MoCA Testing for triple play and Whole Home DVR€¦ · MoCA Testing for triple play and Whole Home DVR ... Reduce cost with a single Hard Drive-based STB ... x = Coax Test Points

Jim Carvajal

Applications Specialist, Cable MSO

Caribbean & Latin America

MoCA Testing for triple play and

Whole Home DVR

© 2012 JDS Uniphase Corporation | JDSU CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION 2

What is MoCA?

Home Troubleshooting

JDSU troubleshooting

SmartID

Agenda

What is MoCA?


What is MoCA?

Stands for: Multimedia over Coax Alliance

Main applications: • Streaming high throughput

applications like HD Video around a home on subscriber’s existing coax cable (Whole Home DVR)

• Connect IP enabled devices in different locations throughout a home (i.e.: Connect PC’s or Home Servers)

MoCA is very robust

• 50-60dB of loss

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance

(MoCA®) is in use by all three pay TV

segments---cable, satellite and IPTV


MoCA Can Provide…

High performance Networking

• Throughput > 135 Mbps box to box (MoCA 1.0)



Multi-room DVR (aka Whole Home DVR)

• Centralized Premium / Pay TV content

Reduce cost with a single Hard Drive-based STB

• Ability to view content in any room

PC to STB/TV connectivity

• Consume home movies / pictures / music anywhere in the home

• Personalized Applications running throughout the home


MoCA Evolution

MoCA 1.0 (Productized 2005)

• Supported up to 8 MoCA devices (nodes)

• Throughput around home ~135 Mbps

• Operates between 850–1525MHz with 50MHz Channels

• Multiple MoCA networks can run on the same coax network simultaneously

• Prioritized QoS – differentiated service for video, voice and gaming

MoCA 1.1 (Productized 2007) - Similar to MoCA 1.0 but with the following differences:

• Extended up to 16 MoCA devices (nodes)

• Throughput around home increased ~175 Mbps

• Added Parameterized QoS – bandwidth reservation per flows


MoCA 2.0 Detailed

MoCA 2.0 (June 15, 2010) - Similar to MoCA 1.1 but with the following differences:

• Three new modes of operation:

Baseline Mode:

400+ Mbps MAC throughput

700 Mbps PHY Rate

Single 100 MHz Channel

Enhanced Mode

800+ Mbps MAC throughput

1.4 Gbps PHY Rate

Two bonded 100 MHz Channels (“Channel Bonding”)

“Turbo” mode for a point-to-point configuration that allows:

500+ Mbps MAC throughput between two connected devices when operating in Baseline mode

1+ Gbps MAC throughput when operating in Enhanced mode

• All three modes now have an extended frequency range

500 MHz through 1650 MHz (center frequencies)

• Backward compatibility with MoCA 1.0 and 1.1 devices

MoCA 2.0 devices can operate at MoCA 2.0 speeds while MoCA 1.x devices are communicated to at their maximum respectable speeds on the same network

NOTE: MoCA 2.0 is different hardware

than previous MoCA 1.1 HW versions


MoCA V2.0

5 MHz 55 MHz 1 GHz 1.7 GHz

Upstream

Range

Downstream

Range

MoCA 1.x

Range

850 – 1525 MHz 55 – 1000 MHz 5 – 45

MHz

MoCA 1.x Frequency View

5 MHz 55 MHz 1 GHz 1.7 GHz

Upstream

Range

Downstream

Range

MoCA 2.0

Range

500 – 1650 MHz 55 – 1000 MHz 5 – 45

MHz

MoCA 2.0 Frequency View

850MHz and

1.525GHz

50MHz wide

‘channels’

Speeds up to

175Mbps

500MHz and

1.65GHz

100MHz wide

‘channels’

Speeds above

400Mbps

DIFFERENT

HARDWARE

50 MHz

100 MHz


MoCA Network Configuration

Cable

Modem

Ground Block

Point Of Entry

NORMAL

2-WAY CATV

PATH

SPLITTER

JUMPING

3:1 Splitter #2 2:1 Splitter #3

3:1 Splitter #1

SPLITTER

JUMPING

MoCA

STB1

MoCA

STB2

MoCA

DVR

MoCA

STB3

Analog

TV

Attenuation between MoCA nodes can add up:

• Up to 50 to 60 dB of loss between nodes can be tolerated

Excess Attenuation is the biggest factor in MoCA service disruptions

Ingress is second most common MoCA disruptor


MoCA Interferers different than QAM issues

MoCA can have issues that QAM would not be affected by:

• High End roll off above 1GHz (underrated splitters, faulty coax, home amplifiers, water in passives)

• High attenuation Wall plate to Wall plate (node-to-node)

QAMs do not go output port to output port of splitters where attenuation can be very high

• High Frequency ingress

Ingress occurring in the higher MoCA frequency band

• CPE issues

STB with a bad MoCA circuit but QAM demod is operational


Solving Service Issues with Wiring Solutions

Recommendation is to focus on insuring wiring is clean and capable of handling RF and MoCA services

• In previous experience with home wiring we found that greater than ~95% of homes pass all service tests when the home wiring is tested/fixed prior to service operations

• Remaining <5% were CPE or Technician errors

• Estimated that 70-80% of homes connected need little to no extra work needed for services to effectively operate


Home Premise Wiring

Majority of service issues inside the home are caused by wiring faults.

QAM video tiling and distortions usually due to coax impairments and ingress

MoCA has a high tolerance for problems, but also has a dramatic cliff effect of operation

– >55dB of loss between nodes

reduces effectiveness of

MoCA capable services

– Jumping Out/Out ~30-40dB

T

hro

ughput

Rate

Attenuation 0 50dB

220 Mbps

60dB

70-80 Mbps


Internal Testing of MoCA capabilities

Rates directly affected above 50dB of attenuation

• 1 example below

• Results vary with configuration

Isolation RF frequency response between

A B worst cast ~ 1.15 GHz 35dB

Splitter

15ft Term

Ground

Block 18ft

8ft

A B

Term

35dB

0

20

40

60

80

100

MB

S

Attenuation with cable loss MBS

Attenuation

with cable

loss

20 30 40 50 53 56

MBS 87.6 88 87.6 85.6 67.3 0

1 2 3 4 5 6

Output to Output testing


Typical problems “Shorts, opens, cuts, connectors, corrosion”

Splitter

Ground

Block

50ft

50ft

50ft

50ft 100ft Tap

RG – 6 Loss at 1.2 GHz = 3.5 + 3.5 + 3.5 + 3.5 + 30? + 4.5 + 4.5 + 7 = 60

50ft Rg-6 cable

loss Isolation of

input splitter

with reflection

Splitter

loss

STB with MoCA

STB with MoCA

STB with MoCA

Cable modem

F81 barrel

F81 barrel

F81 barrel

Note: 28 cable connections


Point of Entry (POE) Filter

A MoCA filter (aka: POE filter) performs two jobs.

• First it removes the MoCA signal from entering a neighbors house

Stops MoCA signal from leaving the home

• Second it gives MoCA a point of reflection for the signal

MoCA relies on the signals to “bounce” output to output on splitters

POE

MoCA/POE

Filter

Home Troubleshooting


Key Points

MoCA is HERE and it is EVOLVING

MoCA issues are almost always coax issues

MoCA rate table information is available via STB diagnostics screens

JDSU’s plan is to focus on finding and fixing root cause of physical layer issues that effect QAM, DOCSIS, AND MoCA


MoCA CPE Diagnostics Information

Good for verifying MoCA rates are acceptable or failing

Troubleshooting problems with MoCA equipment

• Identifies which nodes it can not see

• Can identify a problem exists (Tiling, Rate issues, MER, BER, etc…)

• Rate Table does not help identify root cause of problems but identifies which leg problems may exist

Rate Table

MAC Addresses


JDSU Experience with MoCA

JDSU has been following MoCA for 6+ years

• Observed first roll-outs in many operators

• Initial roll-outs have seen MoCA to work with minimal tech involvement

This does evolve as more and more applications/services rely on MoCA to carry larger amounts of information

As MoCA capacity is reached smaller coax impairments have shown to have greater impacts

Many operators may not yet have extensive experience with the MoCA technology

• Leads to fear of the unknown

• Decisions are made with little return on investment


What and Why do techs troubleshoot?

Estimated that between 90-95% of troubleshooting inside a home is coax path related

• Replacing connectors, splitters, faulty coax, etc…

• This is consistent with both QAM and MoCA issues

MoCA is robust - low bandwidth requirements means MoCA service survives

• STB diagnostics available today for MoCA suffice

• Multi Room DVR not yet reaching capacity of MoCA capabilities

QAM signals are more susceptible to issues

• Service level testing (MER, BER, DQI) is more helpful for QAM issues

• QAM signals are maxed out and are more susceptible to issues


JDSU Stance on MoCA emulation

MoCA emulation is currently not solving service problems

• Rate Tables between MoCA devices are already available via diagnostic pages on STB’s (CPE)

• Rate Tables only provide techs with information of whether the MoCA problem still exists or not

Does not provide root cause breakdown or fault identification

Tech must guess as to what is causing the MoCA issue by visually tracing the coax, making changes, then retesting

Like DOCSIS – MoCA got revised – Latest is MoCA 2.0 (Released June 2010)

• All devices today are still on the MoCA 1.1 chipset hardware

• New Hardware will be required to go to MoCA 2.0 – NOT a software upgrade

• Most Operators will want MoCA 2.0 hardware moving out of trials into mass deployments

No chipsets/hardware currently exists for MoCA 2.0


Find Root Cause of Service Issues

JDSU’s Philosophy: Quickly find and fix the root cause of 80-90% of in home coax related issues

• Help technicians find and fix the true physical issues

Not just identify a service problem exists

Save technician’s time

• Allow operators to determine all Triple-Play & MoCA services will work before connecting any CPE devices!

Certify the home’s coax plant over all frequencies is correct

• Physical testing is service agnostic

It doesn’t matter what service is running on the coax

Future proof for eventual service changes

JDSU Concept


JDSU Concept

Create an method to more quickly diagnose issues on the Home Wiring

• Identify root cause of the problem

• Locate the problem element more accurately

• Reduce ‘guess & check’ troubleshooting

C

D

E

B

A C

D

E

B

A

Bad Splitter Faulty Cable

x = Coax Test Points = Splitter = Coax Cable Key:


Coax Wiring Testing

Smart wiring probes used to find coax wiring issues

JDSU wiring probes located at each CPE location

• Separate probes communicate with each other

They identify connected locations

Identify frequency response issues between 3MHz – 1.65GHz

Locate faults in coax wiring

Show loss between CPE locations

– Used in conjunction with DSAM

• Connected via USB on top of DSAM

• DSAM commands probes

• DSAM displays testing results


JDSU Concept Con’t

Save operators money over time

• Make techs more efficient

Decrease troubleshooting time

Eliminate tech frustrations

Reduce guess work

Reduce repeat truck rolls

• Combine new probes with existing equipment

Combine with the DSAM for QAM/DOCSIS service testing

Allow the operator to test coax for all services in the home

Find all physical impairments for triple-play services

Video, Voice, Data, MoCA


Put a SmartID at each location inside the home where a Set-top-box or Cable Modem will be located (or is desired to be tested)

Connect one SmartID to the DSAM’s USB port

Then Connect that SmartID to the POE looking into the home toward CPE (i.e.: drop cable, ground block, or main split)

SmartID™ Setup

USB to

Mini-USB Point of Entry

or Main Split

Attic

Crawl Space

Splitter

Splitter

POE = Point of Entry

CPE = Customer Premise Equipment 27

SmartID – Typical Use

28


Put a SmartID at each location inside the home where a Set-top-box or Cable Modem will be located (or is desired to be tested)

Connect one SmartID to the DSAM’s USB port

Then Connect that SmartID to the POE looking into the home toward CPE (i.e.: drop cable, ground block, or main split)

SmartID™ Setup

USB to

Mini-USB Point of Entry

or Main Split

Attic

Crawl Space

Splitter

Splitter


CPE = Customer Premise Equipment 29


Enter the SmartID mode on the DSAM

• Measure button => Basic tab => SmartID

Select a Service Plan - Defaults are:

• Voice-Video-Data-MoCA

• Voice-Video-Data

• Drop Check

SmartID Overview Training

30


Once the test is initiated several things happen:

• All preconfigured SmartIDs are identified

• Low Battery and Firmware Incompatibilities are shown

Building Network Map

• Sweep and FDR between 5 and 1.5GHz

• Upstream 250KHz Steps, Downstream is 5MHz Steps

Qualifying MoCA

• 195KHz steps within the MoCA Channel at the subcarrier freqs

Performing the Test

31


Qualification Mode

• Overall Pass/Fail

• Upstream (at specified freqs)

• Downstream (at specified freqs)

• Ingress at POE and CPE locations

Limits Determine Pass/Fail

• Set by TPP (or Defaults)

Left Column of Pyramid is POE to CPE (i.e.: AtoB, AtoC, AtoD, etc)

• Check Mark = Pass; X = Fail

• Moving up and down the limits column adjusts to each individual path’s test results

Reading the Results

32


CPE = Customer Premise Equipment


Certify each Coax Path Independently

Qualification Screen shows Pass/Fail

• If all metrics pass the coax paths are good for the services its was tested against

• If a failure exists then further action is required

The columns on the left indicate which parameters failed for the movable bold box – Different paths may have different results

Additional detail about the failure can be collected from the Detail and the Network Overview screens – Accessible by pressing View

A frequency response graph can be used to help determine why the result was failing the limits set by the test

33


Occurs when a Filter or Amplifier are discovered

Location of Coax Elements are determined by FDR

• Accuracy of FDR is increased by the freq range of the test

5 – 1500 MHz gets to ±0.5 Ft accuracy

Filters and Amplifiers cut off some portion(s) of that frequency range

No longer 5 – 1500MHz available

Decreases accuracy of the location of elements

Could decrease the accuracy to ±3 Feet based on how much frequency is filtered out

Reading the Results- Ambiguous Map Warning

34

SmartID makes best guess at location

– Warns user that locations could be less accurate

– Warns that some splitters may have been combined into one splitter in the Details and Network Overview modes

Ambiguous elements are Highlighted


Shows all items in the path between the two SmartIDs Shown – Arrow Left and Right to highlight different segments

Each segment and element has additional information available in the text box

Swap will reverse the orientation from left to right to ease understanding on distances to elements

Details View

35 Swapped


Deeper Dive into the Network

Detail view shows additional information about the network

• Probe paths are isolated for a deeper view about the tested coax network

• Individual coax segment information is shown – Lengths and element information are indicated

• Additional text is presented to help indicate failed service tests

• Potential causes of the failures and impedance mismatches are shown on the screen as faults (exclamation points) as well as the distance from other elements to the potential faults are shown

– Elements such as filters, amplifiers, and splitters are also shown with more detail in this view

– SmartIDs can be changed by arrowing up/down while highlighting the probe

36 Two Splitter example


Shows all detected Elements and their connections

• SmartID’s Best Guess at where everything is located

• Typically 80-90% correct

• Filters and Amps can degrade accuracy

Can scroll through the CPE location SmartIDs

• Pressing Enter will take user to Details view

Exclamation Points = Identified reflections (Faults)

S = Filter locations

Triangle = Identified Amplifier

Plus Signs mean multiple elements

• Filters, Faults, Amp

Red SmartID Letters = Failed Ingress

Network Overview

37


Seeing how everything is connected

Network Overview shows what is connected

• The SmartIDs can determine what it believes is connected and where those elements have common connections

• Each element is shown on the topology map including: splitters, filters, amplifiers, and found mismatches

• Users can easily identify if unexpected elements are discovered and trace where those elements are located before beginning to troubleshoot the coax network

Note: Not every topology can be mapped with

100% accuracy though most common

configurations can. Filters and amplifiers in the

path can lead to inaccurate common points being

shown on the topology map and are highlighted

yellow when present. 38


Shows POE to CPE for Full and Upstream Sweeps

User Arrow keys to See amplitude at a specific frequency

Type in the specific freq on the keypad

Press cancel button to go back

Sweep Trace – Freq Response

39

Upstream Freq Response Downstream Freq Response –

with MoCA filter in place


See each path’s frequency response

Sweep graphs can identify many issues in the coax network

• Relative levels are shown at multiple frequencies to give users more information than words alone can express

By looking at the sweep response users can identify why the test failed the limits of the service plan:

Too much overall loss, adjacent points’ difference too great, overall highest loss to lowest loss (peak to valley) too great

• Users can see and interpret from the sweep response signal degradation caused by:

Frequency cut offs due to poor splitters or inline filters

Amplifiers eliminating the return or MoCA bands

Excessive attenuation

Reoccurring standing waves

Frequency suck outs

40

CPE to CPE – Multi-room DVR

41


Qualification Mode

• Overall Pass/Fail

• MQI score between both locations

• If a MoCA filter was present or not

Filters can be set to not be required

Limits Determine Pass/Fail

• Set by TPP (Default MQI = 7 or higher)

• Filter requirement set by TPP as well

Right of Left most Column of Pyramid is CPE to CPE (this case BtoC, BtoD, BtoE, BtoF, CtoD, CtoE, CtoF, DtoE, DtoF, EtoF)

• If Box is Green = Pass; Red = Fail; Yellow = Filter not required

• Moving up/down and left/right - Limits Column adjusts to each individual path’s test results

Reading the Results - CPE to CPE

42


CPE = Customer Premise Equipment


MQI takes into account the entire 50MHz MoCA 1.x channel

MoCA is made up of subcarriers that will adjust their modulation based on if that specific frequency is suitable for higher or lower orders of modulation (i.e.: 256QAM vs 4QAM)

MQI evaluates each subcarrier individually and correlates if it would be a higher or lower modulation

All subcarriers are then evaluated as an overall “Score” to produce the MQI score displayed

MoCA is pretty robust but handles frequency response issue better if there is a pattern than random freq responses – MQI takes this into account too

MQI Description

43

MQI = 9 MQI = 10 MQI = 8 MQI = 7


Save and report on the results

Questions?

Jim Carvajal

[email protected]

Thank You!

Jim Carvajal

[email protected]

Documents

MoCA Testing for triple play and Whole Home DVR€¦ · MoCA Testing for triple play and Whole Home DVR ... Reduce cost with a single Hard Drive-based STB ... x = Coax Test Points