Today, I’m writing to share my knowledge about kind of cables we basically use or see often. Let’s start with Twisted Pair cables. There are four types of Twisted Pair cables.
- UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair)
- FTP (Foiled Twisted Pair) also known as S/UTP (Screened Unshielded Twisted Pair)
- STP (Shielded Twisted Pair)
- S/STP (Screened Shielded Twisted Pair) also known as S/FTP
UTP: These kinds of cables are basically seen in Ethernet and Telephone systems. These are available in different pairs (upto 25). Below is a picture of 4 pair UTP.
CAT 1, 2, 3 are truly UTP. CAT 5 to 6A can be both UTP, FTP & STP
.
FTP: In this kind of cable all the pairs together are foiled or screened by a metallic shield. Therefore, it’s also know as S/UTP (Screened UTP). 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. Some outdoor FTP cable has a ripcord (as you can see below) that allows the cable jacket to be removed quickly.
STP: This kind of cable has metal shielding over each pair.
S/STP: These kinds of cables are both individually shielded like STP and also have outer metal shielding like FTP.
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Both Shielded and Unshielded Twisted Pair cables are categorized by various cabling standards.
CAT 1: Cables in this category was previously used for POTS telephone communications, ISDN and doorbell wiring. It has a data rate of 1Mbps.
CAT 2: It was used in 4 Mbps Token rings and ARCnet.
CAT 3: It is designed to reliably carry data up to 10 Mbps, with a possible bandwidth of 16 MHz. It falls under 10Base-T standard. It’s used in Ethernet (10Mbps, LAN cable) and Token Ring. Our telephone wires are also
CAT 3.
Note: Basic funda that differentiate CAT 3,4,5 is how tightly or loosely the pairs are twisted. CAT 5 is more tightly twisted than CAT 4 and CAT 4 in turn more tightly twisted than CAT 3.
CAT 4: Provided performance of up to 20 MHz, and was frequently used on 16 Mbps token ring networks. It falls under standard 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T4. It’s used in Token Ring (16Mbps).
CAT 5: It falls under 100Base-TX standard, which means it can carry 100 MHz baseband frequency (or 100 MBits of data per second). It is used in Ethernet (10Mbps), Fast Ethernet (100Mbps), Token Ring (16Mbps).
CAT 5E: It is an enhanced version of CAT 5. It falls under 1000Base-T standard and can carry 100 MHz to 1000MHz of baseband frequency (or 1000 Mbits of data per second). Baseband reminds us that it can be used as Ethernet cable only and T tells us that it’s a twisted pair cable. This kind of cable is used in Gigabit Ethernet.
CAT 6: It falls under 10GBase-T category. The standard defines that it can perform between 250 MHz to 10 GHz frequency (ideally suitable for 10GBits data transfer). There is a non-metallic cross separator inside the cable that ensures the best crosstalk elimination between individual pairs. This kind of cable is used in Gigabit Ethernet.
CAT 6A: It is an enhanced version of CAT 6 can carry upto 550 Mhz. It can support 10 Gbps applications (especially 10GBaseT)
CAT 7: It specifies STP and carry upto 600 Mhz. It can carry 10 to 100 Gbps. 100 Gbps can be achieved over 70 meters.
CAT 7A: Once again an enhanced version on CAT 7 operates at frequencies up to 1000 MHz.
If we are talking about Ethernet cables through out this blog, we should also know about various Ethernet standards. There are four kind of Ethernets. (10, 100, 1000 stands for Mbps respectively, BASE stands for Baseband, words in bold tells the meaning of the alphabets in respective standards)
I Ethernet:
- 10BASE2 (also called ThinNet or Cheapernet): Coaxial cable connects machines together, each machine using a T-adaptor to connect to its NIC. Requires terminators at each end. For many years this was the dominant Ethernet standard 10 Mbps
- 10BASE-T: runs over four wires (two twisted pairs) on a CAT 3 or CAT 5 cable. A hub or switch sits in the middle and has a port for each node. This is also the configuration used for 100BASE-T and gigabit Ethernet. 10 Mbps.
- FOIRL: Fiber-optic inter-repeater link. The original standard for Ethernet over fibre.
- 10BASE-F: A generic term for the new family of 10 Mbps Ethernet standards: 10BASE-FL, 10BASE-FB and 10BASE-FP. Of these only 10BASE-FL is in widespread use.
- 10BASE-FL: An updated version of the FOIRL standard.
- 10BASE-FB: Intended for backbones connecting a number of hubs or switches, it is now obsolete.
- 10BASE-FP: A passive star network that required no repeater, it was never implemented
II Fast Ethernet: (Length=100 meters)
- 100BASE-T: A term for any of the three standard for 100 Mbps Ethernet over twisted pair cable. Includes 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4 and 100BASE-T2.
- 100BASE-TX: Uses two pairs, but requires Category 5 cable. Similar star-shaped configuration to 10BASE-T. 100 Mbps.
- 100BASE-T4: 100 Mbps Ethernet over Category 3 cabling (as used for 10BASE-T installations). Uses all four pairs in the cable. Now obsolete, as Category 5 cabling is the norm. Limited to half-duplex.
- 100BASE-T2: No products exist. 100 Mbit/s Ethernet over Category 3 cabling. Supports full-duplex, and uses only two pairs. It is functionally equivalent to 100BASE-TX, but supports old cable.
- 100BASE-FX: 100 Mbit/s Ethernet over fibre.
- 100BASE-FX ( 2 strands, Maximum length is 400 metres (1,310 ft) for half-duplex connections (to ensure collisions are detected) or 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) for full-duplex over multimode optical fiber.)
- 100BASE-SX (Single direction, hence 2 strands, Multimode, uses short wavelength, operates at distances up to 300 metres (980 ft). )
- 100BASE-BX (Bi-direction, hence 1 strand, Single-mode)
III Gigabit Ethernet:
- 1000BASE-X
- 1000BASE-CX (Copper (special), 25 meters, Predates 1000BASE-T, now obsolete)
- 1000BASE-LX (Longer distance on Fibre cable, 5 km on Single-mode)
- 1000BASE-SX (Shorter distance, Single direction, Multimode)
- 1000BASE-LH
- 1000BASE-ZX
- 1000BASE-BX10
- 1000BASE-T (Twisted pair, CAT 5E, 4 pairs, Bi-directional communication)
- 1000BASE-TX (Twisted pair, CAT 6, 2 pairs in each direction)
III 100 Gigabit Ethernet:
- 10GBASE-R (Fibre)
- 10GBASE-SR (Short range, designed to support short distances over deployed multi-mode fiber cabling, it has a range of between 26 m and 82 m depending on cable type. It also supports 300 m operation over a new 2000 MHz·km multi-mode fiber.)
- 10GBASE-LR (Long range, 25 Km on Single-mode)
- 10GBASE-LRM (Long reach multimode, 260 meters)
- 10GBASE-ER (Extended range, 40 Km on Single-mode)
- 10GBASE-ZR (80 Km on Single-mode)
- 10GBASE-LX4 (300 meters, multimode with 4 lasers)
- 10GBASE-X/10GBASE-T (Copper)
- 10GBASE-CX4 (transmits over 4-lanes in each direction over copper cabling, 15 meters)
- 10GBASE-KX4 and 10GBASE-KR (Backplane Ethernet, 1 meter, on copper printed circuit board with two connectors)
- 10GBASE-T (Over STP or UTP, 100 meters)
Fiber optics: There are various types of Fiber optics cables. They are basically categorized by Mode (single-mode or multi-mode), Design (Loose Tube Fiber, Tight Buffer Fiber), Index (Step-Index, Graded-Index), Structure (Glass Optical Fiber, Plastic Optical Fiber, Plastic Coated Sillica Cable)
Common types are: Breakout, Armored Multi Loose-Tube, Outdoor Multi Loose-Tube, Indoor Armored Single Loose, Outdoor Single Loose-Tube, Indoor/Outdoor Armored, Indoor/Outdoor
For more information, visit http://fiberoptic-cable.blogspot.com/
S-Video (Separate Video) carries only the analog Video signals (no Audio). It carries two type of video signals (Y=Luma and C=Chroma). Luma stands for Luminance and Chroma stands for Color. It basically uses 4-pin mini-DIN connector and sometimes 7-pin too.
Composite video carries only analog Television picture. Composite video is often designated by the CVBS acronym, meaning any of "Color, Video, Blank and Sync", "Composite Video Baseband Signal", "Composite Video Burst Signal", or "Composite Video with Burst and Sync". It carries three signals (Y=Luma, (U=
Note: Y is a baseband signal
VGA: Video Graphics Adapter are basically seen in PCs and Laptops today. Per standard, it supports maximum of 640×480 resolution in 16 colors, but several higher resolution is possible with good algorithm and video RAM.
Some commonly know Connectors:
DIN: Commonly used in Analog audio, digital signals, computing uses.
5 pin DIN (Show below), used in AT Keyboards
PS/2 keyboard/mouse connector use 6 pin DIN
4 Pin DIN (Show below) are basically used in S-Video.
DIN 8 pin (Show below) is used VGA connector. One side DIN 8 pin and other side VGA.
Power Mini-DIN or Power DIN:
These connectors look similar to Mini-DIN connectors, but have either 3 or 4 thicker pins and a slightly larger mating shell. Because of this they do not mate with any of the Mini-DIN connectors. They can usually be identified by an engraved symbol on the backs of the plug, consisting of two wide arrows pointing in opposite directions, but parallel to each other.
DC Power connectors:
Molex: It is used to supply DC power, most frequently on personal computers, for supplying power to drives and other peripherals.
© Photographer: w:es:Usuario:Barcex - Retrived fromWikimedia - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
D-subminiature: It is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in computers.
Common types are DA-15, DB-25, DC-37, DD-50, DE-9
Below is the picture of DE-9 male basically used with
DE-15, It is also known as VGA connector, found in PCs, Laptops, External TV tuner cards. Below is the picture of DE-15 or VGA male connector.
© Photographer: Afrank99 08:12, 8 October 2005 (UTC) - Retrived fromWikimedia - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DB-25 are now basically used in recording industries. It’s also a RS-232 standard. Show below - Left: DE9M & Right: DB25F
© Photo by Heron. - Retrieved from Wikipedia - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
DD-50 were sometimes used in SCSI devices (Like Harddisk, CD ROMs etc.) that’s why also called SCSI connector. SCSI connector were basically used in SATA. (Ribbon like cables) They include 40 pins. However, DD-50 has 50 pins.
BLC or TV aerial plug:
© Author: Abisys at it.wikipedia - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
BNC: It’s used in Coaxial and Triaxial cables.
© Author: Meggar on en.wikipedia - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
RJ (Registered Jack): Left to right, RJ connectors: an eight-pin RJ-45 plug, six-pin RJ-25 or RJ-12 plug, four-pin RJ-11 or RJ-14 plug, and a four-pin RJ-22 (RJ-10 or RJ-9) handset plug. The middle two plug into the same standard six-pin jack, pictured. The RJ11 standard dictates a 2-wire connection, while RJ14 uses a 4-wire configuration, and RJ25 uses all six wires. RJ 45 is used in Ethernet.
© Author: Andrewa at en.wikipedia - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
RCA: Used in Composite video and Stereo Audio.
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