Systems considerations for the use of xDSL technology for data access

A variety of signal processing techniques have been developed over the past 10 years to increase the bit rate of digital transmission through telephone loop twisted pairs. The ISDN basic rate access 2B1Q digital subscriber line (DSL) was the first technology of this type to be deployed commercially at 160 kb/s full-duplex transmission on a single twisted pair. Other transmitter/receiver circuits have been developed over the years that support symmetric and asymmetric data transmission from several hundreds of kilobits per second to several megabits per second using the 2B1Q line code in the case of HDSL and various modulation techniques (QAM, CAP, and DMT) in the case of ADSL. These more recent forms of xDSL circuitry have begun to be used to provide commercial Internet access. This article analyzes the system level considerations for using these technologies in the increasing complex loop network of telephone companies. A “next generation” of xDSL access system is proposed, and the requirements for such a system are discussed