Guarantee the quality of FTTep deployments with Broadband Forum MoCA testing

Guarantee the quality of FTTep deployments with Broadband Forum MoCA testing

By Herman Verbueken, Director of Broadband Forum Physical Transmission Work Area

For service providers, using existing building infrastructure to deploy internet services that guarantee quality of experience for users sounds like a match made in heaven. Expensive deployments can be avoided, and consumers are satisfied with internet that fulfills their requirements. Yet using fiber to the extension point (FTTep) technology to realize this combination of connectivity quality and cut costs demands stringent testing, especially when delivering gigabit services.

Leveraging multi-gigabit access in the home

The FTTep journey started with a need for alternative and complementary architectures capable to deliver services in a more economical way than possible with pure fiber networks. Fiber to the home (FTTH) deployments in brownfield areas may be met with many possible barriers, such as lack of ducting both in-building and outside, opposition of building owners to lay new cabling in hallways and apartments, and access restrictions to the building.

Providers to MDUs must also overcome many obstacles to deliver a fast and fiber-like connectivity quickly to a large number of residencies. MDUs have typically been those underserved as signing a broadband contract with a customer in a Single-Family Unit is easier than an MDU. This is because it involves securing permissions from building and apartment owners for construction works, as well as numerous tenants.

This led to the introduction of the Fiber to the extension point (FTTep) architecture where the copper-based point-to-point (P2P) or point-to-multipoint (P2MP) infrastructure was leveraged to provide multi-gigabit access into the home.

The overall architecture of a network with fiber extension is described in TR-419i2 where the fiber is extended by using a copper medium – metallic cables as twisted pair or coaxial cable – with similar quality of experience (QoE) as compared to a standard Fiber To the Home (FTTH) deployment.

The overall network is composed of three sub-networks:

• Optical Distribution Network (ODN): This sub-network is composed of an optical distribution system (e.g., PON) and connects to the core network through the OLT.
• Copper Distribution Network (CDN): This sub-network is built using a copper-based technology for the physical layer and is used to get the signal delivered from the optical sub-network to the premises. The length and type of this CDN depends on the use case.
• Home Distribution Network (HDN): This sub-network delivers the signal received from the CDN through the premises using the appropriate technology.

On top of the FTTep architecture, TR-419i2 describes a number of Use Cases (UCs). Three access technologies were identified for implementation of the CDN section in these UCs. These were G.fast, G.hn Access and MoCA  Access^TM.  For each of these technologies functional and performance test plans are developed by the Physical layer Transmission Work Area.

Testing, testing, WT-500

The focus of this MoCA Access^TM performance test plan is on the physical layer and traffic testing, similar to how TR-380i2 and TR-476 are defined. This test plan will include test setup information, equipment configuration requirements, test procedures, and performance requirements. Traffic tests should show the throughput and delay for various packet sizes and mixes for the various use cases.

The top-level architecture and traffic configuration of the test platform covers both point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multipoint (P2MP) test scenarios. In the P2MP scenario both the star and tap network are addressed.

For each test, the traffic throughput and frame loss rate is verified, as is the minimum, average and maximum traffic delay. The traffic mix used is a representation of real-life traffic. This mix is called FASTMIX and has a predefined mix of IP packet sizes.

Ensure the delivery of quality performance

The main objective of FTTep is to re-use existing copper or coaxial infrastructure to extend fiber gigabit services with minimal construction – and Broadband Forum is here to help providers deliver.

The supporting test plans, created by the PHYtx Work Area, provide guidance to the expected performance and Quality of Service for operators planning to deploy FTTep in their networks. The latest test plan in development is the WT-500 MoCA Access^TM Performance test plan.

Visit the Wiki for more information about the test plan: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/WT-500+Project

If you’d like to contribute ideas and new projects within the Forum, please contact: info@broadband-forum.org.