A.

INTRODUCTION

CABLE DEFINITION
• A cable is defined by the National Electrical Code
(NEC) as: “ A cable is a factory assembly of two or
more insulated conductors having an overall covering”.
• A cable is the term used to describe the complete unit
of multiple insulated conductors, strength members,
and a cable jacket to keep all the cable elements
together.
(Kabel ialah medium perantaraan yang digunakan
untuk menghubungkan komputer dalam
rangkaian.Pemilihan sesuatu kabel adalah berkait
rapat dengan topologi rangkaian, protokol dan saiz
rangkaian)
 CABLE TYPES
• Cable can be divided into two general
categories :
a. Copper cables
b. optical fiber cables
 COPPER CABLE
• Have conductors that are constructed of
some form of copper metal.
• All signals are transmitted across the
copper conductors in the form of elektrical
energy.
 OPTICAL FIBER CABLES
• Have conductors that are constructed of
either glass or plastic.
• All signals are transmitted across the
glass or plastic conductors in the form of
light energy or pulses
• Some of the common types of cables used
for communications systems include the
following :
a. Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable.
* Category 3
* Category 4
* Category 5
* Category 5e
* Category 6
b. Screened twisted-pair (ScTP) cable
* Category 3
* Category 4
* Category 5
c. Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable.
* STP
* STP-A
d. Coaxial cable
* RG-58 A/U Thinnet Ethernet
* RG-8 thicknet ethernet
* RG-6 video cable
* RG-11 video cable
* RG-59 video cable
* RG-62
e. Optical Fiber Cable
* 50/125 micrometer multimode
* 62.5/125 micrometer multimode
* Singlemode.
 TWISTED-PAIR CABLE
• Twisted-pair cables can be either shielded or
unshielded construction.
• The important characteristic of these cables
is that the individual conductors are twisted
together into pairs.
• The individual pairs typically have different
twist rates in the cable to minimize crosstalk
coupling between cable pairs.
• Coaxial cable does not use twisted-pair
construction because this is a single
conductor type of media.
• Optical fiber cable transmits light in the
form of light pulses and is not susceptible
to electrical noise and crosstalk.
 UTP USES
• Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling,
because of its 100-year history of use by
telephone systems, both indoors and out,
is also the most common cable used in
computer networking. It is a variant of
twisted pair cabling. UTP cables are often
called ethernet cables after Ethernet, the
most common data networking standard
that utilizes UTP cables, although not the
most reliable.
 UNSHIELDED TWISTED-PAIR
(UTP) CABLE
• UTP is the most common type of media
used for communications systems and in
structured cabling systems.
• UTP cable is used extensively due to its
flexibility.
• UTP can be used for voice, low-speed
data, high-speed data, audio and paging
systems, and building automation and
control systems.
• UTP cable can be used in both the
horizontal and backbone cabling
subsystems.
• For horizontal cables, the number of pairs
recommended by industry standards is a
four-pair cable
 SHIELDED CABLE
• Twisted pair cables are often shielded in attempt to
prevent electromagnetic interference.
• Because the shielding is made of metal, it may also
serve as a ground.
• However, usually a shielded or a screened twisted pair
cable has a special grounding wire added called a drain
wire.
• This shielding can be applied to individual pairs, or to the
collection of pairs. When shielding is applied to the
collection of pairs, this is referred to as screening.
• The shielding must be grounded for the shielding to
work.
 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
• STP cabling includes metal shielding over
each individual pair of copper wires. This
type of shielding protects cable from
external EMI (electromagnetic
interferences). e.g. the 150 ohm shielded
twisted pair cables defined by the
IBM Cabling System specifications and
used with token ring networks
 Screened Shielded Twisted Pair
(S/STP)

• S/STP cabling, also known as Screened

Fully shielded Twisted Pair (S/FTP)[1], is
both individually shielded (like STP
cabling) and also has an outer metal
shielding covering the entire group of
shielded copper pairs (like S/UTP). This
type of cabling offers the best protection
from interference from external sources.
Screened Unshielded Twisted Pair
(S/UTP)
• S/UTP, also known as Fully shielded (or
Foiled) Twisted Pair (FTP), is a screened
UTP cable
 Advantages
• It is a thin, flexible cable that is easy to string
between walls.
• Most modern buildings come with CAT 5 UTP
already wired into the wall outlets or at least
run between the floors.
• Because UTP is small, it does not quickly fill
up wiring ducts.
• UTP costs less per foot than any other type of
LAN cable.
 Disadvantages
• Twisted pair’s susceptibility to the
electromagnetic interference greatly depends on
the pair twisting schemes (usually patented by
the manufacturers) staying intact during the
installation. As a result, twisted pair cables
usually have stringent requirements for
maximum pulling tension as well as minimum
bend radius. This relative fragility of twisted pair
cables makes the installation practices an
important part of ensuring the cable’s
performance.
 COAXIAL CABLE
• Coaxial cable is an electrical cable consisting of
a round conducting wire, surrounded by an
insula-ting spacer, surrounded by a cylindrical
conducting sheath, usually surrounded by a final
insulating layer (jacket).
• It is used as a high-frequency transmission line
to carry a high-frequency or broadband signal.
• Because the electromagnetic field carrying the
signal exists (ideally) only in the space between
the inner and outer conductors, it cannot
interfere with or suffer interference from external
electromagnetic fields.
 COAXIAL CONNECTORS
• From the signal point of view, a connector can be viewed as a short,
rigid cable.
• The connector usually has the same impedance as the related cable
and probably has a similar cutoff frequency although its dielectric
may be different.
• High-quality connectors are usually gold or rhodium plated, with
lower-quality connectors using nickel or tin plating. Silver is
occasionally used in some high-end connectors due to its excellent
conductivity, but it usually requires extra plating of another metal
since silver readily oxidizes in the presence of air.
• One increasing development has been the wider adoption of micro-
miniature coaxial cable in the consumer electronics sector in recent
years. Wire and cable companies such as Tyco, Sumitomo Electric,
Hitachi Cable, Fujikura and LS Cable all manufacture these cables,
which can be used in mobile phones.
 COAXIAL CABLE USES
• Short coaxial cables are commonly used to connect home video equipment,
in ham radio setups, and in measurement electronics. They used to be
common for implementing computer networks, in particular Ethernet, but
twisted pair cables have replaced them in most applications except in the
growing consumer cable modem market for broadband Internet access.
• Long distance coaxial cable is used to connect radio networks and
television networks, though this has largely been superseded by other more
high-tech methods (fibre optics, T1/E1, satellite). It still carries
cable television signals to the majority of television receivers, and this
purpose consumes the majority of coaxial cable production.
• Micro coaxial cables are used in a range of consumer devices, military
equipment, and also in ultra-sound scanning equipment.
• The most common impedances that are widely used are 50 or 52 ohms, and
75 ohms, although other impedances are available for specific applications.
The 50 / 52 ohm cables are widely used for industrial and commercial radio
frequency applications (including radio, and telecommunications), although
75 ohms is commonly used for domestic television and radio.
OPTICAL FIBER CABLE