Re: [802.3_EPOC] Why multiple simultaneous MCS
Matt,
So just to be clear what you're referring to is multiple simultaneous MCS
per sub-carrier. I get a little confused sometimes because you would
naturally have multiple MCS within OFDM as is today, it's just that a given
subcarrier would have the same MCS for all receiving stations. I continue
to be concerned with the multiple simultaneous MCS per sub-carrier
considerations for EPoC because I am not convinced that the effective
increase in PHY performance will warrant the complexity tax for everything
else within the system.
Some of the concerns you raise are addressed by using the same MCS for all
stations "listening" to a given sub-carrier because the MCS for that
subcarrier could change for all stations listening to it to account for
noisy conditions, thus you would address the concern of stations dropping
offline due to noisy conditions. You would still not (necessarily) need one
MCS used to transmit to stations 1-4 on subcarrier A and a different MCS
used to transmit to stations 5-8 on subcarrier A. I, for one, still sit in
the camp that I need to be convinced that when you attach the additional
complexity to the EPON MAC, particularly with the architecture we have in
mind, that the downsides don't outweigh the benefits.
Ed
From: Matthew Schmitt <m.schmitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Matthew Schmitt <m.schmitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2012 8:24 PM
To: <STDS-802-3-EPOC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [802.3_EPOC] Why multiple simultaneous MCS
Based on some of the discussions, I think it might be worthwhile to spend a
moment going into the chain of reasoning that led myself (and others) to the
conclusion that an advanced next generation HSD system for HFC (such as
EPoC) should include the ability to support multiple simultaneous Modulation
and Coding Schemes (MCS).
If I were to sum it up in 2 words (okay, technically 4), it would be this:
SNR Headroom.
In a system that requires all end stations to operate with the same MCS (and
to receive all downstream transmissions), the great danger is that for
whatever reason the SNR to a given end station will change sufficiently that
it will drop offline. That simply cannot be allowed to happen. As a
result, operators are required to maintain a significant amount of "SNR
Headroom" when they setup and deploy an end station. Common practice is to
allow on order of 8 db of SNR headroom when deploying a modem (some a little
more, but I'm not aware of any that do less).
What this means is the following? Let's say that you needed 25 dB of SNR to
operate 1024 QAM with a 3/4 LDPC FEC code (which I believe is the case with
DVB-C2, and serves as a useful reference point here). An MSO would not
actually use that MCS unless they could get their end stations at 33 dB of
SNR (25+8) when deploying them. If they couldn't get to that level when
deploying the end station, they wouldn't be able to use that MCS.
I pulled out that particular number because, based on the SNR distributions
that were shared previously, even if you assumed you could "bring up" the
bottom 2.1% of modems, that's the best you could expect to do. And even if
you could further improve SNR, you're still always going to be operating in
effect 8 dB below what you could theoretically do. For example, just to get
to 4096 QAM with a 5/6 LDPC FEC, you'd need to get every single end station
to operate at about 40dB or higher of SNR.
Now, if you could get away from requiring that 8 dB of headroom, it would be
huge, considering that 6 dB is an order of modulation with the same FEC, an
increase of 2 bits per symbol.
One way to achieve that end is to support multiple MCSs, but only one at a
time, which is set based on the "lowest common denominator". In this
approach, if an end station were to have a sudden drop in SNR, then the
system would need to drop to a lower "lowest common denominator", until such
time as the problem could be addressed. By having that fall back, you could
in theory operate closer to the theoretical maximum and reduce the amount of
headroom required.
However, there are some issues here. First, one bad end station coming onto
the network ? or a single problem in a single household ? would affect the
entire network, degrading the service of every single end station. Second,
particularly in the scenario where an end station encounters a problem after
it's already online, there's no guarantee that it would even still be able
to communicate that it was having a problem and that it needed the MCS to be
changed. That risk is then going to force you to leave more headroom,
mitigating any potential gains.
The only approach that we've come up with so far that allows you to
significantly reduce that headroom and operate close to theoretical levels ?
while not adversely affecting the entire system when there's a problem ? is
to create a system in which a single end station is able to fall back to a
more robust MCS if it encounters a problem. In that way, only the single
device having an issue is affected, and unless the problem is truly
catastrophic you can reliably keep the mode online (meaning that you have an
opportunity to fix the problem while the customer remains online and
operational).
We could argue back and forth for quite a while about SNR spreads on the
network, how much variation there will be between end stations in a given
service group, etc. And the ability to operate each device to its maximum
potential is very appealing to be sure. But what really makes this
decision, in my opinion, is the SNR headroom issue, and in particular the
ability to significantly reduce it while actually improving robustness and
the ability to keep customers on line.
Thanks.
Matt
________________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe from the STDS-802-3-EPOC list, click the following link:
https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=STDS-802-3-EPOC&A=1