Measured QoS performance of the DOCSIS hybrid-fiber coax cable network

The measured QoS performance of the DOCSIS hybrid-fiber coax (HFC) cable network is presented for the first time in this paper. The intent of the study is to characterize the behavior of the network in terms of throughput, packet loss rate, and average delay under different degrees of network loading and prioritization profiles. It is shown that the quantitative results can be derived using the Smartbits network analyzer. Based on the measurement results obtained, a QoS model using the weighted fair queuing algorithm was developed for the CMTS scheduler. Simulation results from OPNET demonstrated a close match between this model and the measured results. The empirical results and QoS model presented in this paper is useful for researchers and network designers who wish to understand the practical characteristics of the DOCSIS network.