Deployed in hub sites and headends, the VSA-RF100 probe provides RF forward path analysis including analog video, MPEG, and DOCSIS. It integrates both RF and MPEG analysis to quickly identify and troubleshoot customer-affecting issues down to the individual program level.
The VSA-RF100 probe provides remote monitoring and analysis and troubleshooting to the field, headend, and network operations center (NOC) without the delay and expense of deploying a specialist to the physical hub location.
Simply viewing the QAM with a spectrum analyzer, or measuring and monitoring MER and BER on QAM carriers, provides limited insight into MPEG video transport streams. It is critical for cable network operators to have system-wide visibility into the underlying content, including the MPEG protocol layer, to ensure the quality of programming content.
Benefits
- Proactively identify and resolve problem shaving the greatest impact on customer experience in a fraction of the time
- Increase network availability using notification of forward-path degradation before service is disrupted
- Intelligently filter alarms based on severity
Features
- Deep MER capabilities — 44 dB
- Fast scan times — RF power and MER on a 120 channel lineup in less than a minute
- Live, in-depth troubleshooting
- Digital quality index (DQI) to identify intermittent problems
- MPEG stream error monitoring (TR 101-290 priority 1, 2, and 3)
- Content scrambling/encryption detection
- Simple network management protocol
- (SNMP) trap forwarding
- Easily accesses performance history
- Plug-and-play compatible with the ISS-5116 switch family — up to 128 ports with a single VSA-RF100
Applications
- VSA Monitor RF probe for CATV video and downstream DOCSIS assurance
- TR 101-290 MPEG monitoring
- Remote troubleshooting via Web-based access to live and historical measurements