Broadband Access Technologies

A general understanding of networking technologies and the Internet.

Employees working in the cable, satellite or terrestrial TV industries, multimedia and advertising agencies who wish to gain a fundamental understanding of digital television, including TV producers, cable TV executives, marketing managers, and sales personnel.

Over the last couple of years the Internet has grown ubiquitous to a large number of consumers. These consumers are demanding fast connectivity technologies to access the rich multimedia content that resides on the Web. The need for fast access to the Internet is pushing the demand for broadband access. This course gives a comprehensive overview of the main rivals – Cable, ADSL, and Direct Broadcast Satellite.

1. Define the characteristics of residential broadband.

2. Understand the market drivers of residential broadband.

3. Describe the history of cable TV.

4. Describe the architecture of cable based networks that were originally designed to deliver analog television.

5. Specify the disadvantages of coaxial cable.

6. Explain the architecture of a Hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) network.

7. Provide an overview of the POTS system.

8. Describe the role of ISDN as a broadband delivery platform.

9. Outline the main features of ADSL technologies.

10. Describe the ADSL equipment that is installed in peoples homes.

11. Describe the features of frequency allocation on an ADSL based network.

12. Define the characteristics of G.Lite.

13. Compare full-rate ADSL and G.lite.

14. List and explain the benefits of G.Lite.

15. Describe the motivating factors that are driving demand for wireless broadband services.

16. Describe Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) broadband services.

17. Give an overview of the technical architecture of an end to end DBS system.

Test, and discovery questions