Distortion monitoring system for CATV transmission networks

This invention relates to cable television systems, and more particularly, to monitoring distortion in a cable television system. Systems and methods for a distortion monitoring system that detects an abnormal amount of signal distortion occurring in a transmission system. The distortion monitoring system includes a system amplifier section for amplifying and coupling an input signal to provide first and second outputs and a distortion monitoring section for processing the second output. The amount of distortion present is represented by an output from the distortion monitoring section of the system. In one embodiment, the distortion monitoring section can include an envelope detector for receiving the second output signal, a lowpass filter coupled to the envelope detector for cutting off frequencies below the Nyquist rate, and a voltage amplifier coupled to the lowpass filter for amplifying the signal. An analog to digital converter coupled to the voltage amplifier digitizes the signal, a memory buffer coupled to the analog to digital converter captures the digital data from the analog to digital converter, and a digital signal processor extracts the converted signal. In yet another embodiment, the digital signal processor includes an on-chip memory. A status monitor coupled to the output of the distortion monitoring section provides for monitoring the output signal.