Fluke: the latest development in Integrated Wiring field testing

In the past year, cat5e and cat6 cable systems have gradually become the mainstream of integrated wiring. People are increasingly concerned about the on-site testing standards and how to authenticate these advanced cable systems. The following is a brief introduction to the situation.

I. certification test and verification test

First, we need to figure out what is the verification test and certification test of the cable system. The verification test is to test the electrical indicators of the cable only, including the disconnection, connection continuation, and length. The certification test is based on the industry's international or domestic standards to test the cable, after the test is completed, there should be a test report. The report covers the testing site, operators and instruments, testing standards, cable identification numbers, and specific testing parameters and results. The figure below shows an example of the DSP4000 test report.

Test Report instance DSP4000

Ii. Developments in International Standards

As we all know, we currently use two major international standards: ISO11801 and TIA568. The latest TIA568B and ISO11801 standards are available. The new standard has the following main features:

1. In the previous standard, there was a difference between ISO and TIA, especially concerning model definition, parameters, and test limits. The new ISO11801 and TIA568B are already very consistent (Category 5 and Category 6 ). Therefore, any standard can be used in actual implementation, which brings great convenience to practical applications.

2. The new standard uses the Permanent Link) and abolished the original Basic Link ). ISO has been using permanent links ). What are the key issues?

As you can see, the fundamental difference between a permanent link and a basic link is that the end position of the link is different. The permanent link does not include the test cable introduced at both ends of the test, while the basic link includes the test cable at both ends. In the actual test, the test connection line connecting the two ends of the link to the tester cannot affect the test result. In the past, this impact on the entire link was considered to be relatively small and negligible. The actual results show that the same is true for five types of systems. However, as the metrics of cat5e and cat6 systems are more stringent, the margin of test limit is very small. Therefore, the error caused by the test connection line cannot be easily ruled out. In actual tests, many originally qualified cable links will be regarded as unqualified. Because it cannot be determined whether the problem is caused by the test connection line or the link itself. This is why permanent links are used to replace basic links.

Fluke network durable permanent link adapter

So what are the problems caused by using permanent links?

After a permanent link is used, the requirement for testing the connection adapter is very high. First, the introduced error must be very small. But more importantly, it must be durable. The actual test shows that the return loss and Crosstalk indicators of a normal twisted pair cable are greatly decreased after the cable is rewound for 300 times. This means that a new adapter must be used several hundred times. A new pair of adapters costs several thousand yuan, which means the cost of testing each link is very high. Therefore, in order to meet the actual needs of field use, the adapter must have good durability and robustness.

Another problem is that Category 6 cable systems are not compatible with products of different manufacturers. That is to say, Vendor A's products cannot be connected to Vendor B. When testing the six types of systems of different vendors, you also need to use the dedicated link interface adapter of the vendor. If you use a permanent link adapter, you need different adapters for different vendors, making testing more costly. To solve this problem, Fluke network has designed several different personalized modules, such as PM01 and PM02, to support the six types of systems of all vendors. The advantage of this personalized module is that when the performance of the plug is deteriorated due to repeated tests, you only need to replace the personalized module instead of the entire adapter.

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