Feature Selective Validation Application to Effect Analysis of Coiling on the Impedance Profiles of Augmented Cables for IoT Infrastructure

Abstract

The increasing demand for Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) applications in Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure has led to a rise in the use of augmented cables as it is cost-effective.  Augmented category 6 (Cat 6a) cable is now the standard for new installations requiring the aforesaid functions. Cat 6a cables for POE applications are required to be able to withstand the effects of repeated coiling they would be subjected to during installation. There is a paucity of literature on the effect of coiling on the impedance profiles of augmented cables across their length. The drawback of the available pieces of literature is that the effect of coiling is based on the frequency of operation. Examining the effect of coiling on the impedance profiles of Cat 6a cables across their length can help determine their physical integrity and aid fault location.  Therefore, a method that can be used to examine the effect of coiling on impedance profiles of augmented cables across their length using the Feature Selective Validation (FSV) technique is provided. The ability of the FSV to accurately present the comparison between two data sets as a comprehensible output makes it better than other common methods. Three Cat 6a cables from different manufacturers were selected for the experiment. The Cat 6a cables were exposed to two rounds of coiling and uncoiling to imitate the stress anticipated from handling during installation. The FSV results revealed the cables with the lowest and highest impedance profile variations from the stress tests. The approach presented showed that it can be used to undertake an objective quantification of the effect of coiling on the impedance profiles of the cables across the length.