Signal monitoring platform
Aspects of the disclosure relate to signal monitoring at edge of a network domain in a network. A monitoring device can evaluate communication quality of information streams in downstream frequency channels, and operation conditions in a telecommunication network. In one aspect, communication quality can be evaluated at the physical layer level or at a higher-layer level containing payload data. In response to an operation issue, the monitoring device can transmit a notification to a node of a distribution platform of the telecommunication network.
1. A device, comprising:
a plurality of tuners configured to receive a plurality of data transmissions associated with a plurality of frequency channels;
a plurality of demodulators each coupled to at least one tuner of the plurality of tuners, each demodulator of the plurality of demodulators being configured to demodulate at least one data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions;
an analysis unit configured to analyze data resulting from demodulation of the at least one data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions, resulting in analysis data comprising at least one communication quality metric; and
a management unit configured to transmit to a network node at least a portion of the analysis data in a format specified by the network node, the portion of the analysis data being transmitted in a multicast data transmission or a unicast data transmission.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data transmissions is associated with a plurality of service groups.
3. The device of claim 1 , wherein at least one demodulator of the plurality of demodulators is one of a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) demodulator or a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) demodulator.
4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one demodulator being configured to demodulate 64-QAM or 256-QAM modulated data.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein at least one demodulator of the plurality of demodulators is further configured to demodulate two or more data transmissions substantially simultaneously.
6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one communication quality metric comprises one or more of a modulation error ratio, a codeword error rate, forward error correction (FEC) synchronization, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) lock, moving picture expert group (MPEG) synchronization, a Reed-Solomon correctable data count, a Reed-Solomon correctable data rate, a Reed-Solomon uncorrectable data count, and a Reed-Solomon uncorrectable data rate.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit is further configured to filter at least a portion of the data resulting from demodulation of the at least one data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions for a suitable moving picture experts group (MPEG) table.
8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit is further configured to monitor at least one of a multi-program transport stream (MPTS) or a single-program transport stream (SPTS).
9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit is further configured to detect transport data transmission synchronization loss of a data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions.
10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the management unit is configured to format the analysis data according to one or more of an Ethernet protocol format or an internet protocol (IP) format, the IP format comprising at least one of a transmission control protocol (TCP) format or a user datagram protocol (UDP) format.
11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the management unit is further configured to play out a specific moving picture expert group transport data transmission (MPEG TS) of the plurality of data transmissions.
12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tuners, the plurality of demodulators, and the analysis unit are modularly integrated into a single monitoring unit.
13. The device of claim 1 , further comprising at least two pilot generator units, each pilot generator unit of the at least two pilot generator units being configured to produce a plurality of pilot tones.
14. A method, comprising:
receiving, by at least one tuner, a plurality of data transmissions associated with a plurality of frequency channels;
demodulating, through at least one demodulator coupled to the at least one tuner, at least one data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions;
analyzing, by an analysis unit coupled to the at least one demodulator, communication quality of data resulting from the demodulating step;
generating, by the analysis unit, analysis data based at least on an outcome of the analyzing step; and
transmitting to a network node at least a portion of the analysis data in a format specified by the network node, the portion of the analysis data being transmitted in a multicast data transmission.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the receiving step comprises receiving at least one data transmission associated with a plurality of frequency channels from a specific frequency channel.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the receiving step comprises scanning the plurality of frequency channels according to a predetermined scanning protocol.
17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the demodulating step comprises demodulating at least two data transmissions substantially simultaneously.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the analyzing step comprises filtering data resulting from the demodulating step for a suitable moving picture expert group (MPEG) table.
19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the analyzing step comprises generating at least one communication quality metric including one or more of a modulation error ratio, a codeword error rate, forward error correction (FEC) synchronization, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) lock, moving picture expert group (MPEG) synchronization, a packet identifier (PID) bitrate, a PID count, a Reed-Solomon correctable data count, a Reed-Solomon correctable data rate, a Reed-Solomon uncorrectable data count, and a Reed-Solomon uncorrectable data rate.
20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the analyzing step comprises monitoring at least one of a multi-program transport stream (MPTS) or a single-program transport stream (SPTS).
21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the analyzing step comprises detecting at least one of a TS identifier (ID) from a program association table (PAT) or transport data transmission synchronization loss of a data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions.
22. The method of claim 14 , wherein the generating step further comprises generating a plurality of multicast data transmissions.
23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the generating step comprises formatting the analysis data according to one or more of an Ethernet protocol format or an internet protocol (IP) format, wherein the IP format comprises at least one of a transmission control protocol (TCP) format or a user datagram protocol (UDP) format.
24. A system comprising:
an edge node; and
a device coupled to the edge node through a communication link, the device comprising a monitoring unit configured to,
receive, through a plurality of tuners, a plurality of data transmissions associated with a plurality of frequency channels,
demodulate, through a plurality of demodulators, a east one data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions,
analyze data resulting from the demodulating action and producing at least one communication quality metric based at least on the analyzing action,
generate analysis data comprising the at least one communication quality metric, and
transmit to a network node at least a portion of the analysis data in a format specified by the network node, the portion of the analysis data being transmitted in a multicast data transmission or a unicast data transmission.
25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the network node is configured to receive the analysis data from the device, wherein the analysis data is formatted according to one or more of an Ethernet protocol format or an internet protocol (IP) format, wherein the IP format comprises at least one of a transmission communication protocol (TCP) format or a user datagram protocol (UDP) format.