We first demonstrate delta-sigma digitization and coherent transmission of data over cable system interface specification (DOCSIS) 3.1 signals in a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network. Twenty 192-MHz DOCSIS 3.1 channels with modulation up to 16384QAM are digitized by a low-pass cascade resonator feedback (CRFB) delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and transmitted over 80-km fiber using coherent single-lambda 128-Gb/s dual-polarization (DP) quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and 256-Gb/s DP-16QAM optical links. Both one-bit and two-bit delta-sigma digitization are implemented and supported by the QPSK and 16QAM coherent transmission systems, respectively. To facilitate its practical application in access networks, the coherent system is built using a low-cost narrow-band optical modulator and RF amplifiers. Modulation error ratio (MER) larger than 50 dB is successfully demonstrated for all 20 DOCSIS 3.1 channels, and high-order modulation up to 16384QAM is delivered over fiber for the first time in HFC networks. The raw DOCSIS data capacity is 54 Gb/s with net user information similar to 45 Gb/s. Moreover, the bit error ratio (BER) tolerance is evaluated by measuring the MER performance as BER increases. Negligible MER degradation is observed for BER up to 1.5 x 10(-6) and 1.7 x 10(-4) for one-bit and two-bit digitization, respectively.
