Loop Identification and Capacity Estimation of Digital Subscriber Lines with Single Ended Line Testing

Digital subscriber lines offer the possibility to deliver broadband services over the existing telephone network. Still, beforehand subscriber loops must be tested to see whether they can support high-speed data services, and at what bit rate. From the existing measurement techniques, Single Ended Line Testing is often preferred because all necessary measurements can be performed from the central office. Consequently the capacity cannot be measured directly, but should be calculated through the estimation of the loop make-up. This paper discusses some main difficulties of this identification. Moreover, in contrast to the traditional approach where the data are interpreted in the time domain, this paper presents a new approach by doing most of the processing in the frequency domain.