HFC downstream trans-
mission.
The major improvements provided by DVB-C2 compared to its predecessor DVB-C
can be summarised by an increased robustness against transmission impairments of
7 dB (see Figure 3 horizontal red arrow) and an increased spectral efficiency of some
60 % (see Figure 3 right vertical arrow) allowing the transmission of more than 80
Mbps in a conventional 8 MHz cable channel.
The simulation results showed that the new OFDM concept provides a very flexible
applicability of DVB-C2. The bandwidth of the signal, for instance, can be flexibly as-
signed and extends the traditional channel bandwidth. This feature helps overcome
the difficulties provided by the different channel patterns of analogue signals (7 MHz)
and digital signals (8 MHz) when switching from analogue to digital transmission. An-
other example is the capability to bundle 12.5 channels to a frequency band of 100
MHz while allowing for the establishment of a 1 Gbps connection providing a total
network capacity of 7 Gpbs and beyond.

5.2 Implications of high-scale signal introduction in HFC networks

As described in the last sub-chapter, the support of a higher spectral efficiency was
one of the major reasons why a 4096-QAM constellation was applied in DVB-C2.
Adequate high signal levels which are needed to deploy signals using this high-
efficiency mode are limited by the non-linear transmission effects mainly caused by
the saturation of the amplifiers used in a network. The question whether European
networks support a 4096-QAM transmission is fair and was investigated by ReDeS-
ign by means of network simulations.
The simulation considered technical specifications of the components used in HFC
networks which were provided by European cable operators to emulate their worst-
case amplifier cascade topologies. In total 4 cascades were studied ranging from an

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60
Node + 5 Amps
Node + 15 Amps

4096 QAM

SNRDVB-C2 (dB)
55 margin 4 dB
2nd (CSO) – 3rd (CTB)
4096 order model
QAM
50

4th – 5th order

model
45
55 60 65 70 75 80
DVB-C2 Carrier Level (dBµ V)

Figure 4: SNR ratio of the DVB-C2 signals in dependence of the DVB-C2 carrier
level for 4 amplifier cascades of different length.

Optical Node combined with a cascade of 2 amplifiers up to an Optical Node with 15

amplifiers connected. For all cascades a load comprising 20 analogue TV channels,
30 DVB-C channels, and 43 DVB-C2 was assumed. For the analogue TV and DVB-C
signals fixed signal levels of 69 dBµV and 65 dBµV, respectively, were applied, which
are common figures used in practice. The DVB-C2 level was varied from about
55 dBµV up to some 75 dBµV. At lower levels, the DVB-C2 signals did not contribute
to the generation of intermodulation products and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of
those signals increased with increasing DVB-C2 signal level. In contrast, at a level
above 65 dBµV, the distortion became noticeable, resulting in a decline of the SNR.
Results of the simulations for 2 cascades are shown in Figure 4. As a first deploy-
ment rule, the maximum DVB-C2 level should not surpass the level representing the
maximum of the respective SNR curve. The traditional model for determining inter-
modulation is based on 2nd and 3rd order non-linear components. ReDeSign however
worked out that degradation of digital signals is dominated by 4th and 5th order non-
linear components and the traditional model was extended accordingly. The new
model is submitted to the standardisation work of CENELEC.

5.3 Next Generation broadband amplifiers

One of the most important parameters used for the simulations explained in the
above sub-chapter is the power level used for the transmission of signals in HFC
networks. Assuming that amplifiers operate in their linear transfer range as intended,
high signal levels entail high signal-to-noise ratios as shown in Figure 4 whereas high
signal-to-noise ratios allow high efficient spectrum utilisation as seen in Figure 3.
Consequently, amplifiers providing high output levels while keeping the level of noise
and intermodulation low are supportive to more efficient spectrum utilization through
the introduction of DVB-C2 high-efficiency modes.
This objective was achieved by a new amplifier prototype which was developed, pro-
duced, and verified in the course of the ReDeSign work. The prototype was imple-
mented on the basis of a state-of-the-art Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor hybrid

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Figure 5: CINR (Carrier-to-Intermodulation Noise Ratio) comparison of new ampli-

fier with a GaN hybrid versus traditional amplifier based on GaAs power output
stage

circuit. This novelty in broadband amplifier designs is optimised for full digital or
mixed digital/analogue signal load which is present in HFC networks today. The
comparison with traditional amplifier output stages based on GaAs silicon shows a
3 dB improved Carrier-to-Intermodulation Noise Ratio (CNIR) behaviour (see
Figure 5), an identical power consumption provided. This feature of the new GaN
amplifier could also be used to save system power complying with the Green IT re-
quirements set out by the European Union to reduce power consumption of tele-
communication networks.

6 Future generations HFC architectures

HFC access networks have evolved from traditional architectures as explained at the
beginning of the document. They have been upgraded taking into account the busi-
ness requirements of operators. The basic structures of the networks including cable
and other network elements, however, were maintained to a large extent. Emerging
technologies such as the cable communication platform DOCSIS operating on top of
the physical network were designed to cope with the prerequisites set out by the un-
derlying network technology.
For brownfield situations it was therefore not possible to design an optimized com-
munication system but to evolve a system according to changing operational and
business requirements. This phenomenon is a principle drawback valid for all kinds
of telecommunication networks and not only for HFC. It does not allow reducing the
cost per transmitted bit to a level provided by modern architectures such as FttH, for
instance. However, it does have the huge benefit of saving a significant amount of
capital expenses due to the capability utilising existing infrastructure and thus prevent
expensive digging, as indicated in Figure 6. The situation in greenfield areas is differ-

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Investment [$]

40% growth
60% growth
GPON 1:128
GPON 1:32

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Figure 6: Estimation of average investment cost for FttH (GPON) against HFC
upgrade cost, assuming 40% and 60% annual growth in capacity requirements

ent. As no network is in place, the optimal solution has to be chosen. It was found in
terms of an FttH approach based on passive optical network technology and realised
either via GPON or via RFoG technology depending on the specific situation of the
MSO.
The results of ReDeSign unambiguously show that current HFC infrastructures have
a high performance and are scalable due to the implementation of deeper fibre solu-
tions combining the roll-out of fibre closer to the customer and the splitting of nodes
to serve smaller clusters. Developments such as DVB-C2 complement deep fibre
technologies and increase the utilisation of the coax capacity. Existing coaxial cables
have a good transmission performance and suit the bit rate requirements for various
years to come in case the cable lengths can be made sufficiently short and used at
the last meters only.
However, the DOCSIS platform existing today was not developed for this kind of
networks and, thus, will not provide an adequate cost-per-bit ratio in the long term.
The next generation cable communications system which is not developed yet has to
take into account related and further requirements such as power consumption and
central office density. Within the project, alternative solutions for coax transmission
were studied, offering better cost, power, and density results. Different approaches
are followed and evaluated, in theory but also with practical roll-outs. One of the ap-
proaches is optimising the current DOCSIS CMTS method in terms of density. An-
other approach is to stretch the modular CMTS approach as standardised in DOCSIS
3.0 to the outside plant via micro-EQAM or micro-CMTS on the field. Another ap-
proach is to look for alternative coax transmission technologies in the access net-
work, inspired by MOCA, WiMax, etc., called Ethernet over Coax.
Today it is clear that the different approaches have pros and cons and none of them
is outstanding. The ReDeSign project believes that there is a lot of added value in the
DOCSIS approach offering a lot of functionality and optimisation for traffic manage-
ment but also service support. However, the current DOCSIS 3.0 standard is a very
exhaustive and complex standard entailing implementations which are not cost and
power efficient compared to other shared access technologies. A new version of

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DOCSIS with a reduced set of features and more straightforward to implement, which
could possibly make use of a new more optimal PHY layer such as DVB-C2, is
probably the best way forward to guarantee a success for the NG-HFC network in the
next 10 years.

7 Conclusions, dissemination of results and outlook

HFC cable networks evolved from their original structure optimised for the support of
broadcast services to modern telecommunication infrastructures. Enormous invest-
ments were made by the Cable industry to actualise this development.
In order to foster the competitiveness of cable against other telecommunication infra-
structures also in the future, HFC networks need to comply with dedicated business
requirements and thus have to be developed permanently. A major objective in this
context is to lower operational costs while keeping the existing access parts of the
networks in place. A replacement of HFC by FttH appears not to be economically
viable against a much more cost effective upgrade of the networks, although for
greenfield situations it would appear to be the preferable solution. Nevertheless, it
would be worthwhile for the Cable Industry to agree on and migrate to a common
NG-HFC architecture.
Looking at short to middle-term aspects, one of the major activities developed by
ReDeSign focussed on the implementation of DVB-C2 and identification of opera-
tional issues. Simulation results here show that the DVB-C2 high efficiency mode
using 4096-QAM could be applied in today’s HFC networks, generating an efficiency
increase of some 60 %. An even higher increase could be created if complementary
measures are introduced at the same time. For example, a new generation broad-
band amplifier was developed, generating additional gain and reducing power con-
sumption in networks.
The active participation of ReDeSign researchers in the standardisation efforts of
DVB and CENELEC has been fundamental for the project to pass its output through
standardisation processes and to encourage the implementation of its results in inno-
vative technology and equipment. For this purpose, Liaison agreements were set up
with DVB, CENELEC, and SCTE.
In order to speed up the uptake of its results, the project also established regular Op-
erators’ Forum meetings with the participation of almost 30 operators in total, repre-
senting more than 50% of the European cable market in terms of subscribers. For the
manufacturing community finally a DVB-C2 Implementers’ Workshop was organised
in coordination with the DVB Project and ReDeSign member ANGA.
Further dissemination activities include scientific publications as well as presenta-
tions in research and industry events which took place world-wide from Lisbon to
Los Angeles and Shanghai.

8 Acknowledgements
The members of the ReDeSign Consortium thank the European Commission for co-
founding the work carried out in the project during 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2010.

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