Fluke Networks: the desire to test the cabling system is not a guarantee

Installation of the cabling system is an important and significant investment, regardless of the cost or the impact on the efficiency of enterprises and institutions. In most organizations, computer networks have become an indispensable part of information technology infrastructure. Network faults may cause huge economic losses. Therefore, cabling systems need to be highly valued as the basis of the network. If the foundation is unstable and unreliable, the network cannot run stably and reliably. Similarly, the investors of the cabling system must adhere to the substantial quality assurance.

As a manifestation of quality assurance, on the one hand, it is the manufacturer's confidence in the quality of its products; on the other hand, it can provide investment protection for the buyer due to material or construction technology defects. The application of the manufacturer's commitment to product quality has caused Lee Iaccoca, the chairman of the board of directors of the company, to be a great sensation. At that time, in the industry, he expressed his confidence in the product through a series of proactive quality assurance plans, so that potential users can safely buy new Chevrolet cars. Although controversial, the bold campaign has saved the company.

Two aspects of planning

The market expects cable manufacturers to implement higher quality regulations in product design and production to provide better quality assurance. As a consumer, we usually pay more attention to the quality assurance details after the price increases.

The Quality Guarantee of the cabling system is related to two aspects: the manufacturer of cables and connectors, and the installation integrator of the cabling system. They must work together to ensure the quality of the final link. Common planning or agreements between the two should include the following:

Component manufacturers provide product integrators/installers meeting system performance and quality standards for the installation quality and performance of final cabling systems. integrators are also responsible for providing well-trained cabling system installers. The Integrator also provides evidence that each installed link can achieve the expected performance.

Key Points of on-site testing

Correct on-site testing can meet this requirement. The performance of the field test link ensures that all components meet the performance indicators and the construction quality does not reduce the transmission quality of the installed components.

The test must be performed on all cables, and all wall panels must be mounted before being executed. When the construction party makes a written guarantee on the quality, the user representative or the consulting organization on behalf of the user should carefully check the test results of all installation links.

Field testing is an important part of the quality assurance process. No car manufacturer will provide quality assurance for products that have not been strictly produced and tested. This is also applicable to cable installation.

Quality Regulations

The TIA/EIA-568-B standard of the communications industry board TIA defines field test procedures to ensure that installed links reach the specified performance level. Tests that comply with performance standards are generally referred to as certification tests. a meaningful quality assurance statement should be based on the results of certification tests.

. High-capacity removable storage media, like this multi-media card, enables integrators to store a large amount of detailed test data to provide reliable quality assurance.

The standard defines different categories or performance levels. Class 3 is the lowest level suitable for low-throughput data transmission up to 16 Mbits/s ). Three categories are also recommended for voice cables. The common category of the higher level is over 5 categories, providing 100 MHz communication channels. Class 6 provides a MHz communication channel, which is currently the highest performance level defined by TIA. The TIA Committee is working with the Association of electronic and electrical engineers to study the transmission performance required by 10G Ethernet.

ISO uses levels C, D, E, and F for installed links and component indicators. The twisted pair links composed of three types of components should meet the requirements of Class C links. The D-level link requires that all components reach 5 categories of indicators, and the E-level link requires that all components reach 6 categories of indicators. International standards also define a Class F link with a prescribed bandwidth of 600 MHz) and use seven types of components.

Standard tests

The vast majority of ISO and TIA standards are consistent, with only a few differences. The standard defines two models: Channel and permanent link. The differences between the two models are very important.

The channel model is an end-to-end link, from an active device, such as an Ethernet HUB or switch, to a PC, printer, or fax machine, to a NIC of another network device.

The jumper is used at both ends of the channel model and may be changed as needed. Therefore, the jumper is not included in the "permanent link" model. Therefore, we recommend that you use the permanent link model for the newly installed cabling system. The certification tester is connected to the tested permanent link through a high-performance adapter to eliminate the impact of any jumper. The performance test results indicate the performance of the permanent link.

The channel test can be used to diagnose a channel with a jumper in use. Jumper has a great impact on the transmission characteristics of the Channel. Therefore, we recommend that you authenticate the performance of the permanent link and ensure that excellent quality Jumpers are used to connect to network devices.

The standard also defines the performance parameters to be tested, the frequency range of the tested parameters, and the limit values of the tested parameters for "pass" and "fail" performance at each frequency point.

This looks complicated, but a proper testing instrument can provide a fully automated Authentication Test method. All you need to do is to press the start test key. For example, for an instrument with "Automatic Test", after you select the cable type and application testing standard, you can simply click the "test" key to complete the test. The latest tester takes less than 12 seconds in fully automated testing of 6 types of links from 1 to 250 MHz. Using this certification tester can help integrators save a lot of time for certification testing.

If the results of the correct test are not documented, the certification test is incomplete and may still be invalid. The Quality Assurance of these test results provides a basis for implementation and can be verified at any time in the future. Quality assurance without document record filing is actually useless.

A high-quality tester provides multiple options to obtain, store, and upload test results. It is much more useful to store data in protected databases than simply printing data. Generally, the integrator provides you with a thick pile of bundled test reports, each of which records the test results of a link. Reading such a test report is not only time-consuming and laborious, but may not be able to detect problems. With just a few clicks, the database software will be able to graphically test the results of any link parameters in the database.

. Is a data storage, classification, and Retrieval Interface provided by link ware of fluke Corporation.

The standards mentioned above also specify the requirements for document record filing. Several options are required-from minimum document filing requirements to detailed record of all test results. As long as the two requirements are within the scope of the standard requirements.

Store the test results for each data point according to link requirements. There will be about 18500 test results for over 5 links, and 30000 test results for 6 links. Most certification testers on the market provide removable memory cards that allow you to store such a large amount of data.

. Fluke's DTX cable analyzer completes 6 types of automatic tests within 12 minutes, greatly reducing the time required for wiring system authentication testing.

If you are writing requirements for a cabling system project, you should list the requirements for the testing documents you expect to receive. If you are an integrator and there are no clear requirements for the test results in the project plan, you should clarify the test requirements before the test starts, or select the most comprehensive storage for each test result ). The website www.cabletesting.com helps you compile the test and authentication requirements for the cabling system project.

Certification credibility

Because the installation of the cabling system is the infrastructure of the network, such investment should not be made until reliable product quality is ensured to meet the required performance requirements. Industrial Standards help to clearly describe these requirements and provide secure mechanisms so that cabling systems can meet future applications. The certification test specified in the standard provides the following guarantee: All components meet the required requirements, the installation process and process are complete, and these components can meet the performance required by the design.

Document filing is part of the integrity and necessity of certification testing. Quality assurance, if it is not based on the correct certification test and provides test reports that can be retrieved electronically, it can only be a good wish rather than a reliable guarantee.

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