P&T Luxembourg Tests Alcatel-Lucent’s Zero-Touch Vectoring

P&T Luxembourg is testing Alcatel-Lucent's Zero-Touch Vectoring to evaluate how the technology can help the operator meet the national government’s "Ultra High BroadBand" plan - which aims at providing all Luxembourg residents with broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream by 2015.

VDSL2 Vectoring is a noise-cancelling technology that removes the interference between the multiple VDSL2 lines, so that each VDSL2 line can operate at its best and deliver higher data transmission speeds. P&T Luxembourg is already deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON and P2P-based fiber access solution. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

In October 2012, Alcatel-Lucent introduced new signal processing software developed by Bell Labs that promises to shake up the business model for VDSL2.

The new ‘Zero Touch Vectoring’capability eliminates the need to upgrade every CPE in a copper node whenever the first customer opts for faster broadband access delivered over a VDSL2 vectored line.  Previously, a carrier choosing to deploy VDSL2 Vectoring was required to upgrade every modem on the network in order to properly handle the crosstalk elimination.

Alcatel-Lucent introduced the first commercial VDSL2 Vectoring solution in September 2011, delivering 100 Mbps over existing copper loop lengths of 400 meters.  VDSL2 vectoring uses digital signal processing to remove crosstalk between copper pairs in a bundle, similar to noise cancellation in headphones. From line cards at the central office or DSLAM, the system measures the crosstalk from all the lines in the bundle and then generates an anti-phase signal to cancel out the noise.  Alcatel-Lucent developed its own chipset and software.  The VDSL2 vectoring is delivered via  a 48-port Board Level Vectoring card, a 48-port System Level Vectoring card, and a Vector Processing card supporting up to 384 ports.