Bulletin. BY Travis Murdock Manager, Standards SCTE. A Word From the Vice President. New Standards Work Projects and Approvals Q2 2014

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1 SCTE: Essential Knowledge for Cable Professionals TM Q Bulletin AN SCTE ENGINEERING AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PUBLICATION New Standards Work Projects and Approvals The ANSI-accredited SCTE Standards Program is pleased to announce a slate of newly initiated work projects that are designed to benefit the cable telecommunications industry. The program is also pleased to announce work projects that recently have come to fruition as SCTE standards and still others that have moved along to become ANSI approved. New Projects (PARS Approved) IPS SP 915 DWDM Aggregation for TDM POM; the purpose of this standard is to develop a wavelength plan for upstream wavelength conversions and downstream wavelength plan for TDM PON DWDM aggregations. IPS SP 011 Specification for Braided 75 Ω, Micro-Series Quad Shield Coaxial Cable MMCX Connectivity and Dense CCAP/Edge QAM Applications; this standard defines specifications for braided 75-ohm quad-shielded micro-coaxial cable suitable for use with MMCX connectors for CCAP and dense Edge QAM applications. Travis Murdock Manager, Standards SCTE (continued on back page) A Word From the Vice President Marty Davidson As the spring season progresses, so do the activities of the SCTE Standards Program. In this issue of the SCTE Standards Bulletin, we say a huge thank you and goodbye to Brian James, chair of the IPS Subcommittee, who announced his retirement. Brian s dedication and leadership were unsurpassed, and SCTE has benefited from our relationship with him. Be sure to read Brian s article. Just as we say goodbye, we say hello to John Olander, who is the chair of the Network Operations Subcommittee. This is an extremely active area that we are seeing a lot of growth and interest in. Read all about it and find out how to participate. Plus, be sure to read this Bulletin issue s Technology Close-Up column, where Dick Shimp shares his thoughts about instrument shielding effectiveness. The year started off with a bang and has not slowed down. With much to inform you about in this issue, we thank you for spending the time to keep in step with the SCTE Standards Program. Marty Davidson, vice president, engineering and network operations, SCTE +

2 + Join today at Welcome New SCTE Standards Program Members Crystal Solutions (vendor) is an international provider of network management tools for video distribution. Crystal will provide support for DVS. Deviser Electronics Instrument Co. (vendor) is an international test equipment manufacturer based in China. Deviser plans to assist standards efforts in IPS and NOS. Effigis Geo-Solutions (vendor) is an international test equipment manufacturer based in Canada. Effigis plans to contribute heavily in current and future NOS work. InterDigital Communications Inc. (vendor) is an R&D organization focusing on power management, spectrum use, and data architecture. InterDigital s main focus within the SCTE Standards Program is assisting in current and future DVS efforts. Kiama Tech LLC (consultant) is the newly minted consulting house of cable veteran Ray Thomas. Thomas plans to continue his role on the SCTE Engineering Committee as well as his participation at the subcommittee and working group level. MacLean Power Systems (vendor) is a manufacturer of products used for building transmission and distribution lines and substations. Matthew Schweinberg assisted IPS in the past and plans to contribute once again. SCTE ENGINEERING STAFF Daniel Howard, Senior Vice President, Engineering and CTO , ext. 7319; dhoward@scte.org Marty Davidson, Vice President, Engineering and Network Operations , ext. 7318; mdavidson@scte.org Thomas Russell, Senior Director, Standards , ext. 7317; trussell@scte.org Derek DiGiacomo, Senior Director, Information Systems and Energy Management Program , ext. 7310; ddigiacomo@scte.org Travis Murdock, Standards Manager , ext. 7308; tmurdock@scte.org FOR GENERAL INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE: ; standards@scte.org 2014 by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Inc. All rights reserved. SCTE Standards Bulletin (ISSN ) is published four times a year by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Inc. Second Quarter 2014, Volume 14, Number 1. Madhat Technical Solutions (consultant) is a consulting firm headed by Jamie Duemo. She looks to support standards efforts, primarily those under DVS. MediAnswers (consultant) is operated by Christopher Lennon. Formerly of Harris, Lennon has been heavily involved in DVS. Ubisense (vendor) is an international organization providing solutions in automation of fiber networks and data gathering. The company looks to contribute to current and future work in NOS. STANDARDS SUBCOMMITTEE HOT SHEET Here is a glance at current top storylines coming from each of the standards subcommittees: Data Standards Subcommittee: DSS is preparing for the standardization of the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.1 specifications. D3.1 is designed to be upward to 50 percent more efficient than DOCSIS 3. The subcommittee expects to begin discussions during the second quarter of this year. Digital Video Subcommittee: DVS formed a new standing Working Group (WG7) to address the growing interest in the application of adaptive bitrate streaming of IP-based media content. WG7, jointly chaired by Gary Hughes of SeaChange International and Alex Giladi of InterDigital, was created to address the implications to cable operators of the DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) standard developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. Interface Practices Subcommittee: After a decade and a half of achievement at the helm of IPS, Brian James has decided to step down as IPS chair following his retirement from ATX Networks. James plans to stay on as a consultant in IPS and maintain his membership on the SCTE Engineering Committee. SCTE is working with James and the EC to select the next IPS chair. Network Operations Subcommittee: NOS WG1, led by Ron Hranac, has two documents ready for formal review and approval: an FCC Proof of Performance checklist document highlighting current rules and updates not yet adopted, and an Outside Plant Power Supply Preventative Maintenance recommended practice. WG1 is also well into the process of a UHF/LTE interference testing and detection recommended practices document. The work is ongoing, and additional support from operators and test equipment vendors is strongly encouraged. Sustainability Management Subcommittee: SMS is rapidly advancing in the development of a new recommended practices document for implementation of 380 VDC powering of cable network facilities. The SMS-005 team is meeting weekly to produce the RP that will review the applicability, business cases, and migration strategies for cable operators in their critical facilities.

3 NETWORK OPERATIONS KICKOFF One of the biggest areas of new work and projects in the SCTE Standards Program is in network operations, including growth in terms of standards, recommended practices, projects, and new members. This really doesn t come as a big surprise considering the desire of operators to continually drive operational expenses out of the business while improving the overall customer quality of experience. The heart of customer experience lies in how we operate our networks. The Network Operations Subcommittee, or NOS for short, includes four active working groups. NOS Working Group 1 is chaired by Ron Hranac of Cisco. This team has developed SCTE Measurement & Recommended Practices for Cable Systems, which is in its fourth edition. This document outlines test and measurement procedures and mitigation techniques throughout the end-to-end HFC network including test and measurement practices for total signal power, leakage, proactive maintenance, and many other measures. Additionally, Working Group 1 is working on LTE interference and the procedures of how to measure it as well as providing guidance to what kinds of test equipment are effective for performing such measurements. They are also keeping close watch on the FCC s NPRM on modernizing and modifying the commission s proof-of-performance rules and basic signal leakage performance criteria and preparing to provide recommended practices when the new rules come out. NOS Working Group 2 is focused on Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) and working EAS messaging across devices that are alternative screens to televisions. This is a critically important effort to ensure customers who never view content on a traditional TV are able to be alerted of important information and events. NOS Working Group 3 was initiated in the fourth quarter of last year and is focused on Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning (DR/BCP). This team, led by Joe Viens of Time Warner Cable, is focusing its initial efforts on delivering a recommended practice on high-level disaster recovery planning based in part on Disaster Recovery Institute International s (DRII) outline. This outline will be expanded The heart of customer service lies in how we operate our networks. If you have not joined a working group in NOS, now s the time to sign up and participate in NOS. We value your ideas and input. Become involved in the work of this growing subcommittee. John Olander Chair, SCTE Network Operations Subcommittee upon specifically for cable operators and will provide the basis for a considerable amount of new work that the team will prioritize in the near future. Additionally, this team is creating a video for operators to share with local municipalities and government officials to highlight what cable really is and how it is crucial for cable to be put at the top of the priority list during disaster situations for things like fuel rationing and working with local power companies. NOS Working Group 4 is the HMS or Hybrid Management Sub-layer team, which supports the industry in its efforts to define, develop, and drive the implementation of standards-based management and monitoring interfaces for broadband technologies. Other potential work streams we are evaluating include fiber measures, proactive network maintenance tool kits, Wi-Fi operations, security, predictive analytics, and customer quality of experience. Our inaugural plenary meeting (both in-person and virtual) on Thursday, April 17, 2014, in Philadelphia was conducted to determine work projects that NOS will focus on in the future; if you have not joined a working group in NOS, now s the time to sign up and participate in NOS. We value your ideas and input. Please contact SCTE Standards Manager Travis Murdock for help in becoming involved in the work of this growing subcommittee. You can reach him at tmurdock@scte.org or , ext John Olander III is senior vice president, network service ops with Comcast Cable Communications in Philadelphia.

4 SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE AN UPDATE People like predictability. We get up in the morning and flip on the light switch to see what is waiting for us as we start our day. Many standards that we take for granted go into the simple activity of flipping on the light switch. In our industry, SCTE is the ANSI (American National Standards Institute)-accredited body developing all of the standards we depend on to enable the products and services our customers depend on. One area SCTE is seeing tremendous growth in is energy. Energy-related standards work is done in the Sustainability Management Subcommittee, or SMS for short; SMS is responsible for drafting standards impacting our energy impact from both a business and environmental perspective (the double green effect). One of the focus areas of opportunity for SMS is our hubs and headends. Since its publication in The SMS team is working on a project to help outline how well equipment performs in relation to the power it consumes to provide the service. 2012, the SCTE Energy Management Recommended Practices for Cable Facilities has helped outline the approaches to drive down energy burn and extend the life of product from a facility management best practice point of view. Making positive change in energy consumption is good, but how do we as an industry measure our performance change? The SMS team is working on a project to help outline how well equipment performs in relation to the power it consumes to provide the service. There are a lot of metrics being proposed for each of the equipment classifications, and the ultimate goal of the project is to determine the bronze/silver/gold energy-to-performance rating of the equipment. In a related project, an overall measurement/metric of power for facilities and outside plant will be drafted. At a conference in New York, Time Warner Cable discussed the use of watts per customer as a metric for the hub/headend space. Having this measure and the all-important baseline measurement of power will help any operator make educated decisions on energy efficiency and where improvements can be made. For example, if the power draw for a facility is trending 2x the amount normally expected, perhaps the cooling system is having problems, or equipment may be indicating performance issues. The recognized energy metric standard once published by SCTE will provide the industry a standard means of measuring performance both within an MSO and across the industry. How do you get involved with these exciting energy and sustainability developments? Participation in SMS activities Derek DiGiacomo Senior Director, IS and Energy Management Program SCTE (or any SCTE standards development) requires a corporate membership in the SCTE Standards Program. For a complete list of active members, please visit If your company is on the list, you are entitled to join as many projects that your passion and interest desire. For a complete list of subcommittees and their respective chairs, please visit and/or see the sidebar below. Finally, membership in the SCTE Standards Program also entitles you to submit Project Authorization Requests (PARs) to initiate new work within the SCTE Standards Program. In simple terms, new projects are the foundations for what tomorrow s engineers will need to leverage to reach that take it for granted state of reliable products and services. The SCTE Sustainability Management Subcommittee (SMS) is chaired by Dan Cooper of Time Warner Cable. Raising Standards SCTE Standards Subcommittees at-a-glance Technical development of projects approved by the SCTE Engineering Committee is carried out by one of the SCTE Standards Subcommittees. Charter statements for the subcommittees are as follows, along with some new projects: Data Standards Subcommittee (DSS) develops standards for the delivery of digital services for high-speed data, voice, and video using Internet Protocol over cable networks. Chair: David Fellows SCTE staff contact: Travis Murdock (tmurdock@scte.org) New project: DOCSIS 3.1

5 CARRY ON AND FAREWELL, IPS The SCTE Interface Practices Subcommittee (IPS), originally called the Interface Recommended Practices Committee, was created in 1987 under the leadership of SCTE stalwart Tom Elliot, who was with Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) back in those days, to develop standards for basic network hardware and continues to develop standards and test procedures for network equipment to this day. I have always been interested in equipment standards and testing to ensure equipment purchased met the required specifications so the cable system could meet overall performance specifications. I did not get involved in the Interface Practices Subcommittee until I had just set up the Rogers Cable/CableLabs joint TAC Test Centre to evaluate equipment for CableLabs members and attended my first IPS meeting at the 1997 SCTE Cable-Tec Expo where Jim Haag announced he was stepping down as chairman of the subcommittee. Later that day, I ran into Dan Pike, then chair of the SCTE Engineering Committee, who asked if I were interested in chairing the subcommittee to which I agreed and have chaired the subcommittee since then. Now as I enter retirement, I hope someone will step forward to take over the leadership of this important subcommittee. SCTE had been an accredited standards-setting body by ANSI since 1995, and the first standards were working their way through the approval process. Appropriately, the F connector was the first standard approved by ANSI. The standards developed in the Interface Practices Subcommittee deal with coaxial cables and connectors used in both indoor and outdoor plant plus actives and passives used in the home. About 2004, the Engineering Committee encouraged IPS to create a fiber-optic working group to develop standards for fiber-optic cables, connectors, and applications used in cable systems. There was significant objection from members of the subcommittee, and minimal Brian James Outgoing Chair SCTE Interface Practices Subcommittee work was done or importance placed on fiber optics until the subcommittee was tasked with developing a standard for RFoG. Since then, there has been significant activity in the development of standards for fiber optics. The IPS membership has always had a majority of cable equipment manufacturers with minimal attendance by cable operators. Only one or two operators have had regular representation at the meetings. This makes it challenging to determine what specifications need to be developed to best serve the MSOs. I encourage cable operators to give serious consideration to having people participate in this subcommittee as the quality of cables, connectors, and in-home equipment has a serious impact on the quality and reliability of service delivered to the customer. The cable operators with direct experience in the application of these components are best able to determine the standards that need to be developed to ensure the reliability of the systems they operate. Raising Standards (continued from Page 4) Digital Video Subcommittee (DVS) identifies requirements and develops standards for the design and operation of systems for delivery of video, audio, and associated data. Chair: Dr. Paul Hearty SCTE staff contact: Tom Russell (trussell@scte.org) New projects: ESNI, HEVC, and Lip-Sync Interface Practices Subcommittee (IPS) develops standards for cables, connectors, and active and passive equipment used in broadband communications systems. Chair: Brian James (outgoing) SCTE staff contact: Travis Murdock (tmurdock@scte.org) New project: MMCX Network Operations Subcommittee (NOS) is responsible for standards and recommended practices that provide support for the implementation and operation of cable networks including testing, measurements, and other topics relevant to the performance and operational management of cable networks. Chair: John Olander SCTE staff contact: Marty Davidson (mdavidson@scte.org) New project: BCP/DR Sustainability Management Subcommittee (SMS) is responsible for identifying standards and best practices for reducing power consumption and costs, increasing operating efficiency, and minimizing disposal effects of outdated equipment. Chair: Dan Cooper SCTE staff contact: Derek DiGiacomo (ddigiacomo@scte.org) New project: Recognized Energy Metric Standard

6 SCTE STANDARDS ACTIVITIES ABROAD Here are some fresh developments for the SCTE Standards Program in relation to ITU and ETSI: ITU-T Update For the past few years, SCTE has been contributing actively to the International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in ITU-T s Study Group 9 (SG9 Broadband Cable and TV) as an Associate Sector member. Study Group 9 develops and promotes standards (ITU Recommendations) particular to the use of cable networks for delivery of television, sound, and related data services to residences and enterprises. Advanced services like VoD, UHDTV, and 3D are in its purview as are transport over coax and hybrid networks, and video quality assessment. Technical subgroups in ITU-T parlance are called Questions ; SG9 currently hosts a total of 13 Question groups, covering topic areas such as Measurement and control of the end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) for advanced television technologies (Question 2) and Requirements for advanced service capabilities for broadband cable home networks (Question 9). Currently, there are more than 50 SCTE standards that are also ITU Recommendations. Many of these are data-related versions of DOCSIS 1.1 and 3.0 and IP Cablecom (PacketCable ) and a number of digital video standards including the eight standards of the first edition of the advanced digital advertising suite, SCTE 130, are also recognized international standards. Besides bringing in new work items, SCTE has been also updating longstanding ITU Recommendations to be synchronized with the most recent versions of SCTE standards. For instance, this past year, we updated the core Digital Program Insertion (DPI) documents ITU J.281 (SCTE 30, Digital Program Insertion Splicing API) and ITU J.181 (SCTE 35, Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable). Later this year, we will be updating the companion guidance document J.181 Annex I (SCTE 67, Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable Interpretation for SCTE 35; the 2014 revision will be published early second quarter). Slated for proposal as new ITU Recommendations is the second edition of SCTE 130, which now numbers 10 documents. SCTE also participates in the development of SG9 projects proposed by other member organizations. The present work program includes proposals such as Requirements of Augmented Reality Smart Television System, Objective Assessment Methods for Source Video Quality at the Headend, and Control Interface Specifications for IP-Based Switched Digital Video Using DOCSIS. In all, at the time of this writing, there are 28 work items in SG9 in various stages of development. In addition to the standing Study Groups, ITU-T also sets up short-lived Focus Groups to address problems and to investigate specific technical areas. SG9 completed a Focus Group on SmartCable Television at the December 2013 meeting in Geneva. SCTE had a leadership role in this Focus Group, which included the active participation of technical experts from across the globe. Its purpose was to collect and collate information on the state of the art in services that can be provided by cable operators that may have aspects for standardization, particularly in Study Group 9. The final Technical Report is available for free download at the ITU-T website: Pages/default.aspx. ETSI TC CABLE Update Tom Russell Senior Director, Standards SCTE More recently, SCTE began to participate as an observer and in a liaison capacity with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute s (ETSI) technical committee for the development of specifications and other deliverables for use in HFC broadband cable and television networks. This TC comprises four Working Groups dealing with topics including network architecture, operations best practices, and energy efficiency. We expect to increase our level of participation in this committee.

7 TECHNOLOGY CLOSE-UP: INSTRUMENT SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS The SCTE Network Operations Subcommittee (NOS) Test Measurements Working Group, of which I am a participant and Ron Hranac of Cisco is the chair, has concluded that document IEC , Electrical equipment for measurement, control and laboratory use EMC requirements Part 1: General requirements, contains the appropriate RF immunity specifications for test equipment used in the cable telecommunications industry. The background and justification are as follows. The cable telecommunications industry makes use of battery-powered and mains-powered test instrumentation. Using methods detailed in IEC , electromagnetic immunity parameters specifically applicable to mains- and battery-operated test instrumentation can be found in document IEC The specifications in IEC further isolate the appropriate parameters to test instruments operated within basic, industrial, or controlled electromechanical environments. Typically, test equipment used within the cable telecommunications industry falls within basic and industrial classifications. Generally speaking, examples of a basic environment include outside plant and within home dwelling units. System headends, hubs, and central offices fall within the industrial environment classification. To comply with IEC , certain battery-operated instrument types, regardless of the environment in which used, and mains-operated instruments, including battery-operated instruments powered by a charger used in a basic environment, must withstand electromagnetic fields as follows: 3 V/m (80 MHz to 1,000 MHz) 3 V/m (1,400 MHz to 2,000 MHz) 1 V/m (2,000 MHz to 2,700 MHz) Complying with IEC requires mains-operated instrumentation and battery-operated instrumentation powered by a charger functioning under industrial environmental conditions to withstand electromechanical fields as follows: 10 V/m (80 MHz to 1,000 MHz) 3 V/m (1,400 MHz to 2,000 MHz) 1 V/m (2,000 MHz to 2,700 MHz) Dick Shimp Chief of New Technology ComSonics IEC identifies three performance criteria, each with increasingly worse outcomes any one of which can result from the electromagnetic field exposure. The reader is encouraged to refer to the specified standard for additional and detailed information. + Download approved SCTE Standards in PDF format free of charge at + Get involved. Join the ANSI-accredited SCTE Standards Program today. Find out how at + Access the directory of current SCTE Standards Program members at Be sure to attend SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2014, which is set for Monday through Thursday, Sept in Denver. Learn about the cable telecommunications engineering show of the year and stay tuned for the start of registration at

8 NEW STANDARDS WORK PROJECTS AND APPROVALS (continued from front page) DVS 1151 Adaptive Streaming: Encoder Boundary Point for Cable Networks; this proposed standard supports the development of just-in-time packaging and linear delivery methods for Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) infrastructures and for hybrid delivery to support legacy receivers. DVS 1166 High-Efficiency Video Coding for Cable: Coding, Carriage Constraints, and HEVC over DASH; this proposed set of standards will specify the general constraints for cable applications of the HEVC standard (Rec. ITU-T H.265/ISO/IEC ) delivered over broadcast transport as well as applications delivered over IP multicast/unicast protocols. DVS 1179 Enhanced Scheduling and Notification Interface (ESNI); the Enhanced Scheduling and Notification Interface (ESNI) defines a web interface and corresponding methods allowing content providers to programmatically notify specific video distribution system components of upcoming blackout events (schedules). New SCTE Approvals (ANSI Approval Pending) SCTE Test Method for F Connector Return Loss; the purpose of this standard is to provide a test method for measuring return loss of F male connectors with cable in the frequency range of 5 MHz to 1,002 MHz by utilizing the time domain gating feature of the network analyzer. SCTE Test Method for Contact Resistance Measurement of Mainline Plug Interface; the purpose of this test procedure is to measure the resistance between the contact of the connector and cable interfaces. High-resistance contacts may cause excessive energy losses, overheating, and possibly common path distortions. It is most desirable to have contact resistance as low as possible. New ANSI Approvals ANSI/SCTE a Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable; this standard supports frame-accurate signaling of events in MPEG-2 transport streams along with associated descriptive data. This standard supports the splicing of MPEG-2 transport streams for the purpose of Digital Program Insertion, which includes advertisement insertion and insertion of other content types. ANSI/SCTE Data Encryption Standard Cipher Block Chaining Packet Encryption Specification; this document defines a method for encrypting MPEG-2 transport stream packets using the Data Encryption Standard (DES) Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) encryption standard. ANSI/SCTE Automation Systems to Compression System Communications Applications Program Interface (API); this standard defines the communications API between an automation system and the associated compression system that will insert SCTE 35 private sections into the outgoing transport stream. This standard serves as a companion to both SCTE 35 and SCTE 30. ANSI/SCTE Test Method for Distortion of 2-Way Amplifier Caused by Insufficient Isolation of Built-in Diplex Filter; the purpose of this document is to establish the standard methodology to measure an amplifier s distortion caused by an upstream signal leaking through the diplex filter that is built inside of the amplifier of a cable telecommunications system. ANSI/SCTE Open Media Security (OMS) Root Key Derivation Profiles and Test Vectors; this cryptographic key ladder standard defines a set of key ladder profiles, additional requirements, and test vectors for a key ladder implementation. This standard is an extension of the ETSI TS [1] standard for a key ladder, by further defining certain aspects and providing test vectors to enable implementers to verify certain aspects of an implementation. 140 Philips Road, Exton, PA standards@scte.org + Tell your colleagues about the benefits of SCTE Standards