Detection and mitigation of ingress interference within communication links

摘要

A system and process that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, an interference monitor configured to detect occurrences of unintended signals within a communications link. A communications link may carry a down-converted format of a satellite signal from an earth terminal to an integrated receiver and decoder for further network distribution. Depending upon the nature of any such detected unintended signals, the communications link can be “swapped out” for a redundant communications link carrying a down-converted format of the same satellite signal obtained by way of a redundant earth terminal. Other embodiments are disclosed.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
determining by a processing system including a processor, for a first communications link, an unintended signal within an intermediate-frequency bandwidth occupied by a down-converted satellite signal obtained by way of the first communications link and a redundant down-converted satellite signal obtained by way of a second communications link, wherein the down-converted satellite signal is provided to a decoder that decodes the down-converted satellite signal, resulting in a broadcast signal for distribution throughout a multimedia distribution network; characterizing, by the processing system, the unintended signal as an interfering signal according to an attribute of the unintended signal; transmitting a notification to a network management controller, wherein the notification indicates the attribute of the unintended signal, wherein the attribute is one of absolute amplitude, relative amplitude, noise level, spectral enemy, and bandwidth; and causing, by the processing system, the decoder to substitute the down-converted satellite signal with the redundant down converted satellite signal responsive to receiving a control signal from the network management controller.