Fault identification and location

i-Scout

High-impact zone
management with probes
that pinpoint and flag ingress

I-Scout allows you to remotely diagnose the location of problems from the headend, vastly decreasing both the time required and the number of stops to locate ingress and CPD impairments.

Divide and conquer

I-Scout probes separate your network into manageable zones and allow your technicians to begin the troubleshooting process closer to the actual problem. This strategy saves time, money, and provides your customers with a much faster response time. The i-Scout System is an optional add-on to the Hunter System.

Productivity Driven

Built to help you perform better

Faster: Get to the root cause of network impairments in minutes by identifying Probe IDs from the head-end. I-Scout eliminates frustrating, time-consuming and fruitless network hunting expeditions. Technicians don’t need to stop at nodes or multiple split-points, no need to disconnect returns to resolve direction, and no wasted time trying to figure out the nature of the impairment – i-Scout sends you straight to the impairment zone to start your search there.

Incremental: Start out by implementing i-Scout in your worst nodes, and expand to broader coverage logically and comfortably as time and budget allow.

Save money: Installing i-Scout probes will cost you much less than the expense of even a single truck-roll. Because i-Scout will greatly reduce the overall truck-rolls needed, it pays for itself almost immediately. As nodes are cleaned up, you can simply leave the probes in place and deploy new probes for the next batch of nodes needing attention. Over time, your network coverage is increased and the benefits become permanently available to troubleshoot future impairments.

Efficient: Instead of dispatching a technician to the node to begin the troubleshooting process, you can determine exactly what zone within a node is the source of a problem from the headend, saving time and avoiding mini-outages caused by technicians pulling pads and attempting to track direction.

How it works

MONITOR FROM THE HEADEND

Remote zone management

Install i-Scout probes at strategic points, essentially splitting the large node into smaller, more manageable zones. Each probe has a unique ID corresponding to the probe modulation frequency. The probes impart a small and transparent AM modulation onto return path signals as they pass by the probe location. 32 different amplitude modulation frequencies (probe IDs) are available, spread between roughly 2 to 4Hz. The modulation is a very slight 3 tenths of a dB, and up to two i-Scout probes can be cascaded.

Return path signals containing ingress or CPD components travels from the subscriber’s home back to the headend – i-Scout probes impart this very slight modulation upon the ingress or CPD.

Each probe has a unique modulation characteristic – when the return path ingress or CPD signal is demodulated at the headend, the underlying modulation frequency can be resolved to determine the probe ID.

A database containing the physical location of the installed probe is queried and the problem zone in the field is pinpointed.

Dispatch your technician directly to the impairment zone.

Helpful Information + Resources

Reference

Arcom Library

Inform the way you maintain your network