Dynamic bandwidth management in converged multi-service HFC networks

HFC networks are fast evolving into multi-service networks supporting interactive television service and wide-band data service. Capability to optimally partition the available radio frequency among competing services is the key to the economical viability of these networks. In this paper, bandwidth control policies such as Complete Sharing, Complete Partitioning and Partial Sharing are adapted to HFC network multi-service bandwidth management. Analytical models are developed to measure the performance of above policies. Simulation results are presented that Partial Sharing demonstrates the best overall performance while guaranteeing a minimum Quality of Service for each service.