United Arab Emirates University Faculty of Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering ECOM432 Data Communication & Networks

Lab Experiment 2
Network Cables

Prepared by: Eng. Abdulrahman Dahir & Eng. Atef Elkazaz Updated by: Dr. Hend Alqamzi

Spring-2012

INTRODUCTION:
Cables are the medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. There are several types of cables that are commonly used with LANs. In some cases, a network utilizes only one type of cable, other networks uses a variety of cable types. The type of cable chosen for a network is related to the network's topology, protocol, and size. Network Cables:

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable Coaxial Cable Fiber Optic Cable

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable Twisted pair cabling comes in two varieties: shielded and unshielded. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most popular (See Figure-1).

Figure-1 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

The cable has four pairs of wires inside the jacket. Each pair is twisted with a different number of twists per inch to help reduce interference from adjacent pairs and other electrical devices. The standard connector for unshielded twisted pair cabling is RJ-45 connector. This is a plastic connector that looks like a large telephone-style connector (See Figure-2).

Figure-2 RJ-45 connector Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable A disadvantage of UTP is that it may be susceptible to radio and electrical frequency interference. Shielded twisted pair (STP) is suitable for environments with electrical interference. Coaxial Cable Coaxial cabling has a single copper conductor at its center. A plastic layer provides insulation between the center conductor and a braided metal shield (See Figure-3). The metal shield helps to block any outside interference from fluorescent lights, motors, and other computers.

Figure-3 Coaxial cable

Although coaxial cables are difficult to install, it is highly resistant to signal interference. In addition, it can support greater cable lengths between network devices than twisted pair cable. The two types of coaxial cabling are thick coaxial and thin coaxial. Coaxial Cable Connectors The most common type of connector used with coaxial cables is the BNC connector (See Figure-4). Different types of adapters are available for BNC connectors, including a Tconnector, barrel connector, and terminator.

Figure-4 BNC connector Fiber Optic Cable Fiber optic cables consist of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective materials (See Figure-5). It transmits light rather than electromagnetic signals eliminating the problem of electrical interference. Fiber optic cable has the ability to transmit signals over much longer distances than coaxial and twisted pair. It has the capability to carry information at vastly greater speeds. This capacity broadens communication possibilities to include services such as video conferencing and interactive services. The cost of fiber optic cabling is comparable to copper cabling; however, it is more difficult to install and modify.

Figure-5 Fiber optic cable

The most common connector used with fiber optic cable is an ST connector. It is barrel shaped, similar to a BNC connector. A newer connector, the SC, is becoming more popular. It has a squared face and is easier to connect in a confined space.

Specification 10BaseT 10Base2 10Base5 10BaseF 100BaseT 100BaseTX

Cable Type Unshielded Twisted Pair Thin Coaxial Thick Coaxial Fiber Optic Unshielded Twisted Pair Unshielded Twisted Pair

Maximum length 100 meters 185 meters 500 meters 2000 meters 100 meters 220 meters

Table-1: Ethernet Cable Summary The purpose of this Lab is to show you how to make the two kinds of cables which can be used to network two or more computers together to form local area networks (LANs). The two most common unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) network standards are the 10BASE-T Ethernet and the100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet. This Lab will show you how to make cables which will work with both standards. A LAN can be as simple as two computers, each having a network interface card (NIC) and running network software, connected together with a crossover cable as shown in Figure-6.

Figure-6: Two PCs networking

A network may consist of three or more computers and a hub. Each computer is plugged into the hub with a straight-thru cable as shown in Figure-1. The most commonly used cables for networks are the CAT 5 cables.

Figure-7: Multi PCs network

EIA/TIA Color-Codes:
UTP cables consist of 8 individually insulated wires, forming 4 twisted pairs. Each pair is color-coded with one of the wires having a solid color, and the other with a white background and a stripe of the same color. There are two types of patch cables based on the way wires are connected: Straight-Through and Crossover cables. Both use the same RJ45 connectors; however there is a difference in the wiring of the two. There are two wiring schemes available for CAT 5 cables: EIA/TIA 568A EIA/TIA 568B

Figure-8: EIA/TIA 568 Cable Wiring Standards

586A 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. White-Green Green White-Orange Blue White-Blue Orange White-Brown Brown

586B 1. White-Orange 2. Orange 3. White-Green 4. Blue 5. White-Blue 6. Green 7. White-Brown 8 Brown

Table-3: EIA/TIA Wiring Color-Codes

Procedures:
1. Take a freshly cut end and strip no more than 0.5 inch of the jacket, while leaving the insulations on the 4 pairs of wires intact. Make sure there are no nicks in the wires. 2. Untwist the individual wires as needed in the order explained above (hint: look at the Color-Codes). Use one of the wiring schemes above (568A or 568B). You should only untwist as much of the wires as needed to avoid unnecessary crosstalk. 3. Once the wires are arranged, use the cutter on your Crimp tool to cut all 8 wires so that their ends form a straight line. 4. Insert all the wires together in the RJ45 connector, while keeping them in the same order. Make sure all 8 wires reach the end of the plug. 5. Crimp the cable using a Crimp tool. 6. Repeat for the other end, with the same color code for Straight-Thru Cable and different color code if making a Crossover Cable. Testing the Cables: After making the cable, it should be tested to see if it is suitable to install it in the network. In this lab you are going to use two types of network cable tester: Multi-Network Cable Tester (ProsKit) LAN Cable Meter.

Multi-Network Cable Tester (ProsKit) 1. Plug on end of the cable to the jack of the master unit and the other end to the Network Cable Terminator unit as shown in Figure-9. 2. Push the power switch on, the power LED will flash to show the power is working properly. 3. As soon as the power is switched on, the LEDs on the Terminator will start to scan one by one. If the cable is OK, the LEDs corresponding to each pair will light GREEN. If the LED lighted GREEN first and RED after (mix) or it is unlighted, the cable is bad. LAN Cable Meter 1. Connect one end of the cable under test to the UTP jack of the LAN Cable Meter and the other end to the cable terminator 2. Turn the test tool on by selecting TEST. Press SETUP 3. Press up-arrow or down-arrow to select UTP, then press ENTER 4. Select EIA/TIA 4PR to choose the wiring standard, then press ENTER 5. Select CAT 5, then press ENTER 6. Press up-arrow or down-arrow until the desired wire size is displayed. 7. If the Cable Meter shows a FAIL message, this means the cable is bad. If it shows a PASS message, this means the wires inside the cable are connected in a proper way.

Reference:
1. http://www.speedguide.net 2. http://www.howstuffworks.com