Methods and apparatus for ingress mitigation in cable communication systems and increased upstream capacity

摘要

A mobile transmitter traverses a drive path in a neighborhood node of a cable communication system and broadcasts a test signal at frequencies falling within an upstream path bandwidth. A navigational device generates a first record of positions of the transmitter along the drive path, and an analyzer monitors the upstream path bandwidth and generates a second record of received signal amplitudes of the transmitted test signal as a function of time. An ingress map is generated showing the drive path and potential points of ingress in the node, and employed to remediate faults particularly in the hardline coaxial cable plant. Iterative generation of maps and corresponding remediation in the node enable improved cable communication systems with reduced noise profiles between 5 MHz and 20 MHz and employing higher modulation order QAM communication channels (e.g., 256-QAM and higher) throughout the upstream path bandwidth to increase upstream capacity.