Application of DWDM Optical Technologies in HFC Architectures

Summary form only given. Traditional HFC architectures deployed over the years have been optimized to support the distribution of broadcast services. However, the emergence of advanced interactive services requires narrowcasting into increasingly smaller customer service areas. The multiple hardware platforms associated with the new services must be deployed closer to the end customer and in traditionally space-limited hub sites. This demands increasingly larger facilities, which in turn increases operational costs. The alternative is to place the required processing hardware in a centralized location. However this demands high fiber counts from the central location to the various hubs to accommodate the bandwidth requirements associated with targeting of services to small service areas. Clearly more flexible HFC architectures and technologies must be developed to address these issues.