(NOTE: Chapter begin with What You Will Learn and end with Summary, Questions for Review, and Selected Bibliography sections).
1. Digital Signal Measurement Guidelines. Defining analog and digital for communications. Digital and analog, similarities and differences. Performance and measurements preview.
2. Modulation and Frequency Management. Preparing information for distribution. The carrier concept. Modulation. Amplitude modulation. Frequency and phase modulation. Viewing the signal in the frequency domain. What is in a signal? AM, FM and PM in the frequency domain.
3. How an Analog Wave Becomes Digital Data. Digital data. Sending digital data. Analog to digital signal processing. Signal sampling and quantizing. Transmission bandwidth. Bits to bandwidth. Bit rate. Restoring the analog signal from the digital signal.
4. Distributing, Layering, and Multiplexing. Future distribution challenges. What is layering? Digital signal layering. The digital-analog allegory. Combining digital signals. Multiplexing in broadband cable and HFC systems.
5. Introduction to Digital Modulation Formats. Modulation and multiplex formats. Digital modulation formats. QPSK and QAM. VSB and DVSB.
6. Viewing Digital Modulation. Comparing analog and digital video signals. Viewing modulation with vector diagrams. I/Q modulation. Decision points. Jitter. Constellation and eye diagrams. Symbols, symbol rate, and bit rate. Filtering a digitally modulated signal.
7. Error Correction, Equalization, and Compression. The keys to signal quality and efficiency. The causes of errors. Error correction. Bit, packet and frame error rates. Reed-Solomon error correction coding. What FEC statistics can tell. Adaptive equalization removes linear distortion. Limitations to adaptive equalization. How adaptive equalization works. View system response from the equalizer. Digital video depends on compression. Types of compression. Compression forms and formats. MPEG-2 compression uses. Trouble from compression. Compression measurements.
8. Digital Signal Quality. Why measure signal quality? What degrades digital signal quality? Bit error rate. Measuring bit error rate. Viewing modulation with constellation and eye diagrams. Troubleshooting with constellation diagrams. Modulation quality measurements. Error vector magnitude. Measuring EVM. Modulation error ratio. MER diagnostics for troubleshooting and margin. Jitter is all in the timing. Instruments for signal quality measurements.
9. Average Power Measurements. What is a power measurement? Power transfer. Digital signals are different. Types of power measurements. Average power. Power and bandwidth. Relative signal level measurements. Measuring digital signal average power. Total system power.
10. Peak, Peak-to-Average, and Burst Power Measurements. The influence of peak and burst power on signal quality. The nature of non-continuous power. Peak power and peak-to-average power ratio. Measuring peak-to-average ratio. Measuring burst power. Peak and burst measurements.
11. Distortion, Noise, and Interference. Effects on digital signals. Intermodulation distortion. Distortion levels. A new role for noise measurements. Troubleshooting and measuring noise performance. Interference. Test equipment for noise and distortion measurements.
Appendix A: Glossary. Appendix B: Performance and Measurement Map. Appendix C: Equipment for Testing Digital Signals in Cable TV Systems. Appendix D: Answers to Chapter Questions. Appendix E: Collected Bibliography. Index. 