UTP Cable Modes

Rick Brooks
ribrooks@nortelnetworks.com

IEEE802.3af Plenary Meeting, November, 2000

Cable Mode Terminology
• Differential mode
— within a given twisted pair

+ pair 1
-
+ pair 2
-
+ pair 3
-
+ pair 4
-

• Common mode
— a signal that is common to all wires within a cable

pair 1

pair 2
+
pair 3

pair 4

- frame ground

UTP Cable Modes 1

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
Cable Mode Terminology

• Pair to Pair mode

— a signal from one twisted pair to another twisted pair

+ + + pair 1

- pair 2

- pair 3
- pair 4

UTP Cable Modes 2

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
The Pair to Pair Mode

• There is no specification for Pair to Pair Mode in CAT-3 and CAT-5 cables.

• Discovery and DTE power are driven in the pair to pair mode

• We care because signals and noise in the pair to pair mode can interfere with data links, and
create conducted and radiated emissions

• In this empirical approach, I measure how the pair to pair mode couples into the common mode

• I have looked at CAT-3, CAT-5, and 25 pair CAT-5, the graphs follow

• First, I inserted a sine wave driving the pair to pair mode on 100 meter lengths of cable, and then
I recorded the common mode current produced at each frequency. In all cases, common mode
terminations were present at both ends of the cable

• I also recorded the pair to pair voltage level that caused an observable 100Base-TX link
degradation on a long CAT-5 cable. This shows that “3 fingers”

UTP Cable Modes 3

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
CAT-3, CAT-5, and 25 pair CAT-5 Mode Coupling
Comparison of "pair to pair" mode voltage to common mode current coupling
in CAT-3, CAT-5, and 25 pair CAT-5 100 meter cables
120

100

80
dB

60

40

25 pair CAT-5, pair-to-pair voltage to common mode current attenuation, dB

20
CAT-5 pair-to-pair voltage to common mode current attenuation, dB

CAT-3 pair-to-pair voltage to common mode current attenuation, dB

0
0.1 1 10 100
Frequency, MHz

UTP Cable Modes 4

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
The Famous “3 Fingers”, spare pair and signal pair

Signal Pair and Spare Pair comparison threshold of 100Base-T degradation

on a marginal 130 meter CAT-5 link
Sine wave generator was hooked between 1,2 and 3,6 for the "signal pair"
Sine wave generator was hooked between 4,5 and 7,8 for the "spare pair"
150

145
"Pair to Pair" Mode Sine Wave Input, dBuV

140

135

130

125

120

115

110

limit of generator, dBuV

105 "spare pair" dBuV
"signal pair" dBuV
100
1 10 100
Frequency, MHz

UTP Cable Modes 5

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
Pair to Pair Mode Impedance, common mode termination at both ends
Pair to Pair Mode Impedance (magnitude), 130 meter CAT-5

250

200
|Z| of pair to pair mode

150

100

50

0
0.1 1 10 100
Frequency, MHz

UTP Cable Modes 6

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000
Summary

• Like the differential mode, the pair to pair mode does not couple well into the common mode

• Here is a summary if what I’ve measured:

— I have looked at CAT-3, CAT-5, and 25 pair CAT-5

— CAT-6 has also been measured, as expected, it has lower coupling from the pair to pair mode into the common
mode compared with the other cables tested

— The pair to pair mode seems fairly well controlled and predictable in the cables that I’ve measured

— The lower the frequency, the lower the coupling from the pair to pair mode to the common mode

— The reverse is true; as the frequency is increased, the mode coupling increases

— Above 5 MHz, this attenuation factor is greater than about 45 dB

— Below 1 MHz, this attenuation factor is greater than 70 dB

• We care primarily because of noise on the DTE power supply

UTP Cable Modes 7

Rick Brooks, P802.3af, Nov. 2000