Ethernet Cabling
Twisted Pair
• Twisted Pair Cables
– Pairs of wires are twisted around one another
– Each pair consists of two insulated copper wires twisted together
– High quality twisted pair cables have about 1 to 3 twists per inch.
– Twisted pair cables are used with the following Ethernet physical layers:
• 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, 100Base-T2, 100Base-T4, and 1000Base-T
• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
– Category 3 - 100 ohm impedance, supports transmission at frequencies up to 16 MHz
• May be used with 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, and 100ase-T2
– Category 4 - 100 ohm impedance, supports transmission at frequencies up to 20 MHz
• May be used with 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, and 100Base-T2
– Category 5 - 100 ohm impedance, supports transmission at frequencies up to 100 MHz
• May be used with 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, 100Base-T2, and 100Base-TX
– Category 5e - it has improved specifications for NEXT (Near End Cross Talk), PSELFEXT (Power
Sum Equal Level Far End Cross Talk), and Attenuation
• Targeted for 1000Base-T, but also supports 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, 100Base-T2, and
100BaseTX.
– Category 6 - Category 6 is a proposed standard that aims to support transmission at frequencies up
to 250 MHz over 100 ohm twisted pair
– Category 7 - Category 7 is a proposed standard that aims to support transmission at frequencies up
to 600 MHz over 100 ohm twisted pair
• Screened Twisted Pair (ScTP)
– ScTP is a 4-pair 100 ohm UTP
– It has a single foil or braided screen surrounding all four pairs in order to minimize EMI radiation and
susceptibility to outside noise.
– ScTP can be viewed as a shielded version of the Category 3, 4, & 5 UTP cables
• Shielded Twisted Pair Cabling (STP)
– The twisted pairs in 150 ohm STP are individually wrapped in a foil shield and enclosed in an overall
outer braided wire shield
• It minimizes EMI radiation and susceptibility to crosstalk
Coaxial Cables
– A solid center conductor is surrounded by an insulating spacer
• insulating spacer in turn is surrounded by a tubular outer conductor (usually a braid, foil or
both)
– The entire assembly is then covered with an insulating and protective outer layer
– Coaxial cables have a wide bandwidth and are capable of carrying many data, voice, and
video conversations simultaneously
• Thicknet
– Thicknet is the 50-ohm "thick" (10mm) coaxial cable used with Ethernet 10Base5 networks
– Includes a "mark" every 2.5 meters to indicate proper placement of the 10Base5 transceivers
used to connect stations to the network
– The standard allows a 10Base5 coaxial cable segment to be up to 500 meters in length
– Up to 100 transceivers may be connected to a single segment at any multiple of 2.5 meters apart
– 10Base5 coaxial cable segments are built using "N-type" connectors
• Thinnet
– Thinnet is the 50-ohm "thin" (5mm) coaxial cable used with Ethernet 10Base2 networks
– It supports only a 185 meter maximum segment length (vs.. 500 meters for 10Base5) and a
maximum of 30 stations per cable segment (vs. 100 for 10Base5)
– 10Base2 transceivers (MAUs) are connected to the Thinnet cable segment through a "BNC Tee"
connector
– Each end of a 10Base2 coaxial segment must be terminated with a BNC 50-ohm terminator
Outer Jacket Braid Dielectric Center Conductor
• CATV
– A 75 ohm coaxial cabling commonly known for its use in transmission of Cable TV signals
– It is also used with Ethernet 10Broad36 networks
– CATV stands for “Community Antenna Television"
– CATV cabling is used for "broadband" transmission
– A broadband cabling system supports p of multiple services over a single cable by dividing the bandwidth
into separate frequencies
• This technique is used in cable TV transmission systems to transmit multiple channels over a
single cable
• Each channel uses a different frequency range
• Twinax
– Consisted of two centre conductors surrounded by an insulating spacer
– insulating spacer is surrounded by a tubular outer conductor (usually a braid, foil or both)
– The entire assembly is then covered with an insulating and protective outer layer
– 150-ohm twinax is specified as a "short haul" cable that can be used with the 1000Base-CX media system
– It supports segment lengths of only 25 meters for 1000Base-CX due to the very high 1.25 Gbaud signal
transmission rate
Fiber Optic
– Fiber optic cabling is a technology where electrical signals are converted into optical signals, transmitted
through a thin glass fiber, and re-converted into electrical signals
– It is used on FOIRL, 10Base-FL, 10Base-FB, 10Base-FP, 100Base-FX, 1000Base-LX, and
1000Base-SX
– Fiber optic cabling is constructed of three concentric layers:
• The core : Is the central region of an optical fiber through which light is transmitted.
• The cladding: Is the material in the middle layer.
• The protective layer: serves to protect the core and cladding from damage.
• Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF)
– Allows many "modes” of light to propagate down the fiber optic path
– Multi-mode fiber typically has a core diameter of 50 to 100 microns
– The most popular fiber for networking is the 62.5/125(core diameter/cladding) micron multi-mode
fiber
– The primary advantage of multi-mode fiber over twisted pair cabling is that it supports longer
segment lengths
– Multi-mode fiber can support segment lengths as long as 2000 meters for 10 and 100 Mbps Ethernet,
and 550 meters for 1 Gbps Ethernet
• Single-Mode Fiber (SMF)
– Single-mode fiber has a core diameter that is so small that only a single mode of light is propagated
– This eliminates the main limitation to bandwidth, modal dispersion
– The main limitation to the bandwidth of a single-mode fiber is material dispersion
– Single-mode fiber is capable of supporting much longer segment lengths than multi-mode
fiber
– Segment lengths of 5000 meters and beyond are supported at all Ethernet data rates through 1 Gbps