By Bahaa Moukadam and Jerry Green, Sunrise Telecom
Published in Broadband Gear Report

It's no surprise that test equipment must continuously evolve in order to stay one step ahead of the technologies it's designed to test. Except for becoming smaller and more integrated, the equipment has not changed fundamentally in 20 years. But, in the next five years, it will undergo a major transformation into full-featured appliances, sophisticated and elegant, yet rugged and intuitive. It will appear simplistic to the user, but execute complex measurements that drive, coordinate and apply judgment on a host of activities and processes. From advancing technologies to a changing workforce to growing consumer expectations, this transformation will be a turning point for the industry.

Testing for the Home of the Future

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' 2007 prediction of a "connected experience 24 hours a day" is fast becoming a more common reality as homes become not only connected, but also highly integrated. Gates envisioned home networks with PCs, music players, game consoles and media centers connected to one another and the Internet. In this kind of home, TV screens throughout the house allow people to stay connected, for example, to their football games as they move from room to room, without missing a single play, or to project movies in their children's room and download them to their cars before driving to see the grandparents. This vision, according to Parks Associates, will become widespread in the next 10 years.

And, this evolving environment has extensive implications when it comes to how cable operators will ultimately test their networks.

The foundation for the always-connected experience will be higher bandwidth and more robust wireless technologies that support a new definition of on-demand services. In the next five years, on-demand will be defined as delivering what consumers want (voice, video, music, books, photo libraries, TV, movies, etc.), when they want it, where they want it (inside or outside the home), and how they want it (cell phone, notebook, high-definition TV, PC, media player, etc.).

In the past five years, the nature of the HFC network has undergone significant changes, from analog to mostly digital. In the future, MSOs will use an all packet-based IP network to stream only the data desired by each individual, at the time they want it and to the device and location they choose: a genuine on-demand experience. This will radically change today's broadcast model used with HFC networks, where customers pick and choose from an enormous range of options, to a narrowcast downstream on demand model, where data is transmitted only to a specific list of recipients. This will allow MSOs to adjust their compression and channel utilization for more efficient and dynamic networks.

Smarter Cable Test Equipment

From a test equipment standpoint, these changes require that vendors develop test appliances that intelligently and quickly aid in rolling out and maintaining advanced services. Test appliances will be smarter and able to anticipate potential problems for a number of constantly changing scenarios. Unlike analog networks, where techs needed only a signal level meter (SLM) and TV set to troubleshoot the entire network when customers reported "snowy" pictures, test appliances will have to execute a host of complex tests to resolve issues. In fact, in digital networks, the very nature of the problem has changed from snowy pictures to pixilated or tiled images, or a complete loss of picture. In digital networks, changes in network performance levels can go virtually undetected until the picture fails.

Test Appliances Will Offer Cable Operators

• Built-in "intelligence" with ability to predict potential network issues
• Simplicity of use no matter the experience level of the user
• Capacity to send data to more experienced techs for further review, if necessary
• Ability to instantly send accurate measurement data from the field to the NOC
• Capability to serve as a test and communication tool
• A means for techs to have instant access to real-tim and historical data and online help
• Ability to send the next day’s work orders so techs don’t have to come into the office first
• Cost-efficiencies, reduced training time and improved productivity

Test appliances will allow techs to take measurements and solve basic problems quickly and seamlessly, in much the same way as using an SLM, but on extremely complex systems. While performing highly sophisticated tests, these appliances will be increasingly intuitive and easier to use by technicians of varying skill and experience levels, from the installer running wiring to homes, to service techs, and to repairmen troubleshooting and fixing problems. When issues cannot be solved simply, test appliances will transmit data to more experienced technicians who can resolve the problem and send back a solution.

Testing Data From Anywhere

To maintain service levels in the future, field techs will need the ability to make accurate measurements of the network performance wherever they are, collect the data and transmit it instantaneously to the network operations center for analysis and action. This constant vigilance requires test appliances that perform sophisticated tests and serve as communication tools.

Built-in 3G wireless communication interfaces will transform test appliances into workforce productivity tools. As tests are completed, results will be sent to a central server for data analysis, collection and trending. Every technician will have instant access to real-time and historical data that will speed troubleshooting by providing step-by-step, online help. Web-based tools will provide a macro-view of the street and neighborhood, allowing techs to ascertain whether a problem is in the network or at the premise before going on-site. Using IMs or other built-in telephony interfaces, technicians will communicate via voice, email and other means, eliminating the need for adjunct PCs, cell phones and other widgets.

Work orders outlining the next day's assignments will be transmitted overnight to the appliance while the technician sleeps, eliminating the need for daily trips to the office or garage first. GPS systems will identify the fastest routes, help avoid construction and traffic delays, and enable supervisors to quickly locate personnel with supplies or specialized expertise and dispatch them to new locations, streamlining operations and saving truck rolls. To improve performance, managers will be able to analyze metrics like time per site, tests performed, signature capture and end-of-testing timestamps.

Lowering Costs

Test appliance design will evolve to help MSOs control capital expenses. Modular test appliances built on open systems will lower costs and ensure that techs take advantage of best-in-class solutions. Smaller and designed to mimic the look and feel of common handheld devices, the appliances will have the ability to be customized seamlessly while maintaining a standard, intuitive user interface, reducing training costs and improving productivity.

Bahaa Moukadam is VP of marketing and Jerry Green is product manager at Sunrise Telecom.