Optimize Network Performance with D3.1Enhanced

By deploying D3.1E, you can leverage your existing network assets to improve performance and expand your service offerings—and, at the same time, extend the life of your current network. D3.1E requires only minimal upgrades to inside and outside plant equipment, providing a path to better network performance and downstream speeds without incurring exorbitant construction, labor, and equipment costs. You can use the flexibility of D3.1E to monetize your current network assets, maintain competitive value proposition with your subscribers, and get the best return on investment from your field upgrades.

For example, your current DOCSIS 3.0 or DOCSIS 3.1 E6000 CERs deployments can support D3.1E operation, providing you with an excellent strategy for extending the life of your headend assets. CommScope’s E6000® Release 13 includes enhanced features for D3.1E operation, including support for DOCSIS 4.0 CPE devices running in D3.1E mode. Release 13 also features expanded OFDM channel bonding capacity to support expanded downstream bandwidth in D3.1E deployments. E6000 Release 13 also supports Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) Remote PHY operation, making it an ideal choice to future-proof your network for next-generation technologies.

If you’re operating the C100G or the CommScope vCMTS—recently added to CommScope’s product portfolio after the company’s acquisition of the cable business unit assets of Casa Systems—upcoming software releases for both platforms will support D3.1E operation. C100G Software Release 8.12 will support four OFDM channel blocks and two OFDMA channel blocks for D3.1E deployments and will also provide support for DOCSIS 4.0 CPE devices running in DOCSIS 3.1 mode. CommScope vCMTS Software Release 10.8.2 will support these same D3.1E features on a virtual platform.

For the outside plant, CommScope offers mid-split and high-split frequency split upgrade kits for your portfolio of amplifiers and nodes, providing an easy and economical upgrade path for fielded actives currently operating in sub-split networks — and full support for maximum downstream capacity and throughput gains in your D3.1E deployment.

D3.1E doesn’t just expand downstream capacity and increase speed tiers available to subscribers. It also helps to optimize network performance. You can leverage D3.1E to enhance the operational capabilities of your current network, better utilize network operations and field services, and improve subscriber satisfaction.

As the cable industry begins deploying next-generation network technologies, such as DAA, Node PON, and virtualized headend operation, many MSOs have begun planning to replace legacy MPEG QAM video channels with IPTV. By eliminating these legacy channels, you can reclaim either six or eight MHz per channel in the downstream band, depending on your current channel configurations. You can reassign this reclaimed bandwidth to a third, fourth, or fifth OFDM channel, depending on your D3.1E network configuration—something not possible with standard D3.1 CPE devices, which only support a maximum of two OFDM channels.

OFDM operation can help improve the performance of CPE devices in the home and provide better subscriber experiences. OFDM operation supports multiple modulation profiles, which more efficiently allocate bandwidth to all CPE devices in the downstream path. And there are various solutions to automate operation with OFDM channels and enable the distribution of downstream signals at the maximum modulation levels available to all CPE devices, providing optimal OFDM support and maximum D3.1E performance.

Many next-generation DOCSIS 3.1+ or DOCSIS 4.0 CPE devices feature improved or enhanced Wi-Fi^® features that further support a transition to IPTV. Next-generation D3.1 Gateways, for example, may feature the latest dual-band or tri-band Wi-Fi 7 capability. Wi-Fi 7 supports accelerated through-put, reduced latency, and better reliability for improved performance with connected devices throughout the home network.