Presentation by Matti Susi, Senior Product Manager of Management Software, at Teleste customer seminar in Maastricht, March 2019

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SmartRIS - Low cost automated
ingress control
How to improve data service availability using ingress control
Matti Susi, Senior Product Manager, Management Software

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Agenda
1. Introduction to ingress control
2. Manual ingress control workflow
3. Ingress analyser in intelligent nodes and amplifiers
4. Automatic local ingress blocking
5. Cable modem TX level considerations
6. Introduction to SmartRIS – automatic ingress control

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‘First aid’:
Limit the DOCSIS
service outage to as
few customers as
possible.
‘The cure’:
Localise the ingress
source to enable fast
and precise corrective
action.
The two purposes of ingress control

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Introduction to ingress control
• Ingress is detected by various methods:
• Dedicated ingress measurement systems (Pathtrak etc.)
• Ingress monitor in intelligent nodes and amplifiers
• CMTS SNR and/or upstream spectrum capture
• Ingress switches are operated (remotely) in amplifiers, sometimes also in
nodes. The process is iterative.
• An ingress switch attenuates return path by typically 6 dB.
• CMTS commands the modem to increase its TX level  SNR improves.
• The ingress input point is localised from the network model.

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Manual ingress control workflow

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Network normal: No ingress, SNR OK, services OK
Modem TX level
CMTS SNR

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Ingress enters the network: US SNR goes down
Modem TX level
CMTS SNR
Ingress

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Ingress enters the network: Node and amps raise alarms
Modem TX level
CMTS SNR
Ingress

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Action: An operator activates ingress control switch
Modem TX level
CMTS SNR
Ingress

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Consequence: Modem TX level and CMTS SNR go up
CMTS SNR
Modem TX level
Ingress

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Network status: Services is restored and repair dispatched
CMTS SNR
Modem TX level
Ingress

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Network repaired: Ingress away, CNR OK, services OK
Modem TX level
CMTS SNR

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Ingress analyser
in intelligent nodes and amplifiers

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Ingress analyser principle

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Automatic local ingress blocking

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Local ingress blocking in intelligent amplifiers and nodes
• Ingress monitor measures upstream noise/ingress level at predefined
frequencies.
• Each frequency may have a warning and an alarm limit.
• If enough frequencies exceed the limit (tolerance), an ingress alarm is raised.
• If the alarm is active longer than the activation delay, ingress switch is
activated by the amplifier software.
• If the alarm clears, ingress switch is retuned to 0 dB after deactivation delay.
• Escalation principle: The further in the cascade an amplifier is, the shorter is
the activation delay.

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Setting up automatic ingress blocking
Ingress monitor Automatic ingress blocking

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Cable modem TX level considerations

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Do cable modems have enough TX level margin?
Network 1: 750 k modems Network 2: 5000 modems
A few % of modems have small or no
margin  ingress switch will drop them off
These modems send at very low
level  are susceptible to ingress

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SmartRIS – automatic ingress control

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Why SmartRIS?
• Manual ingress control loads the maintenance personnel.
• Local ingress blocking is only available with intelligent amplifiers.
• One-way ingress control systems are getting more popular (Teleste RIS,
Delta Fostra, Technetix TNMS, Vector VIG etc.).
• It would be a clear advantage if basic ingress control could be automated.

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What is SmartRIS?
SmartRIS is an automation process running in Argus server.
• Ingress analyser in intelligent node or amplifier measures ingress.
• After detecting an ingress alarm, Smart RIS starts looking for the ingress
input point.
• Search is done down from the node, switch by switch.
• After activating each switch, SmartRIS measures ingress level change.
• Search stops at last effective ingress switch.
• Search result is reported as Argus event.

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SmartRIS settings
Global function enabled/disabled (‘master switch’)
Delay values:
• start delay
• measurement delay
• wait time
• reset delay
Attenuate versus report only
SmartRIS is enabled per node

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SmartRIS prerequisites
1. Node ingress monitor must be sensibly configured.
• Measurement frequencies
• Alarm limits and tolerance
2. Argus must have a proper network model.
• RF connections
• Output ports for amplifiers with multiple ICS
3. Global SmartRIS settings must match the ingress monitor settings.

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SmartRIS workflow
IP Actor Element Name Address Time Message
172.30.18.141 Element ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:42:01 Ingress warning
172.30.18.141 Element ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:01 Ingress alarm
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:11 SmartRIS: Search started
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:11 SmartRIS: Searching, element D 3.1 node, port 1
172.18.41.4 SmartRIS ACE3 D 3.1 amp 2 Telestenkatu 1 11:47:11 SmartRIS commanded ICS 1 to ATTENUATED
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:11 SmartRIS: Searching, element D 3.1 amp 2, port 1
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:28 Ingress level change (1): 0.0 dB
172.18.41.4 SmartRIS ACE3 D 3.1 amp 2 Telestenkatu 1 11:47:28 SmartRIS commanded ICS 1 to ON
009050078705 SmartRIS RIS amp E3 test Turuntie 25 11:47:29 SmartRIS commanded ICS 1 to ATTENUATED
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:29 SmartRIS: Searching, element E3 test, port 1
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:47:46 Ingress level change (1): -5.5 dB
172.30.18.141 SmartRIS ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 14:15:56 SmartRIS: Finished, element E3 test, port 1
172.30.18.141 Element ACE8 D 3.1 node Telestenkatu 1 11:48:01 Ingress warning
Trigger event

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Ingress switch control methods supported by Argus
Intelligent equipment
• All Teleste
• All HMS (Cisco, Wisi…)
• Kathrein (does not support standard HMS control)
One-way control systems
• Teleste RIS
• Delta Fostra
• Technetix via TNMS software

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SmartRIS current status and future developments
Current status
• SmartRIS is available in Argus 1.2, release 1.3 will have refinements.
• Pilot testing in real networks will start soon.
Future developments
• Use other ingress measurement sources, CMTS/RPD SNR.
• More intelligent, self-learning algorithms.
• Node ingress measurement ‘in-band’. Software options for current HW are
under study.