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Simplified Scenario of Testing DSL Lines

Delivering Triple Play Services
Namir Škaljo, Nermin Goran, Alen Begović

 equipment and handheld devices. At the same time, it

Abstract — this paper gives a short overview of methods of
testing performance of triple play services. Also, it explains a
simplified scenario of testing DSL lines. By considering and
comparing results of simplified testing, it can be noticed that
their usage helps in estimation of problems on copper twisted
pair. It will be shown that using these results accordingly
discovers the location of a fault in delivering of triple play
services. All of this can be helpful for operators in decreasing
their human resources and material expenditures,
respectively.
Keywords — testing of access network, copper pair, digital
subscriber line, fault detection, fault location, simplified
scenario, triple play services
I. INTRODUCTION
needs certified technician who will initiate checking at the
customer side. In this scenario three levels of testing have
to be checked:
- Testing of IPTV parameters (jitter, PRC – Program
Clock Reference jitter, latency, continuity error,
packet loss, ... )
- Testing of DSL parameters (current bit rate,
attainable bit rate, max. bit rate, noise margin,
attenuation, line errors, …)
- Testing of copper parameters (outsource AC
voltage, outsource DC voltage, resistance,
capacitance, longitudinal balance, wideband noise,
impulse noise, … )

T HE most important problem, met by operators that

have implemented broadband services over DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) is maintenance of IPTV (Internet
Protocol TV) service. Mentioned problem appears in all
layers of OSI reference model. Also, it may appear in
every segment of access, core and service network. Many
authors assume that access network, formed by copper
twisted pairs, causes largest number of problems [1]. At
the same time, there are many segments in access network
that cause disturbances and faults [2]. An example is
inadequate active and passive customer equipment. Two
separate operations for solving problems in delivering
triple play services over DSL lines have to be completed.
The first one is detecting the cause of problems. The
second one is locating point of access network that causes Fig. 1. Test scenario of detecting problems
problem. QoE (Quality of Experience), the point of
customer view, is the most important indicator of operating Testing of IPTV parameters can indicate if there are any
IPTV service. Freezing and pixelization of picture can be problems affecting triple play service delivering. If so,
caused by different appearances in access network as well they can be detected by testing of appropriate QoS
as other elements in telecommunication network. This (Quality of Service) parameters along with QoE indicators
paper apostrophes these problems and gives a new [4]. that relate to the experience of the same problem by
approach in efficient solving of mentioned problems. customers. The most important QoS parameters are: packet
loss, delay and jitter [5]. Inappropriate values of above
II. EXISTING TESTING SCENARIO mentioned parameters are not indication of problems on
physical level in access network. Testing of DSL
There are many known scenarios of testing network parameters is the next step in existing scenario with
elements. One of the world leading vendors of testing tendency to indicate if a segment in access network causes
equipment suggested next scenario, depicted in Fig. 1, for detected problems. After that, there is testing of electrical
solving and detecting problems in delivering triple play parameters of copper twisted pair in order to get answer to
services [3]. Applying mentioned scenario requires test origin of degradation of triple play services. Appliance of
mentioned scenario includes end-to-end testing of
Namir Škaljo, Nermin Goran and Alen Begović are with BH Telecom
appropriate parameters as wideband noises, impulse noise,
J.S.C., Directorate Zenica, Masarykova 46, 72101 Zenica, B&H;
(phone: 387-32-201-201; e-mails: namir.skaljo@bhtelecom.ba, outsource both AC voltage and DC voltage.
alen.begovic@bhtelecom.ba, nermin.goran@bhtelecom.ba).
‹,((( 288
 Therefore, it can be noticed that existing test scenario
mostly requires checking of a large number of parameters.
These parameters can occasionally be tested unnecessarily.
If the time spent on transport of technicians is ignored,
then scenario could be performed in approximately 120
minutes. Nevertheless, described scenario can detect, in
most cases, cause of the problem of delivering triple play
services.
On the other hand, it does not mean the testing scenario
will successfully detect a problem on physical level and
events that cause it. The biggest disadvantage of this
scenario is copper twisted pair has time dependent
parameters. During testing, invariant events can be noticed
in measuring a period of time but variant parameters like
impulse noise and other noises cannot. Discovery of these
values that cause occasionally degradation of triple play
services is the optimum. That implies that there is a need
for better testing scenario.
III. SIMPLIFIED TESTING SCENARIO
Simplified test scenario is depicted in Fig. 2. This test
scenario requires testing of only DSL parameters that can
be supervised by control unit in DSLAM (DSL Access
Multiplexer). Testing of IPTV parameters is not important
in this case. More exactly, testing of these parameters will
be performed only when problems of delivering services
are on other segment of telecommunication network, i.e.
problems are not on physical level of access network.
There is a question. Why should not IPTV parameters be
tested? Every appearance on copper twisted pair and other
segments of access network can cause packet loss. If
packet loss generates problems felt at customer side, then
testing DSL parameters will show where the problems in
access network are. ITU recommendation ITU-T G.997.1
defines parameters of physical layer [6]. Checking these
parameters can estimate quality of delivering triple play
services and it can show state of particular copper twisted
pair.
Fig. 2. Simplified test scenario for problem detection
289
Also, if there is a problem on twisted pair then how
much that state influences on QoE at customer side.
Interesting parameters that can be tested are:
- Actual line data rate,
- Maximum achievable rate,
- Output power,
- Signal attenuation,
- SNR (signal-to-noise) margin,
- FEC (Forward Error Correction) codes,
- CV (Code Violation) codes,
- Count of initialization attempts,
- Error seconds (ES),
- Error correction seconds (ECS),
- Severely error seconds (SES).
After knowing the values of these parameters it can be
discovered if there are any problems in functioning of
triple play services. Considering possibilities of estimation
of QoS parameters of triple service should emphasize code
violation parameter. Code violation (CV) indicates the
number of detected correction codes with error after
applying correcting mechanism. Actually, this parameter
indicates the number of packet loss caused by segments of
access network. Also, this parameter as well as actual line
rate and maximum attainable rate respectively indicate
possibilities of the access network for delivering triple play
services. Following the above mentioned, an example will
be shown on broadband line with characteristic: line length
1570 m, wideband noise -34dBm, line rate 7 Mbps,
maximum line rate 12,6 Mbps and suitable primary
parameters of line. On this line IPTV service was delivered
as a SDTV (Standard Definition TV) channel in MPEG-2
format. Analysis had been performed how the change of
CV influences on loss of MPEG-2 packets. By comparison
of results of detected CV codes and loss of MPEG-2
packet it was noticed that happening of one CV code
didn’t generate MPEG-2 packet loss. On the other hand, a
large number of detected codes generated some MPEG-2
packet losses. According to mentioned it is clear that
number of MPEG-2 packet losses can be estimated by CV
codes.
The main advantages of this modified scenario are:
- In many cases it is not necessary to employ a
technician for testing at the customer side, so
operators have less expenditure of transport and less
work time of employees.
- Testing can be performed by control units in
DSLAM. Collecting of these available data requires
very little time (about a minute).
- Collecting data can be performed for a long period of
time (from a few minutes to 24 hours) what is better
than collecting it with handheld testing equipment. In
that case it can be noticed that operators have reliable
date.
Of course, there is a need for testing DSL parameters
with handheld devices but with less necessity than in the
first described scenario.
 IV. POSSIBILITY OF DETECTING PROBLEMS ON
PHYSICAL LAYER
Beside mentioned advantages, simplified test scenario
has other useful characteristics. Analysing values of
measuring of electrical parameters it can be confidentially
noticed problems that cause violation of delivering triple
play services. In this paper some characteristic cases will
be depicted. In table 1 there are two cases of characteristic
behaviour of copper twisted pairs. All data of lines relate
to a period of 24 hours. First line in table 1 is a typical
example of DSL line that is exposed to high value of
FEXT (Far End Crosstalk) for a large part of time in 24
hours. That crosstalk is caused by influence of adjacent
DSL line. If FEC parameter and others parameters of DSL
line are considered from top to bottom of table, there are
more errors in downstream than in upstream. Also, there
are more error seconds in downstream than in upstream. In
this case, it is obvious that the closest disturber pair causes
errors and if it is possible to move disturber away of
disturbing pair in a cable that problem will be solved.
the other DSL line during a day. Also, that can be
influenced by impulse noise of customer premises. In this
case a technician has to check electrical parameters of
cable at customer side as well as customer premises. In
table 2 there are examples of results that are consequence
of aggressive impulse noise in short period of time. Those
incidents appear very rarely during a day i.e. during 24
hours. If following parameters such as ES, SES and ECS
in line 3. (table 2) are considered. It is obvious that
detection of these incidents is impossible if it is tested by
handheld devices. Only monitoring of these parameters
during a day can perceive problems that cause pixelization
or wrench of IPTV video. According to LOS parameter, a
line like this has a problem with galvanic junction. Fourth
line in table 2 shows a problem functioning of ATU-R
DSL modem. Presence of that problem causes a bad
operation of triple play services. It can be noticed that
modem had been initialized many times although there
were not many errors in the line. Therefore, copper twisted
pair was not the cause of problem. In this case the best
choice is replacing of ATU-R or ATU-C modems.

TABLE 1: CHARACTERISTIC BEHAVIOR OF PARAMETERS ON TABLE 2: CHARACTERISTIC BEHAVIOR OF PARAMETERS ON

PHYSICAL LAYER (LINE 3 AND LINE 4)
PHYSICAL LAYER (LINE 1 AND LINE 2)

Line number 1. 2. Line number 3. 4.

Line length (m) 960 535 Line length (m) 1.970 1.100
Line rate down 4.800 4.800 Line rate down 4.800 8.839
(kb/s) up 767 767 (kb/s) up 767 1.0,23
Max. attain. down 8.368 19.496 Max. attain. down 19.020 23.400
rate (kb/s) up 1.840 1.602 rate (kb/s) up 2.664 1.219
Output power down 13,2 12,4 Output power down 18,2 7,2
(dBm) up -2,9 -0,6 (dBm) up -14,6 7,9
Signal attn. down 36,6 23,6 Signal attn. down 29,6 21,8
(dB) up 33,1 20,8 (dB) up 24,3 11,9
SNR margin down 9 26,3 SNR margin down 34,5 8
(dB) up 8 7,5 (dB) up 8 8
down 6.656.790 77 down 47.750 0
FEC FEC
up 0 0 up 3 0
down 142.289 67 down 5.043 88
CV CV
up 11.251 31.831 up 436 0
Count of initialization Count of initialization
7 2 38 67
attempts attempts
down 469 75 down 2.949 991
UAS (s) UAS (s)
up 539 95 up 2.999 981
down 0 0 down 11 0
SES (s) SES (s)
up 6 2.041 up 40 0
down 11.298 56 down 244 640
ES (s) ES (s)
up 6.776 8.442 up 112 0
down 0 0 down 3 0
LOS LOS
up 0 0 up 17 0
down 11.131 60 down 237 0
ECS (s) ECS (s)
up 0 0 up 2 0

On the contrary, second line in table 2 depicts example This appearance is impossible to notice using handheld
of DSL line having errors in upstream not in downstream. testing equipment. Beside mentioned cases there are a lot
This is not a consequence of FEXT but it is influence of of other cases that can be analysed similarly to galvanic

290
junction, inappropriate passive equipment (filters) or located by applying TDR (Time Domain Reflecotmeter)
customer side effects. In these cases, parameters like line testing instruments.
rate or maximum attainable rate point where problem of
delivering triple play services is. Table 3 gives the results
of testing some parameters on physical level. For these two V. CONCLUSION
lines, there are no results for next parameters: FEC, CV, According to the fact that triple play services require
UAS, SES and ES because their values cannot cause better parameters of DSL lines than data services it is
detected problems on IPTV service. It is important to point obvious that operators have to find more efficient
out temporary achievable as well as maximum achievable scenarios of testing DSL lines. Scenario depicted in this
rates on these lines, on both, downstream and upstream paper brings new values and faster response in case of
and also a significant deviation of these rates on registration of customer side malfunction. Also, deploying
comparison to the line lengths. of network and emerging of requests of triple play services
can demand fast reaction of telecom operators. Mentioned
TABLE 3: CHARACTERISTIC BEHAVIOR OF PARAMETERS ON scenario allows efficient using of human resources and
PHYSICAL LAYER (LINE 5 AND LINE 6) material costs because it doesn’t require going to customer
Line number 5. 6. side. They help in automation and centralization of process
Line length (m) 1.417 1.273 of measuring and testing that is manual in many cases.
Line rate down 4.096 3.470 Applying of existing test scenarios doesn’t bring all
(kb/s) up 209 447 answers. Otherwise, using simplified scenario can avoid
measurement of electrical parameters that require a long
Max. attain. down 18.748 4.652
period of time. Simplified scenario can be helpful in
rate (kb/s) up 212 495
discovering problems caused by crosstalk [7], [8].
Output power down 18,9 18,4
(dBm) up 9,2 12,8
Signal attn. down 23,8 39,6 REFERENCES
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