Advances in Coaxial Cable Design

As the bandwidth of video signals has increased, the viability of using coaxial cable (commonly called coax) has been questioned. Alternatives such as twisted pair data cable (Category cables) or fiber optic cables, have been suggested and employed. — The real question is, can coax be used for acceptable distances at these increased bandwidths? Recent advances in the design and manufacturing of these cables have changed the predictions that “coax is dead”. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of coax are, at the very least, “exaggerated”. — This paper outlines work done by Belden to improve the performance of coaxial cable for high bandwidth applications, such as 4K (6 GHz and 12 GHz) video. The paper concludes with a look toward future improvements in video signals and the possibility of coax for these improved signals.

Published

2016-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

Bare copper, BC, BNC, braid, braid spikes, cable, Category 5e, Cateogry 6, Category 6a, center conductor, coax, coaxial, copper, coverage, clock frequencies, dielectric, digital video, DIN, fiber, fiber optic cable, foam, foil, 4K, harmonics, HD, insulation, jacket, nitrogen gas injected, Nyquist limit, premise/data cable, RG-6, RG-59, 6 GHz, silver, silver-coated copper, shield, tri-shield, shield effectiveness, SMPTE, SMPTE 259M, SMPTE 292M, SMPTE 424M, SMPTE 2081-1, SMPTE 2082-1, SDI, SPC, 3G, 12 GHz, Type 7

DOI

10.5594/M001685

ISBN

978-1-61482-957-7