The latest by:
Ron Hranac
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11/30/2012
What Is OFDM?
An unusual collaboration of authors produced what is likely the longest NCTA paper ever at The Cable Show 2012, held in Boston back in May. The paper, comprising some 185 pages, was written and presented by industry competitors John Chapman of Cisco, Mike Emmendorfer of ARRIS and Rob Howald of Motorola plus Shaul Shulman of […]
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10/01/2011
Some Thoughts On LTE Interference
There’s a new kid on the block — the interference block, that is. That new kid is Long Term Evolution (LTE), a moniker for the next generation of mobile wireless broadband technology. What are known as LTE bands 12, 13, 14 and 17 are in a frequency range that overlaps frequencies used in many cable […]
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07/01/2010
When Digital Really Is Analog And Other Things You May Not Know
Did you know the “digital” signals we carry on our cable networks are analog?
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12/01/2009
Broadband: Cable-Tec Expo Show Picks
My August 2008 column, highlighting last year’s Expo show picks, started with this observation: "In what was a rerun of 2007’s weather in Orlando, FL, Philadelphia served up heat and humidity — air conditioning was definitely our friend…" Heat, humidity, and air conditioning definitely weren’t on the schedule at this year’s end-of-October show. Instead, Mother […]
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07/01/2009
Broadband: Upstream CNR
I’d venture a guess that many readers would agree that upstream plant issues can best be summed up as job security. Return path operation in two-way cable networks certainly has its share of challenges, among them maintaining decent carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR). The DOCSIS assumed upstream CNR at the cable modem termination system (CMTS) input is […]
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06/01/2009
Broadband: It's a 'Green' Thing
In the business we call cable, it’s all too easy to get caught up in our day-to-day jobs with little time to be concerned about just how the things we’re doing and the equipment we’re using might affect the bigger world around us. Indeed, for a long time, being "green" was something that only environmentalists […]