Ikanos Communications today introduced new software designed to allow carriers to qualify and diagnose local access loops for broadband without dispatching a technician to the customer premises.

With the LoopNostics system, a combination of firmware and software available now, carriers can conduct both single-ended and dual-ended loop testing from the central office or remote terminal with no equipment at the far end of the line.

From the central office or remote terminal, the system’s firmware sends out an electric pulse train that reports back reflections from bridge taps and from the end of the line. The software then analyzes this information to give carriers a report on the characteristics of the tested line. The system reports the line’s length, noise profile, capacity and other features, determining its suitability for VDSL2 and ADSLx deployment.

For short loops--those less than 3000 feet in length, for example--Ikanos believes its system can estimate loop length with 95% accuracy. Its estimates of longer loops are less accurate, Ikanos said.

Carriers may want to use the system to pre-qualify lines before dispatching technicians to test the line from both ends using existing testing equipment, the chip vendor said.

LoopNostics uses off-the-shelf operating systems such as Windows and works with the support of Ikanos’ fourth- and fifth-generation DSL chip sets.