Bit loading profiles for high-speed data in DOCSIS 3.1

DOCSIS 3.1 aims to provide higher speeds over coaxial cable systems than existing cable standards. It uses multicarrier modulation and allows different bit loading per subcarrier. As the subcarrier SNRs for different cable modems are different, DOCSIS 3.1 allows adaptation of data transmission to cable modems by permitting multiple profiles. These provisions enable intelligent bit loading practices in DOCSIS 3.1. This article addresses the problem of assigning profiles to cable modems based on similarity in subcarrier SNRs. Simple algorithms are proposed to group together cable modems suitable for the same modulation profile. It is shown that as the number of allowed profiles increases, higher average data rate can be achieved.