INTERNET ACCESS VIA TV CABLE NETWORKS

A Seminar Report Submitted by

Miss.ANJALI PRAKASH RATHOD

In partial fulfillment for the award of a Technical Seminar credit of

Third Year B.Tech (CSE) - VI Semester IN

Computer Science and Engineering

At

SHRI GURU GOBIND SHINGJI INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VISHNUPURI, NANDED (MAHARASHTRA STATE) PIN 431 606 INDIA
April 2012

TABLE OF CONTENT Chapter No. Title

ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Page No.
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1 1.1 1.2

INTRODUCTION What is Internet? Internet access viaTV cable network

1 1

DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTERNET ACCESS 3 3

2.1

Methods

3 3.1 3.2 3.3

CABLE INTERNET Cable TV Networks Working of Cable Internet Requierments

7 7 7 8

CABLE MODEM

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CABLE MODEM TERMINATIG SYSTEM 14 15 16 17 18 iv

6 7 8 9 10

DSL vs. CABLE INTERNET ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES CONCLUSION REFERENCES

ABSTRACT Demand for the high-speed internet access for fast web browsing and more effective telecommunication increasing now-a-days. Cable TV has a strong reach to the homes and therefore offering the Internet through cable could be a scope for furthering the growth of internet usage in the homes. The cable is an alternative medium for delivering the Internet services in the US, there are already a million homes with cable modems, enabling the high-speed internet access over cable. In India, we are in the initial stages. We are experiencing innumerable local problems in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, along with an acute shortage of international Internet connectivity. Accessing the Internet on the public switched telephone networks (PSTN) still has a lot of problems. Such as drops outs its takes a long time to download or upload large files one has to pay both for the Internet connectivity as well as for telephone usages during that period. Since it is technically possible to offer higher bandwidth by their cable, home as well as corporate users may make like it. The connection to other computers is possible with the help of ISP (Internet Service Provider). Each Internet users depends on dialup connections to connect to Internet. This has many disadvantages like very poor speed, may time cut downs i

To solve this problem, Internet data can be transferred through Cable networks wired to the user computer. Imagine accessing the Internet at 10 megabits per second. That is 300 times faster than your 33.6 kbps modem! What about getting speeds even three times faster than that? And that too, at less than Rs 1,500 a month? Drooling already? Wait. It is more likely that it will be through your neighborhood cable network than through your telephone line. Cable TV? Yes, the same cable that brings Star TV and BBC to your drawing room will bring the Internet to your PC. But why not the telephone line? It is working fine, isnt it? Forget it. Your telephone line just cant handle the huge amount of data that will have to be pumped down your PC so that you can watch movies off the Net without first having to spend days downloading it. Internet via Cable networks has various advantages like High availability, High bandwidth to low cost, high speed data access, always on connectivity etc.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
One of the most important periods in the life of an individual in time, which he spends a student during this period; his personality develops and takes shapes undermining to a great extent the scope of his future. The same attempt to develop my personality and shapes my feature was made by my guide in Comp. Dept. It is my proud privileges to offer sincere and well devoted thanks to him for their scholastics guidance, keep abiding interest. I am thankful to Doc. Prof. Kulkarni H.O.D of Computer Sciences and Engineering dept. for providing facilities and frequent help while carrying seminar. I record my sincere thanks to Lect. Wangikar sir for giving the guidance to my seminar.

Seminar by: Miss.Anjali Prakash Rathod.

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CHAPTER NO.1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Internet? The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocols (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. Typical Internet Access Is Shown In Picture

1.2 Internet Access via TV Cable Networks Internet Access through Cable TV Network is a form of broadband Internet access that uses the cable television infrastructure. Like digital subscriber lines and Fibre to the premises, cable Internet access provides network edge connectivity (Last mile access) from the Internet service provider to an end user. It is integrated into the cable television infrastructure analogously to DSL which uses the existing telephone network. The cable TV signals are often removed by filtering at the line tap outside the customer's premises. Cable TV networks and telecommunications networks are the two predominant forms of residential Internet access. Recently, both have seen increased competition from fibre deployments, wireless, and mobile networks.

Cable Internet access is the principal competitor to DSL and is offered at a range of prices and speeds overlapping that of DSL, but tends to concentrate more on the high end of the market. Broadband cable Internet access requires a cable modem at the customer's premises and a cable modem termination system at a cable operator facility, typically a cable television head end. The two are connected via coaxial cable or a Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) plant. While access networks are sometimes referred to as last-mile technologies, cable Internet systems can typically operate where the distance between the modem and the termination system is up to 100 miles (160 km). If the HFC network is large, the cable modem termination system can be grouped into hubs for efficient management. Downstream traffic, the direction toward the user, bit rates can be as much as 400 megabits per second for business connections, and 100Mbit/s for residential service in some countries. Upstream traffic, originating at the user, ranges from 384Kbit/s to more than 20Mbit/s. One downstream channel can handle hundreds of cable modems. As the system grows, the cable modem termination system (CMTS) can be upgraded with more downstream and upstream ports, and grouped into CMTS hubs for efficient management. Most Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) cable modems restrict upload and download rates, with customizable limits. These limits are set in configuration files which are downloaded to the modem using the Trivial File Transfer Protocol, when the modem first establishes a connection to the provider's equipment. In Cable Internet Access, like any other residential broadband technology, a population of users shares the available bandwidth. Some technologies share only their core network, while some including Cable Internet and PON also share the access network. This arrangement allows the network operator to take advantage of statistical multiplexing, a bandwidth sharing technique which is employed to distribute bandwidth fairly, in order to provide an adequate level of service at an acceptable price. However, the operator has to monitor usage patterns and scale the network appropriately, to ensure that customers receive adequate service even during peak-usage times.

CHAPTER NO.2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTERNET ACCESS

2.1 Common methods of consumer Internet access include: Dial-up (including ISDN) Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) Internet over cable television lines LAN - usually in areas of high population density Wi-Fi hotspots Wireless Internet service provider - sometimes simply called 'microwave' Mobile broadband over terrestrial mobile phone networks using CSD, GPRS, EDGE, EVDO, HSPA, etc. either through mobile phones or PCs Satellite Internet Brief description of these methods is as follows: 1. Dial-up connection: This technology dials into the network through an existing phone line, creating a semi-permanent link to the Internet. Operating on a single channel, it is the slowest method of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas as it requires no infrastructure, other than the already existing telephone network, to connect to the Internet. Typically, dial-up connections do not exceed a speed of 56 Kbit/s, as they are primarily made via a 56k modem. Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a dialed connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) via telephone lines. The user's computer or router uses an attached modem to

Picture: Dial-Up Internet access

encode and decode Internet Protocol packets and control information into and from analogue audio frequency signals, respectively. 2. ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network. The key feature of ISDN is that it integrates speech and data on the same lines, adding features that were not available in the classic telephone system. 3. DSL: Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop. In telecommunications marketing, the term Digital Subscriber Line is widely understood to mean Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the most commonly installed technical variety of DSL. DSL service is delivered simultaneously with regular telephone on the same telephone line. This is possible because DSL uses a higher frequency. These frequency bands are subsequently separated by filtering. The data throughput of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256 Kb/s to 20 Mbit/s in the direction to the

customer (downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction, (i.e. in the direction to the service provider) is lower, hence the designation of asymmetric service. In Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) service, the downstream and upstream data rates are equal. 4. Cable TV Network: Cable Internet access is a form of broadband Internet access that uses the cable television infrastructure. This seminar report will cover this part in detail. 5. Wi-Fi: A Wi-Fi enabled device such as a personal computer, video game console, smart phone or digital audio player can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet. The coverage of one or more (interconnected)access points -called hotspots - can comprise an area as small as a few rooms or as large as many square miles. Coverage in the larger area may depend on a group of access points with overlapping coverage. In addition to private use in homes and offices, Wi-Fi can provide public access at Wi-Fi hotspots provided either free-of-charge or to subscribers to various commercial services. Enthusiasts or authorities who wish to provide services or even to promote business in selected areas sometimes provide free Wi-Fi access. With the emergence of MiFi and WiBro (a portable Wi-Fi router) people can easily create their own Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to Internet via cellular networks. Wi-Fi also connects places that would traditionally not have network access, for example kitchens and garden sheds. 6. Wi-Max: Wi-MAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a telecommunications protocol that provides fixed and fully mobile Internet access. WiMAX is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.

7. GPRS and EDGE: General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS networks evolved to EDGE networks with the introduction of 8PSK encoding. Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC) is a backward-compatible digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates, as an extension on top of standard GSM. EDGE was deployed on GSM networks beginning in 2003. 8. 3G: 3G or 3rd Generation is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunications services fulfilling specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. Application services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile environment. Compared to the older 2G and 2.5G standards, a 3G system must allow simultaneous use of speech and data services. Recent 3G releases often denoted 3.5G and 3.75G also provide mobile broadband access to laptop computers and smart phones.

CHAPTER NO.3 CABLE INTERNET

3.1 Cable TV Networks Cable TV Network is made up of coaxial cable lines that bring television signals to TV. Each television channel is given a 6-megahertz channel on the cable. Cable TV Networks are high bandwidth networks i.e. 550 to 750 MHz by their very nature of design. These networks were traditionally built as one way networks carrying 60-100 Cable TV channels downstream.

3.2 Working of Cable Internet Internet through cable (sometimes called "cablenet") is a high speed service that is directly delivered to your computers via cables and there is no need for a phone line and connection. It is available 24 hours and 7 days a week for a flat monthly rate so you can save a lot on your telephone bill, depending on your current internet set-up. The television and the Internet transmission take place simultaneously on the same cable but at different frequencies. This allows the user to view TV and access Internet at the same time. When a cable company offers Internet access over the cable, Internet information can use the same cables because the cable modem system puts downstream data (data sent from the Internet to an individual computer) into a 6-MHz channel. On the cable, the data looks just like a TV channel. So Internet downstream data takes up the same amount of cable space as any single channel of programming. One downstream channel can handle hundreds of cable modems. Upstream data (information sent from an individual back-

-to the Internet) requires even less of the cable's bandwidth, just 2 MHz, since the assumption is that most people download far more information than they upload. Hence setting up of a robust two-way Cable TV network is the first requisite before deploying Cable Modems on a Cable TV network. This is done by upgrades to the amplifiers in the cable distribution network etc. A propose typical cable network is shown in below figure. It consists of Internet backbone connectivity from internal service protocol. It then goes to the router and to the switch. The switch connects to the server as well as the cable modem termination system (CMTS). The CMTS output goes to the up converter before finally being fed in to the cable network. Information will reach your doorstep, which is a great extended development of satellite technology and communication technology to help develop and design such type of networks.

3.3 Requirements: To access internet through cable you need to have a computer with a minimum memory of 16 MB and a windows 95 operating system or higher. If you use a Macintosh then you need an 8.0 system or higher. Your computer needs to have a Network Interface card (NIC) or a Universal Serial Bus (USB). If you have neither, the cable company can install it for you.

You will also need a cable modem, which is generally supplied by the cable company. A cable modem connects to a PC using the same coaxial cable that brings all channels to your television. This is the device which allows you to access data and information when you are using cable internet. Internet through cable is not possible without a cable modem. A cable modem usually has two connections; one to the wall outlet, and one to your computer. Cable modems are generally external devices, but you can get a few that are built-in into your computer. The cable company usually provides you with a cable modem but you can use your own if you have one, provided it is compatible to the internet system.

Cable Networks:

Subscriber End:

Main Equipment required: Putting both upstream and downstream data on the cable television system requires two types of equipment: 1. A cable modem at the customer end 2. A cable modem termination system (CMTS) at the cable provider's end.

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CHAPTER NO.4 CABLE MODEM

For Cable Internet access on PC, a Cable Modem is required at users end. A cable modem is an external device that connects to the computer to provide high-speed data access via cable TV networks. It has two connections; one to the TV cable wire and the other to a computer. A Cable Modem sends and receives data to and from the Internet by using the existing coaxial cable network. It has two connections; one to the TV cable wire and the other to a computer.

Typical Cable Modem The modem translates cable signals the same way a telephone modem translates signals from a telephone line. Cable modems translate radio frequency (RF) signals to and from the cable plant into Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol spoken by all computers connected to the Internet. At the customer premise, a high quality two way splitter is installed on the Cable TV line, with one output connected to the Cable Modem and the second output connected to the TV. Typical cable modem consists of following parts: 1. Tuner: The tuner will contain a diplexer, which allows the tuner to make use of one set of frequencies (generally between 42 and 850 MHz) for downstream traffic, and another set of frequencies (between 5 and 42 MHz) for the upstream data.

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2. Demodulator: The most common demodulators have four functions: A Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) demodulator takes a radio-frequency signal that has had information encoded in it by varying both the amplitude and phase of the wave, and turns it into a simple signal that can be processed by the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. The A/D converter takes the signal, which varies in voltage, and turns it into a series of digital 1s and 0s. An Error correction module then checks the received information against a known standard, so that problems in transmission can be found and fixed. MPEG Synchronizer: The network frames, or groups of data, are in MPEG format, so an MPEG synchronizer is used to make sure the data groups stay in line and in order.

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3. Modulator: In cable modems that use the cable system for upstream traffic, a modulator is used to convert the digital computer network data into radio-frequency signals for transmission. It consists of: 1. A section to insert information used for error correction on the receiving end. 2. A QAM modulator 3. A digital-to-analog (D/A) converter

4. MAC: The MAC sits between the upstream and downstream portions of the cable modem, and acts as the interface between the hardware and software portions of the various network protocols. All computer network devices have MACs. 5. CPU: In the case of a cable modem the tasks are more complex than those of a normal network interface card. For this reason, in most cases, some of the MAC functions will be assigned to central processing unit (CPU).

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CHAPTER NO.5 CABLE MODEM TERMINATING SYSTEM

The Internet signals are in the digital domain and these need to be interfaced to the Analog Cable TV Network. This interface is termed Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) and typically serves 2000 3000 Cable Modems and is connected to a high-speed data link. A typical CMTS consists of an Input interface, Router, Cable Modem card and a powerful Microprocessor. At the cable provider's head-end, the CMTS provides many of the same functions provided by the DSLAM in a DSL system. The CMTS takes the traffic coming in from a group of customers on a single channel and routes it to an Internet service provider (ISP) for connection to the Internet. At the head-end, the cable providers will have, or lease space for a third-party ISP to have, servers for accounting and logging, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for assigning and administering the IP addresses of all the cable system's users. The downstream information flows to all connected users, just like in an Ethernet network -- it's up to the individual network connection to decide whether a particular block of data is intended for it or not. On the upstream side, information is sent from the user to the CMTS -- other users don't see that data at all. The narrower upstream bandwidth is divided into slices of time, measured in milliseconds, in which users can transmit one "burst" at a time to the Internet. The division by time works well for the very short commands, queries and addresses that form the bulk of most users' traffic back to the Internet. A CMTS will enable as many as 1,000 users to connect to the Internet through a single 6-MHz channel. Since a single channel is capable of 30 to 40 megabits per second (Mbps) of total throughput, this means that users may see far better performance than is available with standard dial-up modems. As the system grows, the CMTS can be upgraded with more downstream and upstream ports.

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CHAPTER NO.6 DSL vs. Cable Internet

Speed (advantage - Cable):

Cable boasts faster speed than DSL Internet in theory. However, cable does not always deliver on the promise in everyday practical use. Popularity (advantage - Both): In the US, cable Internet enjoys significantly greater popularity than DSL, although DSL has been closing the gap recently. Outside the US, DSL continues to hold the edge. Customer Satisfaction (advantage - DSL): US cable services generally rate lower than DSL in customer surveys. Security (advantage - Both): Cable and DSL implement different network security models. Historically, more concerns have existed with cable security, although cable providers have definitely taken steps to improve security over the past few years. It's likely both DSL and cable are "secure enough" for most people's needs.

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CHAPTER NO.7 ADVANTAGES

Advantages of Cable Internet are as follows: 1. Advanced high speed Internet Access service. 2. Convenient you are always connected to the internet. 3. Does not affect your phone line. You dont need to switch your local phone service provider. 4. Unlike ADSL, its performance doesn't depend on distance from the central cable office. 5. No new software is required. 6. No reconstruction of the cable system necessary. 7. Isolation of TV & PC.

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CHAPTER NO.8 DISADVANTAGES

Disadvantages of Cable Internet are as follows: 1. Not available to all cable TV networks. 2. Usually tied with cable TV subscription. 3. Connection speed is affected by the number of people using the internet at the same time in your neighborhood. 4. Higher security risk than dialup (personal firewall is needed).

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CHAPTER NO.9 CONCLUSION

Cable Internet access is the principal competitor to DSL and is offered at a range of prices and speeds overlapping that of DSL. Cable TV has a strong reach to the homes and therefore offering the Internet through cable is a scope for furthering the growth of internet usage in the homes. The cable is an alternative medium for delivering the Internet Services in the US; there are millions of homes with cable modems, enabling the high-speed internet access over cable.

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REFERENCES
[1]Cable Internet Access. Available from :< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableInternetAccess>

[2]Internet Access. Available from :< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Access>

[3]Cable modem terminating system. Available from: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_modem_termination_system>

[4] Cable Modem. Available from :<http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cable-modem.htm >

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