Estimating a severity level of a network fault
A method of estimating a level of severity of a network fault is provided. Performance parameters are monitored on upstream and downstream links to terminal network elements on a network to detect potential network faults. An alarm is raised with respect to a potential network fault automatically if at least one of the performance parameters as monitored crosses a preset threshold. After an alarm is raised, a level of severity is assigned to the alarm based on pre and post forward error correction (FEC) bit error rates (BER). In addition, the total number of terminal network elements that are impacted by the network fault is estimated and, when multiple alarms are raised of an equal level of severity, a higher priority is placed upon an alarm that affects service to a greatest number of terminal network elements.
1. A method of estimating a level of severity of a network fault, comprising the steps of:
monitoring performance parameters on upstream and downstream links to terminal network elements on a network to detect potential network faults;
raising an alarm with respect to a potential network fault automatically if at least one of the performance parameters obtained during said monitoring step crosses a preset threshold;
after an alarm is raised, assigning a level of severity to the alarm automatically based on pre and post forward error correction (FEC) bit error rates (BER); and
estimating a total number of terminal network elements that are impacted by the network fault, wherein, when multiple alarms are raised of an equal level of severity, a higher priority is placed upon an alarm that affects service to a greatest number of terminal network elements.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network has a headend with a cable modem termination system (CMTS), and the terminal network elements of the network include cable modems.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the level of severity of the alarm is assigned a lower level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER as compared to when at least one of the pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is outside of its respective predetermined acceptable range.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the level of severity of the alarm is assigned a higher level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER as compared to when the post-FEC BER is within the predetermined acceptable range.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the level of severity of the network fault is assigned a low level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, wherein the level of severity of the network fault is assigned an intermediate level of severity when the pre-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, and wherein the level of severity of the network fault is assigned a high level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the performance parameters monitored during said detecting step are used to determine which network component of the network is a potential location of a network fault.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the performance parameters monitored during said detecting step include absolute values of the performance parameters, a delta in the absolute values of the performance parameters, and the delta as a function of the absolute values.
8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the performance parameters monitored during said detecting step include at least one of downstream power level, upstream power level, microreflections, upstream filter coefficient ratio, carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR)/signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and modulation error ratio (MER).
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the level of severity assigned to the network fault ranges from a non-service affecting level of severity at a low end to a critical level of severity at a high end.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of automatically and electronically populating a geographically-accurate map with a geographic location of a network component to which the network fault is attributed, a geographic location of each terminal network element impacted by the network fault, and a diagnostic alarm identifying the network fault and the level of severity of the network fault, the map being displayable via geospatial software.
11. A signal processing electronic device for populating a display of an interactive graphical user interface with a diagnostic alarm corresponding to a fault detected on the network, comprising at least one processing unit configured to monitor performance parameters on upstream and downstream links to terminal network elements on a network to detect potential network fault and to raise an alarm with respect to a network fault automatically if at least one of the performance parameters crosses a preset threshold, said at least one processing unit being configured to assign a level of severity to an alarm automatically after an alarm is raised based on pre and post forward error correction (FEC) bit error rates (BER), and said at least one processing unit being configured to estimate a total number of terminal network elements that are impacted by the network fault, wherein, when multiple alarms are raised of an equal level of severity, a higher priority is placed upon an alarm that affects service to a greatest number of terminal network elements.
12. A signal processing electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the signal processing electronic device is a server connected to the network, and wherein the network has a headend with a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and the terminal network elements of the network include cable modems.
13. A signal processing electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein said at least one processing unit is configured to assign a lowest level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
14. A signal processing electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein said at least one processing unit is configured to assign a highest level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
15. A signal processing electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein said at least one processing unit is configured to assign a low level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, assign an intermediate level of severity when the pre-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, and assign a high level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
16. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the following operations:
monitor performance parameters on upstream and downstream links to terminal network elements on a network to detect potential network faults;
raise an alarm with respect to a network fault automatically if at least one of the performance parameters monitored crosses a preset threshold;
after an alarm is raised, assign a level of severity to the alarm automatically based on pre and post forward error correction (FEC) bit error rates (BER); and
estimate a total number of terminal network elements that are impacted by the network fault, wherein, when multiple alarms are raised of an equal level of severity, a higher priority is placed upon an alarm that affects service to a greatest number of terminal network elements.
17. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to assign a lowest level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
18. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to assign a highest level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.
19. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 , wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to assign a low level of severity when the pre-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, assign an intermediate level of severity when the pre-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for pre-FEC BER and the post-FEC BER is within a predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER, and assign a high level of severity when the post-FEC BER falls outside of the predetermined acceptable range for post-FEC BER.