Back in 1881 when Alexander Graham Bell invented Twisted Pair cables, he surely could never have imaged that they would still be in use today and that much of our high speed IT Cable technology could not work without his invention.
A short history lesson:
After the invention of the telephone, a rapid use of electricity started to create new problems. People started to notice that where telephone lines ran next to electric tram lines the quality of the signal dropped markedly.
The problem was caused by electrical interference, called noise, which reduced signal quality and the length range of cables. Alexander Graham Bell solved this problem by creating twisted pair cables, a simple yet effective solution to the problem and one which led to the balanced circuits.
The benefit of twisted pair cables is the extended length they can run and the quality of the signal they can produce, bringing us right up to date with Twisted Pair cabling used in IT cables (and many others).
Another development was the invention of shielding of cables, which both reduces noise and interference. However, there are a few types of shielding so if you are unsure of the difference between FTP and SSTP then the following table explains everything you need to know:
Comparison of abbreviations, according to ISO/IEC 11801:
Old name
New name
cable screening
pair shielding
UTP
U/UTP
none
none
STP
U/FTP
none
foil
FTP
F/UTP
foil
none
S-STP
S/FTP
braiding
foil
S-FTP
SF/UTP
foil, braiding
none
SFTP
Foil
Shield
Knowing the difference between the types of shielded twisted pair cables does not mean that you will be able to know what cable is best for the application you have – there will still be some help needed from an expert to guide you through the choices available to you. This is where your cable assembly expert comes in!
I hope this has been useful and that you now know the type of twisted pair cables available. All you need to do is decide what level of shielding protection you need!
A Blog on Cable Shielding on Twisted Pair Cabling
Back in 1881 when Alexander Graham Bell invented Twisted Pair cables, he surely could never have imaged that they would still be in use today and that much of our high speed IT Cable technology could not work without his invention.
A short history lesson:
After the invention of the telephone, a rapid use of electricity started to create new problems. People started to notice that where telephone lines ran next to electric tram lines the quality of the signal dropped markedly.
The problem was caused by electrical interference, called noise, which reduced signal quality and the length range of cables. Alexander Graham Bell solved this problem by creating twisted pair cables, a simple yet effective solution to the problem and one which led to the balanced circuits.
The benefit of twisted pair cables is the extended length they can run and the quality of the signal they can produce, bringing us right up to date with Twisted Pair cabling used in IT cables (and many others).
Another development was the invention of shielding of cables, which both reduces noise and interference. However, there are a few types of shielding so if you are unsure of the difference between FTP and SSTP then the following table explains everything you need to know:
Comparison of abbreviations, according to ISO/IEC 11801:
Old name
New name
cable screening
pair shielding
Knowing the difference between the types of shielded twisted pair cables does not mean that you will be able to know what cable is best for the application you have – there will still be some help needed from an expert to guide you through the choices available to you. This is where your cable assembly expert comes in!
I hope this has been useful and that you now know the type of twisted pair cables available. All you need to do is decide what level of shielding protection you need!
Nicab blog
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