1. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL – VIAVI SOLUTIONS 2016
The MoCA Experience
SCTE North-Country Chapter
Minneapolis, MN
November 16, 2016
PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL – VIAVI SOLUTIONS 2016
VIAVI works hard to keep items presented as clear as possible. However due to rapidly changing technologies and environments, any of the items on in our presentation may be out of date at any given time.  VIAVI cannot commit to a specific item or date and reserves the right to make changes to the roadmap at any time.

2. Hi my name is MoCA…

3. I'm a high energy, robust RF signal – operating at a delicately high frequency – with the hopes of conversing freely in a safe and contained atmosphere.
Likes
Travelling (on Coaxial cable)
Quiet time
Open communication
Dislikes
Leaving the house
Long - winding trips
Chatty roommate's
In search of a well connected and solid partner that can support me PHYsically and can help me change directions quickly.

4. OFDM with Adaptive Rate Modulation
MoCA Specs
Current Version
2.0 (1.0 & 1.1 compatible)
Frequencies
MHz
Modulation
OFDM (adaptive rate)
Data Rates (3 modes)
Baseline – 700 Mbps PHY rate, 400Mbps (MAC rate - layer 2), Single channel
Enhanced – 1.4 Gbps PHY, 800Mbps (MAC), bond 2 channels
Turbo – allows point to point burst of speed to 500Mbps (MAC) in Baseline Mode and 1000 Mbps in enhanced mode
OFDM with Adaptive Rate Modulation
Dynamic modulation (BPSK to 256QAM) and data rates (PHY) based on the quality of the physical layer (house wiring, splitters, connectors, etc)
Lower SNR = lower quality = slower modulation = slower PHY rates
Higher SNR = higher quality = higher modulation = faster PHY rates

5. PHYsical Network

6. Great Customer Experience
Happy MoCA
Noise
Low
SNR
High
Congestion Low
Good PHY rates
Great Customer Experience

7. Potential / Occasional impacted customer experience
“OK” MoCA
Noise
Low
SNR
Congestion Low
Mediocre PHY rates
Potential / Occasional impacted customer experience

8. Potential / Occasional impacted customer experience
“OK” MoCA
Noise
Low
SNR
High
Congestion High
Mediocre PHY rates
Potential / Occasional impacted customer experience

9. Poor Customer Experience
Sad MoCA
Noise
High
SNR
Low
Congestion Low
Poor PHY rates
Poor Customer Experience

10. In the Home

11. 125 ft
75 ft
POE
25 ft
4-way splitter

12. MoCA can tolerate up to 50 dB of clean RF loss
Basic OPTIMUM Install Physical layer impact
RG6 Cable 100ft = MHz
4 way splitter Port to Port Isolation = 30 dB
Total RF loss – 37.2 dB
MoCA can tolerate up to 50 dB of clean RF loss
Very ROBUST!
BUT what happens when….
125 ft
75 ft
POE
25 ft
4-way splitter

13. Still not bad under OPTIMUM circumstances…but…
POE moved to tap
In house RG6 Cable 100ft = 7.2
Outside drop is 125ft x2 = 18
4 way splitter insertion loss 8 dB in both directions = 16 dB
Total RF loss – 41.2 dB
Still not bad under OPTIMUM circumstances…but…
more cable, connectors and devices = more opportunity for noise to enter – reducing SNR – reducing the ability for MoCA to use higher modulation
THEN…..
125 ft
75 ft
POE
25 ft
4-way splitter

14. Troubleshooting …and why Divide and conquer doesn’t work so well!
WARNING - BORING “TEXT ONLY” SLIDE COMING NEXT!!!

15. Divide and Conquer
Works Fantastically when you are dealing with RF signals travelling on a fixed frequency in a single direction (Downstream/Upstream)
Not so well when you have multiple signals dynamically changing frequency and modulation travelling in multiple directions at high power
Equivalent to troubleshooting a downstream QAM problem if the power level was changing frequency and moving closer and further away from the location you were testing
What we do know…
Customer impacting MoCA problems are MOSTLY RF related
Attenuation and Ingress

16. Move the STB and retest Rate Table?
Rate Tables will only notify you that a problem exists
Impractical, time consuming, and COMPLETELY changes the MoCA network!
204 PHY RATE
We’ve seen very strong MoCA signals hit a close reflection (short jumper to splitter) cause STRONG harmonics and impacts MoCA performance negatively

17. Visual inspection of the Physical network?
Lets count the parts…
AGAIN – Impractical, time consuming, and costly and you cant see some of the parts!
How many physical parts in this SIMPLE MoCA network?
39 physical parts! 3 5 1 2 4 6
204 PHY RATE
STB
connector
cable
wall plate
drop
connector
splitter
wall plate
connector
cable
STB 7 8 9 10 17 15 13 16 14 12 11

18. What Can WE do? Clean up the ingress/noise at ALL frequencies
FIX Physical cable impairments
impedance mismatch, kinks, water in cable, etc. all impact higher frequencies more
DON’T move MoCA devices to test
changes the network characteristics - more total power, more traffic, higher likelihood for collisions, and more opportunity for noise entry
Use tools that test physical layer transmission paths
frequency response, length and noise at the higher MoCA frequencies
Be SMART - IDentify tools that show reflections, harmonics, ingress, impedance, etc.
all need to be optimized to proof and validate a MoCA network ™