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Cable Testing
Cable Testing
Cable Testing
Version 3.0
Waves
Networking professionals are interested in voltage waves on
copper media, light waves in optical fiber, and alternating
electric and magnetic fields called electromagnetic waves.
The amplitude of an electrical signal represents height, it is
measured in volts .
The period is the amount of time to complete one cycle,
measured in seconds.
The frequency is the number of complete cycles per second,
measured in Hertz.
If a disturbance is deliberately caused, and involves a fixed,
predictable duration, it is called a pulse. Pulses are important in
electrical signals because they determine the value of the data
being transmitted.
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4.1.1
Waves
Amplitude
What has
changed in
each of
these
graphs?
Frequency
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4.1.1
Sine Waves
Sine waves, or sinusoids, are graphs of mathematical functions.
Sine waves have certain characteristics.
Sine waves are periodic, which means that they repeat the same
pattern at regular intervals.
Sine waves are continuously varying, which means that no two
adjacent points on the graph have the same value.
Sine waves are graphical representations of many natural
occurrences that change regularly over time.
Examples of analog waves
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Square Waves
Square waves, like sine waves, are periodic.
Square wave graphs do not continuously vary with time.
The wave holds one value for some time, and then suddenly
changes to a different value.
This value is held for some time, and then quickly changes
back to the original value.
Square waves represent digital signals, or pulses.
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4.1.3
Decibels
The decibel (dB) is a measurement unit important in describing
networking signals.
The common units of measurement used in formulas for
calculating the amount of gain or loss in networking signals are:
Decibels
Watts
Volts
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Decibels
The decibel is related to the exponents and logarithms
There are two formulas for calculating decibels:
dB = 10 log10 (Pfinal / Pref)
dB = 20 log10 (Vfinal / Vreference)
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4.1.4
Decibels
The first formula describes decibels in terms of power (P)
dB = 10 log10 (Pfinal / Pref)
Typically, light waves on optical fiber and radio waves in the air
are measured using the power formula.
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Decibels Example
If Pfinal is one microWatt (1 x 10-6 or .000001 Watts) and Pref is
one milliWatt (1 x 10-3 or .001 Watts), what is the gain or loss in
decibels? Is this value positive or negative? Does the value
represent a gain or a loss in power?
dB = 10 * Log10 ( Pfinal / Pref )
dB = 10 * Log10 (.000001 / .001 )
dB = 10 * Log10 ( .001 )
dB = 10 * -3
dB = -30
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Decibels
The second formula describes decibels in terms of Volts (V)
dB = 20 log10 (Vfinal / Vreference)
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Decibels
10 millivolts (10 * .001 = .01) are measured at the end of a
cable. The source voltage was 1 Volt. What is the gain or loss in
decibels?
dB = 20 * Log10 ( Vfinal / Vref )
dB = 20 * Log10 (.01 / 1 )
dB = 20 * Log10 ( .01 )
dB = 20 * -2
dB = -40
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Oscilloscopes
An oscilloscope is an important electronic device used to view
electrical signals such as voltage waves and pulses.
The x-axis on the display represents time
The y-axis represents voltage or current
There are usually two y-axis inputs, so two waves can be
observed and measured at the same time
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Oscilloscopes
Analyzing signals using an oscilloscope is called time-domain
analysis, because the x-axis or domain of the mathematical
function represents time.
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Noise
Noise is an important concept in communications systems,
including LANS.
Noise usually refers to undesirable sounds, noise related to
communications refers to undesirable signals.
Noise can originate from natural and technological sources, and
is added to the data signals in communications systems.
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Noise
All communications systems have some amount of noise.
Even though noise cannot be eliminated, its effects can be
minimized if the sources of the noise are understood.
There are many possible sources of noise:
Nearby cables which carry data signals (crosstalk)
Radio frequency interference (RFI), which is noise from other
signals being transmitted nearby
Electromagnetic interference (EMI), which is noise from nearby
sources such as motors and lights
Laser noise at the transmitter or receiver of an optical signal
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Noise
Noise that affects all transmission frequencies equally is called
white noise.
Noise that only affects small ranges of frequencies is called
narrowband interference.
When detected on a LAN, white noise would affect all data
transmissions, but narrowband interference might disrupt only
certain signals.
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Bandwidth
Bandwidth is an extremely important concept in
communications systems.
Physical media, current technologies, and the laws of physics
limit bandwidth.
Two ways of considering bandwidth that are important for the
study of LANs are:
analog bandwidth
digital bandwidth
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Bandwidth
Analog bandwidth typically refers to the frequency range of an
analog electronic system.
The units of measurement for analog bandwidth is Hertz, the
same as the unit of frequency for example, 6MHz or 20KHz.
One hertz is equivalent to one cycle per second.
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Bandwidth
Digital bandwidth measures how much information can flow
from one place to another in a given amount of time (the speed
of transmission).
The fundamental unit of measurement for digital bandwidth is
bits per second (bps).
Since LANs are capable of speeds of millions of bits per
second, measurement is expressed in kilobits per second
(kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps).
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Bandwidth
1.6 megabits per second is different from 1.6 megabytes per
second.
Eight bits make a byte, so 1.6 megabits per second is equal to
0.2 megabytes per second.
1.6 Mbps / 8 = 0.2 MBps
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Bandwidth
During cable testing, analog bandwidth is used to determine the
digital bandwidth of a copper cable.
Analog frequencies are transmitted from one end and received
on the opposite end.
The two signals are then compared, and the amount of
attenuation of the signal is calculated.
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Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable is a type of shielded cable.
It consists of a solid copper conductor surrounded by insulating
material, and then braided conductive shielding.
In LAN applications, the braided shielding is electrically
grounded to protect the inner conductor from external electrical
noise and to eliminate signal loss by keeping the transmitted
signal confined to the cable.
The need to ground the
shielding and the bulky size
of coaxial cable make it
more difficult to install than
other copper cabling.
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Twisted-pair Cable
There are two types of twisted-pair cable:
shielded twisted-pair (STP)
unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
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Attenuation
Attenuation is the decrease in signal amplitude over the length of
a link.
Long cable lengths and high signal frequencies contribute to
greater signal attenuation.
Attenuation is expressed in decibels (dB) using negative
numbers.
Smaller negative dB values are an indication of better link
performance.
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Attenuation
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Attenuation
There are several factors that contribute to attenuation.
Long cable lengths
Resistance of the copper cable converts some of the electrical
energy of the signal to heat.
Signal energy is also lost when it leaks through the insulation of the
cable.
By impedance caused by defective connectors.
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Crosstalk (Noise)
Noise is any electrical energy on the transmission cable that
makes it difficult for a receiver to interpret the data sent from the
transmitter.
Crosstalk involves the transmission of signals from one wire to a
nearby wire.
Crosstalk can also be caused by signals on separate, nearby
cables.
Crosstalk is more destructive at higher transmission frequencies.
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Wire map
Insertion loss
Near-end crosstalk (NEXT)
Power sum near-end crosstalk (PSNEXT)
Equal-level far-end crosstalk (ELFEXT)
Power sum equal-level far-end crosstalk (PSELFEXT)
Return loss
Propagation delay
Cable length
Delay skew
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Cable Testing
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Propagation Delay
Propagation delay is a simple measurement of how long it takes
for a signal to travel along the cable being tested.
The delay in a wire pair depends on its length, twist rate, and
electrical properties.
Propagation delay measurements are the basis of the cable
length measurement.
Testers measure the length of the wire based on the electrical
delay as measured by a Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) test,
not by the physical length of the cable jacket.
The propagation delays of different wire pairs in a single cable
can differ slightly because of differences in the number of twists
and electrical properties of each wire pair (delay skew).
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Optical Fiber
A fiber link consists of two separate glass fibers functioning as
independent data pathways.
One fiber carries transmitted signals in one direction, while the
second carries signals in the opposite direction (this allows for
full-duplex transmission).
Each glass fiber is surrounded by a sheath that light cannot pass
through, so there are no crosstalk problems on fiber optic cable.
External electromagnetic interference or noise has no affect on
fiber cabling.
Attenuation does occur on fiber links, but to a lesser extent than
on copper cabling.
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Optical Fiber
Fiber links are subject to the optical equivalent of UTP
impedance discontinuities.
When light encounters an optical discontinuity, some of the light
signal is reflected back in the opposite direction with only a
fraction of the original light signal continuing down the fiber
towards the receiver.
Improperly installed connectors are the main cause of light
reflection and signal strength loss in optical fiber.
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