The communication
system includes a hybride
fiber / coax distribution network. A head end provides for downstream transmission of
telephony and
control data in a first frequency bandwidth over the
hybrid fiber / coax distribution network and reception of upstream
telephony and
control data in a second frequency bandwidth over the
hybrid fiber / coax distribution network. The head end includes head end multicarrier modem for modulating at least downstream
telephony information on a plurality of orthogonal carriers in the first frequency bandwidth and demodulating at least upstream telephony information modulated on a plurality of orthogonal carriers in the second frequency bandwidth. The head end further includes a controller operatively connected to the head end multicarrier modem for controlling transmission of the downstream telephony information and downstream
control data and for controlling
receipt of the upstream control data and upstream telephony information. The
system further includes service units, each service unit operatively connected to the
hybrid fiber / coax distribution network for upstream transmission of telephony and control data in the second frequency bandwidth and for
receipt of the downstream control data and telephony in the first frequency bandwidth. Each service unit includes a service unit multicarrier modem for modulating at least the upstream telephony information on at least one carrier orthogonal at the head end terminal to another carrier in the second frequency bandwidth and for demodulating at least downstream telephony information modulated on at least a band of a plurality of orthogonal carriers in the first frequency bandwidth. Each service unit also includes a controller operatively connected to the service unit multicarrier modem for controlling the modulation of and
demodulation performed by the service unit multicarrier modem. A method of monitoring communication channels, a distributed loop method for adjusting transmission characteristics to allow for transmission of data in a multi-point to point communication
system, a polyphase
filter technique for providing ingress protection and a scanning method for identifying frequency bands to be used for transmission by service units are also included. Also provided is a method and apparatus for performing a
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). In one embodiment, a scalable FFT system is built using a novel dual-radix butterfly core.