Traffic modeling and analysis of hybrid fiber–coax systems

Abstract

In the hybrid fiber–coax (HFC) architecture, the coax is a shared medium to which the network interface unit (NIU) of an end-user is attached for accessing a diversity of network services such as voicegrade and video telephony. For each call request from an end-user, connectivity to the network switch is established through a unified infrastructure. The traffic carrying capacities of the coax must therefore be understood so that the system can be dimensioned properly to ensure that a satisfactory level of blocking performance can be attained. This paper provides a high-level overview of an object-oriented simulation tool developed to model the HFC architecture. Key issues related to traffic capacities of the coax are analyzed both by using this tool and by analytical methods.