ADSL2Plus Configuration Guidelines For IPTV: Technical Report

TECHNICAL REPORT
The Broadband Forum. All rights reserved.

TR-176
ADSL2Plus Configuration Guidelines for IPTV

Issue: 1.00
Date: September 2008

ADSL2Plus Configuration Guidelines for IPTV TR-176 1.00

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September 2008 The Broadband Forum. All rights reserved 2
Issue History

Issue
Number
Issue
Date
Issue
Editors
Changes
1.00 September 2008 Gavin Young,
Dov Zimring
Original

Technical comments or questions about this Technical Report should be directed to:

Editors: Gavin Young Chief Access Architect
Cable & Wireless
[email protected]
Dov Zimring Director, Strategic Technology
Occam Networks
[email protected]

Working
Group
Chair
Peter Adams BT
[email protected]


Table of Contents

1 PURPOSE.................................................................................................................. 7
2 SCOPE....................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 DEFINITIONS........................................................................................................ 7
2.2 CONVENTIONS ..................................................................................................... 8
3 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 8
4 OVERVIEW OF DSL PROFILE APPROACHES ............................................. 10
4.1 FIXED RATE PROFILES....................................................................................... 10
4.2 RATE-ADAPTIVE PROFILES................................................................................ 10
4.3 SEAMLESS RATE ADAPTATION (SRA) ............................................................... 13
4.4 DYNAMIC LINE MANAGEMENT/DYNAMIC SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT : LEVEL 115
4.4.1 Examples of DSM L1/DLM algorithms..................................................... 15
4.5 DYNAMIC SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT (DSM) : LEVEL 2 AND HIGHER ............... 16
5 ACCESS NODE DSL PROFILE CONFIGURATION....................................... 16
6 ADSL2PLUS CONFIGURATION GUIDELINES FOR IPTV.......................... 18
6.1 TARGET NOISE MARGIN .................................................................................... 18
6.2 MAXIMUM NOISE MARGIN ................................................................................ 20
6.3 MINIMUM NOISE MARGIN.................................................................................. 20
6.4 SRA UPSHIFT & DOWNSHIFT NOISE MARGINS.................................................. 21
6.5 DELAY ............................................................................................................... 22
6.6 IMPULSE NOISE PROTECTION............................................................................. 23
7 IPTV OVER ADSL2PLUS: SUMMARY............................................................. 27

List of Figures

Figure 1 - Concept of Rate-Adaptive DSL Comprising Two Components...................... 12
Figure 2 - Signal To Noise Ratio Margin (SNRM) Parameters and Seamless Rate
Adaptation Interaction.............................................................................................. 18
Figure 3 Power and Frequency by Region..................................................................... 23

List of Tables

Table 1 Maximum Downstream Attainable Rate, no Extended Framing Parameters [4] 25
Table 2 Maximum Downstream Attainable Bitrate with 16K Interleaver and Extended
Framing Parameters [5]............................................................................................. 25
Table 3 Maximum Downstream Attainable Bitrate with 24K Interleaver and Extended
Framing Parameters [6]............................................................................................. 26
Table 4 IPTV ADSL2plus Profile Initial Recommendations........................................... 27
Summary

This Technical Report contains generic ADSL2plus configuration parameter settings for
use in the deployment of IPTV over ADSL2plus. Included are ranges of deployed
parameter values derived from the experiences of service providers and vendors who
have already tested, trialled and/or deployed IPTV over ADSL2plus and hence represent
current industry practise. In addition, specific recommendations are made for a baseline
set of parameters supporting IPTV. Every IPTV implementation is different; the service
offering, serving area, noise models, plant characteristics and vendor capabilities all
combine to a very specific environment in which the baseline parameters described
herein may be inappropriate. Service Providers are encouraged to use this Technical
Report as a starting point to thoroughly research their environment and establish
appropriate profiles for their specific IPTV deployment.

1 Purpose

The Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for delivery
of IPTV over DSL are much more onerous than those of best effort internet access. If the
capacity management and QoS engineering (typically at Ethernet and IP layers) of the
core and aggregation networks are adequate, the main source of network impairments to
the TV application will be the DSL access or home networks. Noise and time-varying
channel conditions on the copper pair can result in packet loss and hence video
application artefacts. The impact of noise and other changes to the DSL transmission
channel can be alleviated by judicious choice of parameter values in the DSL profile
settings. This Technical Report makes recommendations for such profile parameters in
order to facilitate successful transport of IPTV over ADSL2plus. These recommendations
represent a generic baseline set of parameters supporting IPTV.

Every IPTV implementation is different; the service offering, serving area, noise models,
plant characteristics and vendor capabilities all combine to a very specific environment in
which the baseline parameter values described herein may be inappropriate. Hence each
of the parameters are discussed in depth enabling operators to make informed decisions
about how they may wish to alter them from the baseline values in order to generate the
appropriate parameters for their own unique environment. These baseline parameters are
not an alternative to developing an in depth understanding of the noise environment
encountered on a particular network. The result in terms of QoE will give an indication
of the actual effectiveness of the chosen DSL profile.

2 Scope
This Technical Report provides baseline recommendations for ADSL2Plus profile
parameters for IPTV. Future work in the Broadband Forum may extend the work of this
Technical Report to encompass profiles for DSM/DLM and VDSL2 profiles for IPTV.

This Technical Report enhances the use of rate-adaptive mode as described in TR-101
[10] by introducing a hybrid approach based on a fixed-rate component of a rate-adaptive
profile. The minimum bitrate parameter of an ADSL2Plus profile is used to specify the
bandwidth required for IPTV and other traffic-engineered services and best-effort
services are provisioned within a rate-adpative zone between minimum and maximum
bitrate, facilitating compatibility with a TR-101[10] based architecture which is the
architecture recommended by the Broadband Forum for delivery of multicast IPTV and
bundled services with a variety of QoS requirements.

2.1 Definitions

The following terminology is used throughout this Technical Report.

ANCP Access Node Control Protocol
BLC Broadband Loop Carrier
BNG Broadband Network Gateway
DLM Dynamic Line Management
DMT Discrete Multi-Tone
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexor
DSM Dynamic Spectrum Management
EMS Element Management System
HD High Definition (TV)
HSIA High Speed Internet Access
IPTV Internet Protocol Television
INP Impulse Noise Protection
ITU-T International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication
Standardization Sector
MSAN Multi-Service Access Node
NOC Network Operations Center
PPP Point to Point Protocol
QoE Quality of Experience
QoS Quality of Service
RG Residential Gateway (i.e. end-users ADSL2plus router)
SD Standard Definition (TV)
SNR Signal To Noise Ratio
SNRM Signal To Noise Ratio Margin
SRA Seamless Rate Adaptation
VoD Video On Demand

2.2 Conventions
In this Technical Report, several words are used to signify the requirements of the
specification. These words are often capitalized.

MUST This word, or the adjective REQUIRED, means that the definition is an
absolute requirement of the specification.
MUST NOT This phrase means that the definition is an absolute prohibition of the
specification.
SHOULD This word, or the adjective RECOMMENDED, means that there may
exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore this item, but the
full implications must be understood and carefully weighted before
choosing a different course.
MAY This word, or the adjective OPTIONAL, means that this item is one of
an allowed set of alternatives. An implementation that does not include
this option MUST be prepared to inter-operate with another
implementation that does include the option.

3 References
The following references constitute provisions of this Technical Report. At the time of
publication, the editions indicated were valid. All references are subject to revision; users
of this Technical Report are therefore encouraged to investigate the possibility of
applying the most recent edition of the references listed below. A list of the currently
valid Broadband Forum Technical Reports is published at www.broadband-forum.org.

[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
TR-126
Triple-Play Services Quality of
Experience (QoE) Requirements
Broadband Forum
Technical Report
December 2006
G.992.1
ADSL Transceivers ITU-T
Recommendation
J uly 1999
G.992.3
Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber
Line Transceivers-2 (ADSL2).
ITU-T
Recommendation
February 2003
G.992.5
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line (ADSL) transceivers
Extended bandwidth ADSL2
(ADSL2plus)
ITU-T
Recommendation
May 2003
G.992.5
Amendment 1
(ADSL2plus) Amendment 1
ITU-T
Recommendation
J uly 2005
G.992.5
Amendment 3
(ADSL2plus) Amendment 3
ITU-T
Recommendation
December 2006
G.994.1
Handshake procedures for DSL
transceivers
ITU-T
Recommendation
May 2003
G.997.1
Physical layer management for
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
transceivers
ITU-T
Recommendation
J une 2006
DSM TR
Dynamic Spectrum Management
Technical Report ATIS-0600007
[pre-pub], May 2007, ATIS
ATIS Technical
Report
May 2007
TR-101
Migration to Ethernet Based DSL
Aggregation
Broadband Forum
Technical Report
April 2006
TR-059
DSL Evolution - Architecture
Requirements for the Support of
QoS-Enabled IP Services
Broadband Forum
Technical Report
September 2003

4 Overview of DSL Profile Approaches
DSL Network operators have three options for their approach to ADSL2plus profiles:

(a) Fixed rate profile
(b) Rate adaptive profile without use of SRA (Seamless Rate Adaptation)
(c) Rate-adaptive profile with use of SRA

A further option discussed as an informative reference is Dynamic Line Management
(DLM) / Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) to automatically select an appropriate
profile on a per-line basis

4.1 Fixed Rate Profiles
Fixed rate profiles were used in the early days of ADSL deployment and some of these
deployments were used to carry IPTV (multicast and VoD) traffic. The downside of this
approach is that good prequalification processes and systems are required before ANY
service is sold to the customer (including best-effort Internet access). This is because it
is necessary to determine whether a customer is within range of the requisite fixed rate.
Such profiles often formed part of a tiered service offering where any change in product
(such as upsell to a faster speed) required the operator to re-provision the end-users DSL
line profile via the DSL Access Node element manager. However, fixed rate profiles
have the potential benefit of greater service stability than rate adaptive profiles. Service
stability is essential for IPTV delivery.

4.2 Rate-Adaptive Profiles
With more recent architectural developments as described in Broadband Forum TR-059
(for ATM architectures) and Broadband Forum TR-101 [10] (for Ethernet architectures)
DSL Network Providers have moved to the use of ADSL2plus together with rate-
adaptive profiles. ADSL2plus offers greater rate/reach performance compared to ADSL
and hence can improve IPTV service penetration among the customer base. However,
the use of rate-adaptive profiles also has benefits:

The first benefit of rate-adaptive DSL profiles is that line pre-qualification for a particular
DSL product can be less onerous. If a line is allowed to train or synchronize at the
maximum speed it can, then a product strategy for best-effort Internet Access doesnt
need to specify a particular fixed rate such as 5 Mbit/s. Instead it can advertise up to 5
Mbit/s. Thus before the product is sold to the end-user, it is not necessary to so
accurately determine whether their line will be below the 5 Mbit/s distance threshold.
This approach can be extended to bundled services including IPTV. For example,
consider a triple-play bundle comprising 2 Mbit/s standard definition video, 100 kbit/s
derived voice and 1 Mbit/s Internet Access. With a fixed rate-profile, pre-qualification
would need to accurately identify whether the line could support a traffic payload of 3.1
Mbit/s. However, with a rate-adaptive profile, the product definition could be slightly
modified so that the Internet Access component is advertised as up to 3 Mbit/s with the
objective of delivering a minimum of 500 kbit/s when the video service is in use. Hence
any line that pre-qualifies in the range 2.6 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s could be viable (this
assumes the 2 Mbit/s capacity for video can be re-used for Internet Access when nobody
is watching IPTV). Such product approaches have become more common and have
allowed service providers more latitude in the accuracy of pre-qualifying prospective
customer lines. The consequence is greater service penetration and less provisioning
failures.

The second benefit of rate-adaptive profiles is more efficient product change processes.
It is feasible to deploy a single default rate-adaptive profile that is good enough for a
triple-play bundle (and hence will work for single-play data, double-play voice +data as
well as triple play) and seeks to train the line to the fastest speed it can achieve (given
line-length and local noise environment). An end-users DSL product speed in a tiered
service can then be controlled centrally via user profiles on the Broadband Network
Gateway (BNG) which can throttle the throughput to a speed lower than the actual line-
rate. The BNG can have visibility of the end-users actual DSL line rate via either the
PPPoE Intermediate Agent (IA) described in TR-101 [10] or via the Access Node Control
Protocol (ANCP). Knowledge of the actual synch rate of the line then enables the BNG
to facilitate accurate traffic shaping and to dynamically adjust QoS on the fly
1
to best
exploit the DSL line-rate depending on which services (data, voice &/or video) are being
used at any point in time. It also enables more targeted product upsell since the BNG
will be aware of the maximum speed that a users DSL line can support. For example, by
polling the user line-rates of the existing customer base
2
it is feasible to work out which
existing customers for Internet Access could be upsold to IPTV or which customers who
already have single-channel Standard Definition (SD) IPTV could be upsold to two
simultaneous SD IPTV channels or a single High-Definition (HD) IPTV channel.

The use of rate adaptive profiles in the manner described in the preceding paragraph will
(by design) cause a significant fraction of lines in the network to operate with an excess
data rate. It needs to be noted that supporting such data rates at the DSL layer can cause
operational side effects. In particular, additional transmit power is wasted in supporting
any unused portion of the data rate, which reduces energy efficiency and increases
crosstalk. Additionally, DSL lines operating at an unnecessarily low margin are
vulnerable to instability. Impulse Noise Protection (INP)/delay is also constrained (refer
to Table 1) on such lines. For these reasons, operation with excess data rate tends to
reduce DSL-layer network stability. When designing profiles, these drawbacks should be
carefully evaluated by operators against the benefits of using a single rate-adaptive
profile.

Another way to use Rate-Adaptive Profiles is to aim for a Fixed Rate profile based on a
particular bundle of services but allow Rate Adaptation to benefit the best-effort portion
of the bundle. One way of thinking of this is to consider a rate adaptive lines actual
speed to be comprised of two components the fixed (minimum) guaranteed component

1
E.g. via the use of the hierarchical scheduling techniques described in TR-059 [11] and TR-101
2
Such max line-rate information may be held by the Access Node element manager and also the BNG if
PPPoE IA or ANCP are employed
and the variable component
3
. The latter can be considered as elastic bandwidth
available for Best-Effort traffic like Internet Access. The exact speed of this component
is less critical to the functioning of the overall service bundle and so a part of it can be
sacrificed to reduce the rigor and accuracy required in pre-qualifying a users line for
the service bundle.

Figure 1 - Concept of Rate-Adaptive DSL Comprising Two Components

As illustrated in Figure 1, the minimum-bitrate parameter specifies the fixed-rate
component of the service. This could be used to ensure that sufficient bandwidth is
available for IPTV, VoIP and any other traffic engineered service that requires a fixed
bandwidth allocation. The maximum-bitrate parameter is set to the total bandwidth
required for traffic engineered services +best effort services such as Internet Access. As
an example, suppose a Service Provider offered three channels of IPTV, each encoded at
3Mbit/s and required an additional 0.5Mbps for VoIP and middleware (EPG STB
management etc.). Furthermore, the service provider guarantees a minimum SLA for
Internet Access of 0.5Mbps. The minimum bit rate would be set to 10Mbps. The Service
Provider could advertise an Internet Access capability supporting "up to" 5Mbit/s. The
corresponding maximum-bitrate would be set at 15Mbps. With these settings the line
could achieve DSL synchronization (showtime) at any rate between say 10 Mbit/s and
15Mbps, covering a far broader serving area than if the line could only train up at
15Mbps as could be the case in a pure fixed-rate scenario. Hence line pre-qualification
requirements are eased.

3
Analogous to CBR +UBR components in ATM service bundles
4.3 Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA)
With rate-adaptive ADSL2plus profiles, the DSL Network Provider has the option to
choose whether to use Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA) or not. SRA allows DSL Access
Nodes to make seamless data transfer rate changes to avoid dropping a connection. The
DSL modems at either end of a copper DSL line (e.g. in DSLAM and CPE router) are
affected by cross talk from adjacent lines, environmental changes and electrical
interference such as radio signals. Any significant change in interference levels on the
connection can cause a modem to retrain and drop the existing connection. SRA makes
dynamic data transfer rate changes to accommodate changes in noise conditions on the
line thus preventing dropped connections and retraining. Hence with SRA, ADSL2plus
technology can change the data rate of the connection while in operation without any
service interruption or bit errors. ADSL2plus simply detects changes in the channel
conditions (for example, the introduction of more cross-talk as a new line trains up) and
adapts the data rate to the new channel condition transparently to the user.

SRA is based on the decoupling of the modulation layer and the framing layer in
ADSL2plus systems. This decoupling enables the modulation layer to change the
transmission data rate parameters without modifying parameters in the framing layer
which would cause the modems to lose frame synchronization resulting in uncorrectable
bit errors or system restart. SRA uses the sophisticated online reconfiguration (OLR)
procedures of ADSL2plus systems to seamlessly change the data rate of the connection.
The protocol used for SRA works as follows:
1. The receiver monitors the SNR of the channel and determines that a data rate
change is necessary to compensate for changes in channel conditions.
2. The receiver sends a message to the transmitter to initiate a change in data
rate. This message contains all necessary transmission parameters for
transmitting at the new data rate. These parameters include the number of bits
modulated and transmit power on each subchannel in the ADSL multicarrier
system.
3. The transmitter sends a "Sync Flag" signal which is used as a marker to
designate the exact time at which the new data rate and transmission
parameters are to be used.
4. The Sync Flag signal is detected by the receiver and both transmitter and
receiver seamlessly and transparently transition to the data rate.

There are advantages and disadvantages of SRA and hence a DSL Network Provider has
to decide whether to use it or not. Without SRA, it is necessary to set target margin in the
ADSL2plus profile at a sufficient level to ensure that normal noise levels and crosstalk
variations wont result in bit-errors and hence video artefacts. Such a target margin
setting may cause some reduction is service penetration (percentage of homes within
range). Moreover it could be difficult to determine a correct target margin value for all
deployed lines. However, the advantage is that the customers line speed will only change
under extreme noise level changes
4
and hence the requirements are far less onerous for
systems upstream (such as BNGs, policy managers etc.) that perform traffic shaping to
the line-speed and dynamic QoS adjustments.

If SRA is turned on then the ADSL2plus line can adjust its line speed to more
dynamically optimize the maximum throughput at any instance in time. The downside to
this is that any traffic shaping and QoS/policy systems that may use this maximum speed
parameter also have to respond more rapidly and to a higher volume of speed change
events. Note also that if the traffic shaping systems/policies coarsely quantized the actual
line speed into categories of say 500 kbit/s increments (e.g. shaped downstream traffic to
the next lowest n*500 kbit/s speed) then the benefits of SRA speed optimization on the
DSL line will not be realized by the end-user. Hence to fully glean the line speed
benefits of SRA, any upstream traffic shaping, QoS, and policy management systems
may need to also dynamically track and use the actual instantaneous speed of the line.

It is worth noting that SRA with a high INP parameter value may have limited
application due to constraints on framing.

When using SRA, the upshift and downshift margin parameters in the ADSL2plus profile
may be fine-tuned to dampen the dynamics of line speed changes. Hysteresis
techniques
5
may also be used to decouple instantaneous DSL line speed changes from say
BNG traffic shaping response in order to achieve a balance between overall
responsiveness to noise level changes and processing load on BNGs and policy
managers.

Note that many operators deploying either rate-adaptive or SRA ADSL2plus profiles as
the default profile also have some back-up profiles configured on the Access Node that
can be used
6
by the their technical support teams to stabilize unusually noisy or
challenging lines. Such profiles may include additional noise margin, interleaving delay
and INP. They may even include a selection of fixed-rate profiles to remove dynamic
operation from the line. Typically, such back-up profiles may be needed for ~1% to 6%
of provisioned rate-adaptive lines depending on the DSL Network Operators choice of
default rate-adaptive profile and copper access network quality.

While SRA is beneficial in coping with slowly fluctuating line conditions such as time-
varying crosstalk and radio frequency interference it will not prevent retrains under
certain conditions such as large rapid changes in noise.

Dynamic Line Management (DLM)/Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) Level 1
goes a step further and can adjust other DSL profile parameters such as margin,
interleaving delay, minimum INP and max/min speed range.

4
Especially when the Minimum Margin setting is also carefully chosen in conjunction with the Target
Margin setting
5
Such as using a post-provisioning and post line-speed change stability monitoring period
6
May even be manually applied to the line by the NOC or Tech Support engineer
4.4 Dynamic Line Management/Dynamic Spectrum Management : Level 1
The ATIS Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) Technical Report [9] contains a list of
the DSM Level 1 Data and Control parameters that may be supported by a DSM-capable
transceiver. DSM Level one is also referred to as Dynamic Line Management and will be
referred to as DSM L1/DLM henceforth. The DSM Technical Report does not contain
specific DSM L1/DLM algorithms as these are proprietary and left to the designer of the
Spectrum Management Center (SMC).

4.4.1 Examples of DSM L1/DLM algorithms.

Rate-adaptive ADSL2plus adjusts the actual speed of a line in response to a change in
noise environment. DSM L1/DLM can go a step further and adjust other DSL profile
parameters such as margin, interleaving delay, INP and max/min speed range. The
overall objective of DSM L1/DLM is to automatically configure lines dynamically to
ensure high quality (low error rates) and stability. These DSM L1/DLM algorithms
determine the best configuration profile for a service, depending on the measured line
conditions. If line problems are detected, settings can be adjusted automatically,
minimizing (or avoiding) service interruptions. This can help to reduce help-desk calls,
technical support operating expenditures and customer churn.

For some DSM L1/DLM algorithms, the automatic tuning of the DSL lines profile is
based on the collection of detailed historical performance data. Performance is assessed
over time and the line is reconfigured as necessary. Performance can be based on the
number of errors on a line detected by the receiver and the number of retrains (that is
when a modem loses synchronization with the far-end modem and has to reconnect at a
lower speed). An example approach is where the DSL Providers lines are regularly
classified (e.g. daily) on these performance measures. A lines categorization can then be
tracked over time. The DSM Level 1 system can then vary parameters such as INPMIN
and DELAY-MAX, max/min speed range and target margin in an attempt to improve the
balance between maximum throughput performance and stability. Adjustment of these
parameters can optimize the performance of the IPTV over DSL service in terms of
speed, packet errors and line stability.

With DSM Level 1, the profile tuning process takes place automatically and no action is
required by the DSL Network Provider or end-user. However, end-users may notice a
brief loss of service (of the order of a minute or so) whilst the line re-trains following a
profile change. Such interruption to user service can be avoided if the changes are made
during times when the line is observed to be idle.

Note that a feature of some DSM Level 1 approaches is to record the operating status of
the line (actual margin, code violations, synch loss events etc.) periodically such as every
15 minutes. The profile tuning algorithms can then be based on historical operating
performance of the line as well as the current performance. Given that the performance
history of the line is stored as part of this DSM Level 1 process (e.g. for the previous
week or previous month), it is available to use for other means. Examples could include
identifying existing Internet Access customers that could safely be upsold to IPTV or to
use the historical information in the assure process to more accurately diagnose the root
cause of problems and faults.

To achieve a good DSM Level 1/DLM implementation, some conditions should be
satisfied:
1) The performance data collection system should be scalable such that neither the
Network Elements nor the EMS introduces bottlenecks.
2) An effective data analysis algorithm utilizing the relevant parameters should be
implemented.
3) The Network Elements and/or EMS should not introduce constraints on the
number of stored parameters and the number of line profile configuration
commands that can be issued simultaneously
4.5 Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) : Level 2 and Higher
The DSM Technical Report [9] contains a list of the DSM Level 2 Data and Control
parameters that may be supported by a DSM-capable transceiver. The DSM TR does not
contain specific requirements for DSM Level 2 algorithms, as these are proprietary and
left to the designer of the SMC (Spectrum Management Center). Examples of DSM Level
2 are provided for information in Annex A of the DSM TR.

Rate adaptive DSL adjusts speed and DSM Level 1 (DLM) can adjust speed, margin, INP
setting and interleaving delay. Dynamic Spectrum Management Level 2 extends the set
of variable parameters to allow adaptive allocation of transmission spectrum to be
coordinated across multiple DSL lines as a function of the physical-channel
demographics. By contrast, static spectrum management uses transmission spectrum
allocation to ensure that mutual cross-talk degradation between DSL lines sharing the
copper cable are within acceptable limits

DSM Level 2 increases capacity utilization by adapting the transmit spectra of DSL lines
to the actual time-variable crosstalk interference making use of information about
network topology. The gains in rate/reach performance are most significant for
deployment scenarios where crosstalk is the dominant noise source and where a
significant reduction in crosstalk can be achieved. DSM Level 2 in the DSL context
optimizes transmit power levels and spectral allocation across multiple copper pairs in the
cable. The resulting crosstalk avoidance can produce beneficial tradeoffs amongst tiered
services, especially when the transmitters are not collocated, like in mixed CO/RT
(Central Office / Remote Terminal) transmission within the same cable. When applying
DSM Level 2, care also has to be taken to ensure the stability of the DSL lines.

5 Access Node DSL Profile Configuration
The DSL Access Node (e.g. DSLAM, BLC or MSAN) is responsible for defining the
parameters of a DSL connection, ensuring that the DSL Network Provider controls the
connection characteristics irrespective of settings on the RG.

The operating configuration is negotiated between the DSL Access Node and the RG
based on the parameters provisioned on the DSL Access Node, the capabilities of the RG
and the length and quality of the local loop. The collection of DSL parameters is known
as the DSL line profile. DSL Profiles contain all the information required for configuring
the Layer-1 DSL connection. This does not include information required for defining
ATM VCs and mapping them to Ethernet for network transport, rather it determines the
values of all parameters beneath the ATM layer.

DSL Profiles allow the specification of maximum and minimum bit rates. This
information is exchanged during a handshake process and is used to ensure that the DSL
Access Node and RG will never attempt to exceed the maximum bit rate and will not
enter SHOWTIME (i.e. synchronized and ready to pass user traffic) without achieving
the minimum bit rate. ADSL2plus will train as close to the maximum bit rate as possible
as long as the target margin is achieved. The higher the requested target margin, the
fewer bits can be supported per DMT tone and thus, the lower the attainable bit rate.

The DSL Access Node and RG continually exchange information allowing determination
of SNR margin at any point in time. The DSL Access Node provides a number of
configurable parameters that constitute the DSL line profile and determine the behaviour
of the users DSL line associated with an SNR margin setting as illustrated in Figure 2.


Figure 2 - Signal To Noise Ratio Margin (SNRM) Parameters and Seamless Rate
Adaptation Interaction
6 ADSL2plus Configuration Guidelines for IPTV
The convention used in the following sections is to discuss each parameter with the
intention of providing a Service Provider with the basic information required to further
research and analyze settings appropriate to their specific deployment. Following the
discussion, the range used in existing deployments is identified and specific baseline
values are provided for a generic ADSL2Plus Profile for IPTV. These
recommendations are considered reasonable starting points for a Service Provider
wishing to deploy IPTV over ADSL2plus. However, since each Service Providers
network environment is unique, the base-line values may be inappropriate for any
particular combination of network, equipment and service. Hence Service Providers are
encouraged to perform their own testing and analysis to adjust the parameter values
beyond the initial base-line values in this Technical Report.
6.1 Target Noise Margin
Target Noise Margin defines the SNR margin that must be available when the handshake
process (between the ADSL modems at either end of the line in the Access Node and in
the RG) is determining the capability of each DMT subcarrier. This has a direct impact
on the attainable bit rate as a higher margin will force fewer bits per DMT tone.

Many standards bodies and DSL Network Providers recommend a target margin of 6dB
for both upstream and downstream communication paths in High-Speed Internet Access
(HSIA) DSL deployments. However, the subsequent Bit Error Rate and robustness to
noise events associated with HSIA deployments on typical copper loop plant tends to be
inadequate for IPTV.

Downstream Target Noise Margin for IPTV
Operational experience with IPTV has lead to the conclusion that a 6dB margin often
does not provide sufficient separation from the noise floor for a high quality user
experience.

Existing Deployments 6 10dB
Baseline Value 8dB

Upstream Target Noise Margin for IPTV
The downstream path uses error correction techniques that introduce delay in order to
better protect the IPTV in transit. IPTV Control traffic used to communicate channel
change, content on demand and other functions related to IPTV QoE are delay sensitive.
Furthermore, IPTV is often deployed with other applications such as gaming and voice
which may be impacted if too much latency is introduced in both the downstream and
upstream path, affecting the total round-trip-time of traffic from the home, to a remote
server, and back. DSL Network Providers typically provide upstream data rates that are
far lower than the rate/reach capabilities of the upstream path. In addition, the upstream
data path is generally less sensitive to errors. This provides an opportunity to optimize the
upstream path as follows:

a) Minimize latency
b) Maximize stability
c) Achieve required upstream bit rates

To achieve the aforementioned latency goals a low Impulse Noise Protection (INP
discussed in Section 6.6) setting must be used. In order to maximize stability given the
lower INP setting, the upstream target margin should be set higher
7
:

Existing Deployments 6 8 dB
Baseline Value 8 dB

7
Note that although the focus here is on IPTV, it is worth being aware that upstream
throughput can be the bottleneck for high downstream TCP throughput if TCP ACKs
are not delivered with integrity.

6.2 Maximum Noise Margin
The Maximum Noise Margin defines the maximum noise margin that should be
sustained. If the operating Noise Margin exceeds the Maximum Noise Margin, power
should be reduced.

Maximum Upstream and Downstream Noise Margin for IPTV
Power cutback algorithms may reduce power too much in certain scenarios, especially in
the context of short loops. Unless careful characterisation can be done on the noise-
models, loop distances and power cutback implementation of a particular solution, it may
be advisable to disable power cutback altogether. However, doing so will introduce
additional power and crosstalk.

Existing Deployments 12 - 31 dB
Baseline Value 16

6.3 Minimum Noise Margin
The Minimum Noise Margin defines the minimum acceptable level of operation. A line
that trains to a healthy operating margin may experience an increase in its noise floor
from the activation of adjacent lines or introduction of external noise sources. When
operating margin dips below Minimum Noise Margin for a certain period of time, power
is increased. If power is operating at the maximum possible for ADSL2plus and the
operating margin dips below Minimum Noise Margin for a certain period of time, the line
will retrain.

Line retrain events initiated by the operating margin sinking below its minimum level
have 3 negative effects:

a. The DSL line will likely retrain to a lower bit rate as the noise floor must be
higher than it was originally.
b. Service will be interrupted through the retrain, which may be as long as 60
seconds.
c. The handshake process can be destructive to neighbouring lines, inducing errors.

Given the effects caused by a retrain it is important to select a Minimum Noise Margin
that is low enough to not cause a retrain unnecessarily. Conversely, allowing a line to
stay synchronized in SHOWTIME while it is incapable of providing quality service is
unacceptable, especially for IPTV. The use of Seamless Rate Adaptation is another
option for managing degrading or dynamic noise floors without impacting IPTV.

Downstream Minimum Noise Margin for IPTV
Existing Deployments 0-3 dB
Baseline Value 0 dB

Upstream Minimum Noise Margin for IPTV
Existing Deployments 0 3 dB
Baseline Value 0 dB

6.4 SRA Upshift & Downshift Noise Margins
The Upshift and Downshift Noise Margins are introduced with the Seamless Rate
Adaptation feature of ADSL2plus. Upshift Noise Margin defines an SNR margin above
the Target Margin which, when exceeded, initiates a bit rate upshift (see Figure 2). If
the bit rate is already operating at the provisioned maximum bit rate, this parameter has
no effect. Note that a line whose speed continually wanders will cause problems in
some implementations of a TR-101 [10] architecture. Some DSL Providers rely on the
DSL Access Node passing the lines sync rate to the BNG (via the PPPoE Intermediate
Agent or L2CP) to determine traffic shaping or adjustment of hierarchical QoS
schedulers. Hence the ability of a DSL lines speed to wander too dynamically should be
dampened via appropriate setting of DSL profile values.

It is not necessary to use SRA with ADSL2plus when only real-time IPTV applications
are to be delivered. However, some service providers may consider using it when a
bundled service offering is to be delivered. For example, if it is intended to deploy
ADSL2plus at a speed in excess of the minimum required for IPTV in order to
accommodate best effort Internet access then SRA may be of some interest. However,
before employing SRA a service provider should assess the impact of SRAs dynamic
behaviour on their traffic shaping and QoS approach in the aggregation and IP edge
networks.

The settings proposed as baseline values in this Technical Report are conservative,
avoiding the dynamic wander that may affect some implementations of a TR-101
architecture: the Upshift Noise Margin is set at half way from the target to the maximum
margin value, and the Downshift Noise Margin - at half way from the target to the
minimum margin.

Downshift Noise Margin
Existing Deployments Generally not used
Baseline Value (target-min)/2

Upshift Noise Margin
Existing Deployments Generally not used
Baseline Value (maximum-target)/2

6.5 Delay
ADSL supports two latency paths. The fast path is designed for delay sensitive
applications like voice. The interleaved path is designed for loss sensitive applications
like IPTV. The interleaved path interleaves DSL frames to optimize error protection in
the presence of impulse noise sources that are common to DSL.

It is recommended that DSL Network Providers use the interleaved latency path,
especially for the downstream direction when supporting IPTV. Delay is tuneable when
using the interleaved path. The goal is to balance maximum downstream impulse noise
protection against total round-trip delay via minimizing upstream delay. The settings for
maximum delay are thus high for the downstream and relatively low for the upstream,
attempting to minimize total round-trip-time while maximizing impulse noise protection.

A key consideration in the use of interleaving is the expected duration of impulse noise.
The characteristics of impulse noise both in strength and duration will be different for
each operator and thus warrants a careful study of the noise environment prior to
deployment.

Maximum interleaver delay has historically been set based on the notion that impulses
are infrequent relative to the DMT interval i.e. the inter-arrival period if an impulse is
much larger than the DMT symbol time. Under this assumption, the larger the interleaver
spread the better. In the case of Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise (REIN) the inter-
arrival period occurs at the second harmonic of the AC power frequency. At 60Hz this
relates to a 16.6ms period and thus 8.3ms inter-arrival time. At 50Hz the period is 20ms
and thus a 10ms inter-arrival time. This relates to roughly every 32 DMT symbols
(8.3ms/250s) at 60Hz and 40 DMT symbols (10ms/250s) at 50Hz. Maximizing the
interleaver delay beyond the inter-arrival period of the REIN is not advised because the
decoder would prefer that the interleaver buffer be completely flushed before the next
impulse event occurs. This means that for regions with 60 Hz AC power the maximum
interleaver delay setting should be 8ms and those regions using 50 Hz AC power a
maximum delay of 9ms should be used. Power and frequency utilization by region are
illustrated in Figure 3:

Figure 3 Power and Frequency by Region

Initial Recommendation: IPTV Delay Configuration
Maximum Downstream Delay
Existing Deployments 10-16ms
Baseline Value 8 ms
8

Maximum Upstream Delay
Existing Deployments 1-8ms
Baseline Value 2 ms

6.6 Impulse Noise Protection
Impulse noise is defined as electrical interference that occurs in short bursts. It may be
caused by any number of sources, from large motors to arc welders, improper AC power
and grounding to consumer electronic devices not performing to normal EMC design
requirements. These types of disturbers cause an electrical impulse that is brief but
powerful and may temporarily interfere with transmission on the DSL circuit.

ADSL2plus Profiles offer a parameter for defining the minimum amount of Impulse
Noise Protection. At the transmission layer, DMT symbols are of fixed duration of 250
microseconds. The INPMin parameter defines the minimum number of DMT symbols
that will be protected from impulse noise and thus the minimum duration of impulse
noise from which error correction should be able to recover. To provide maximum error
protection, INPMin should be set as high as possible without unduly compromising bit-
rates and latency.

8
Service Providers have noted that 8ms delay may not adequately protect against REIN in 60Hz regions
due to sub-optimal conditions including but not limited to imperfect waveforms and variance in the
repetition of REIN. Under these circumstances, 7ms may be more appropriate.
There is a direct relation between INPMin and symbol rate such that higher values of
INPMin will restrict the DSL circuit to a lower maximum bit rate. This relationship is
dependent in part on the interleaving capabilities of the DSL chipsets at both ends of the
DSL line (S, D, framing parameters and interleaving memory defined in [3]). There is
also a relationship between INPMin and the delay incurred as higher INPMin values
require more buffering and thus incur longer delay. INP defines the maximum number of
successive corrupted DMT symbols that can be corrected within the duration
corresponding to the delay. As a result, an INP of 2 can correct up to two successive
DMT symbols during one delay period. As an impulse of 250s duration can occur
randomly compared to DMT symbols, it will generally corrupt two DMT symbols. So an
INP of 2 will fully protect against 250s max impulsive noise. An INP of 1 or lower will
give some protection but without a guarantee concerning the duration of pulses.

There is an interaction between fixed FEC parameters (interleaving depth and delay) and
INP setting. Low delay and high INP can actually help stabilize a DSL connection (the
low delay being counter intuitive). However, such a setting forces the FEC parity ratio
(R/N) to values like 1/3 or 1/2, so lots of errors in every codeword are corrected (so if the
line is not extremely long it is possible to use the extra bits it nominally could carry
without impulse to actually counteract the impulse). Alternative ranges of such
INP/delay can be useful but should be tested since there can be a wide variation of
support between vendors.

Changing the value of INP and/or Delay influences the error correction capability of the
Reed-Solomon code. The ability to improve the line protection against impulsive noise
has to be traded-off against increased FEC parity ratio and hence lower achievable net
data rate. More specifically the INP (expressed in symbols) and Delay (in ms) are related
to the FEC parity ratio by the following equation:

FEC parity ratio = * (INP/Delay)

The FEC parity ratio is a component of the total overhead that will exist on the line. The
tables below, from ITU-T G.992.5 Annex K, illustrate how the net data rate is affected as
the INPMin and Max-delay are varied. The bitrates in these tables represent theoretical
maximums which are not necessarily achievable with real DSL equipment but rather
provide guidance to theoretical ceilings in bitrates for the corresponding parameters.
Service Providers are encouraged to undertake testing on the actual ADSL2plus
equipment that they plan to use in order to determine more realistic achievable net data
rates.

Table 1 Maximum Downstream Attainable Rate, no Extended Framing Parameters [4]

Table 2 Maximum Downstream Attainable Bitrate with 16K Interleaver and Extended Framing Parameters [5]

Table 3 Maximum Downstream Attainable Bitrate with 24K Interleaver and Extended Framing Parameters [6]

Initial Recommendation: Downstream Impulse Noise Protection for IPTV
The downstream direction carries the IPTV picture and so is more important to protect
against impulse noise than the upstream direction. Higher INP settings will provide
better error protection if supported but may adversely impact achievable bit rates and/or
latency. If a service provider has a loop plant that is considered susceptible to longer
duration impulse noise events then they may wish to consider increasing the value of the
downstream INP parameter recommended below (e.g. from 2 to 4). However, they
should be aware of the impact on maximum achievable line rate which is equipment
dependent as per Table 1-3 above. This may for example limit the ability of their
marketing department to honestly advertise up to 24 Mbit/s service, even though the
actual user experience with respect to IP throughput, line stability and IPTV QoE could
be improved.

Downstream Impulse Noise Protection
Existing Deployments 1-2
Baseline Value 2 (increase to 4 if equipment permits without overly
degrading throughput)

Upstream Impulse Noise Protection
Existing Deployments 0-1
Baseline Value 0.5

7 IPTV over ADSL2Plus: Summary

Bitrate
Attributes
Downstream Upstream
Maximum
Total bitrate required for all services offered,
including overhead.

Total bitrate required for all services
offered, including overhead.

Minimum
Minimum bitrate required for IPTV and
supporting applications.

Minimum upstream bitrate required
for IPTV control signaling.
Margin
Attributes
Downstream Upstream
Target 8 dB 8 dB
Maximum 16 dB 16 dB
Minimum 0 dB 0 dB
SRA downshift
<target-min>/2

<target-min>/2
SRA Upshift
<max-target>/2

<max-target>/2
Error Protection
Attributes
Downstream Upstream
INP 2
(increase to 4 if equipment permits
without overly degrading
throughput)
0.5
Max-delay 8 ms 2 ms
Table 4 IPTV ADSL2plus Profile Initial Recommendations

The above parameter ranges are based on the experience of a number of service providers
and vendors who have been active in the deployment of IPTV over ADSL2plus in the
2006 2008 timeframe. This should be used as a guide only. The baseline values may
provide a suitable starting point before a Service Provider has adjusted them for their own
unique service and network environment. Hence Service Providers are encouraged to
thoroughly research their environment in order to establish the appropriate profiles for
their own specific IPTV deployment. In addition, it is recommended that a service
provider thoroughly test the performance of any particular combination of parameters
used in their default IPTV profile in order to identify any equipment limitations.

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