Cable Performance Requirements for Copper Cable Testing

Submitted by dlaverty on Mon, 2009/02/23 - 11:37
Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)

The ANSI/TIA/EIA 568 B standard covers two types of links.

  • Permanent links are those which typically run from wall plates to wiring closets or patch panels. Permanent links, as the name suggests, are intended to be the permanently installed part of the network infrastructure.
  • Channel link refers to the total cable run including permanent links and patch cables to hubs or switches.

Cat5 Cabling

Cat5 cables are specified at various frequencies throughout the range, at 1, 10, and 100Mhz. The following tables show the main performance requirements for Cat5 copper cables.

Permanent Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 60 dB
10 Mhz 45.5 dB
100 Mhz 29.3 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz N/A
10 Mhz N/A
100 Mhz N/A
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 57.7 dB
10 Mhz 37 dB
100 Mhz 17 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz N/A
10 Mhz N/A
100 Mhz N/A
Channel Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 60 dB
10 Mhz 44 dB
100 Mhz 27.1 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz N/A
10 Mhz N/A
100 Mhz N/A
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 57 dB
10 Mhz 37 dB
100 Mhz 17 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz 54.4 dB
10 Mhz 34.4 dB
100 Mhz 14.4 dB

Cat5e Cabling

Cat5e cables are specified at various frequencies throughout the range, at 1, 10, and 100Mhz. The following tables show the main performance requirements for Cat5e copper cables.

Permanent Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 60 dB
10 Mhz 48.5 dB
100 Mhz 32.3 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz 57 dB
10 Mhz 45.6 dB
100 Mhz 29.3 dB
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 58.6 dB
10 Mhz 38.6 dB
100 Mhz 18.6 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz 55.6 dB
10 Mhz 35.6 dB
100 Mhz 15.6 dB
Channel Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 60 dB
10 Mhz 47 dB
100 Mhz 30.1 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz 57 dB
10 Mhz 44 dB
100 Mhz 27.1 dB
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 57.4 dB
10 Mhz 37.4 dB
100 Mhz 17.4 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz 54.4 dB
10 Mhz 34.4 dB
100 Mhz 14.4 dB

Cat6 Cabling

Cat6 cables are specified at various frequencies throughout the range, at 1, 10, and 100Mhz. The following tables show the main performance requirements for Cat6 copper cables.

Permanent Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 65 dB
10 Mhz 57.8 dB
100 Mhz 41.8 dB
250 Mhz 35.3 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz 62 dB
10 Mhz 55.5 dB
100 Mhz 39.3 dB
250 Mhz 32.7 dB
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 64.2 dB
10 Mhz 44.2 dB
100 Mhz 24.2 dB
250 Mhz 16.2 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz 61.2 dB
10 Mhz 41.2 dB
100 Mhz 21.2 dB
250 Mhz 13.2 dB
Channel Links
Frequency NEXT
1 Mhz 65 dB
10 Mhz 56.6 dB
100 Mhz 39.9 dB
250 Mhz 33.1 dB
Frequency PS_NEXT
1 Mhz 62 dB
10 Mhz 54 dB
100 Mhz 37.1 dB
250 Mhz 30.2 dB
Frequency ELFEXT
1 Mhz 63.3 dB
10 Mhz 43.3 dB
100 Mhz 23.3 dB
250 Mhz 15.3 dB
Frequency PS-ELFEXT
1 Mhz 60.3 dB
10 Mhz 40.3 dB
100 Mhz 20.3 dB
250 Mhz 12.3 dB

Cable Length

The standard specifies a maximum length of 90 metres for Permanent links and 100 metres for Channel links. It is possible that everything will work with longer lengths, but if you want to be sure that your installations will remain compliant with future standards then you should never exceed 90 metre cable lengths.

Wiremapping

In all cases all the pins must be properly connected.

Propagation Delay

Permanent link propagation delay at 10Mhz must not be greater than 498 nanoseconds.

Channel link propagation delay at 10Mhz must not be greater than 555 nanoseconds.

Delay Skew

Permanent link delay skew at 10Mhz must not be greater than 44 nanoseconds.

Channel link delay skew at 10Mhz must not be greater than 50 nanoseconds.

 · 

Comments

Post new comment