This post is about telecommunication cabling.
Telecommunication Cabling Standards
Telecommunication Cabling Standards:
- ISO/IEC 11801
- ANSI/TIA/IEC 568-C (USA)
- EN 50173-1 (EU)
ISO/IEC 11801
ISO/IEC 11801 Versions
ISO/IEC 11801 Versions:
- 1995
- 2000
- ISO/IEC 11801:2002
- 2008
- 2010
- ISO/IEC 11801-1:2017, ISO/IEC 11801-2:2017
ISO/IEC 11801 Classes
ISO/IEC 11801 defines the level of service, despite the cable technology.
| Class | Max frequency | Use | Example |
| A | 100 KHz | Voice and data | X.25 |
| B | 1 MHz | Applications | RSSI, Ethernet 1BASE5 |
| C | 16 MHz | Applications | 10BASE-T, Token Ring 4-6 Mbps |
| D | 100 MHz | Voice and data | ATM, 100BASE-T |
| E | 250 MHz | Voice and data | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Ea | 500 MHz | Voice and data | Gigabit Ethernet |
| F | 600 MHz | Voice and data | 10 Gigabit Ethernet |
| Fa | 1000 MHz | Voice and data | 10 Gigabit Ethernet |
Cable Technologies
Main cable technologies:
- Coaxial cable
- Twisted pair
- Fiber optic
Coaxial Cable
Types of coxial cable:
- Thick
- Thin
Thick
10Base5
Thin
10Base2
Twisted Pair
You can read this post about twisted pair.
Optical Fiber
You can read this post about optical fiber.
Structured Cabling
The international standard for structured cabling is ISO/IEC 11801.
- Horizontal subsystem
- Floor distributor
- Wall sockets
- Vertical subsystem
- Building distributor
- Campus subsystem
Floor distributor allows a distance of 100 m, because it uses ethernet.
The maximum distance between the wall socket and the computer is 10 m. It must be included within the 100 m.
The star topology is used between the building distributor and the floor distributors, where the building distributor is at the center. Optical fiber is used for these connections.
The campus subsystem connects the different building distributor. The topology can be start or ring to avoid a single point of failure. Sometimes redundancy of campus distributor is used. 2 km is the maximum distance.
Cabling Security
TEMPEST
TEMPEST is investigation, study, and control of unintentional compromising emanations from telecommunications and automated information systems equipment.
TEMPEST can be used for eavesdropping.
This name is the covername used by the NIST of USA, and it is not an acronym, and it is generally used.
There are levels 1 and 2 of security based on the standards like NATO’s SDIP-28 and EU’s IASG-7-02.
There are organizations that certify on TEMPEST, as for example:
To reduce the risk of TEMPEST the are different measures:
- Faraday cage. It creates a conductive enclosure that blocks external electromagnetic fields from entering and, likewise, prevents internal electromagnetic emissions from escaping.
- Shielded cables: Use of shielded and grounded cables for any power or data lines.
- Specialized TEMPEST-rated equipment: Some equipment is designed to minimize electromagnetic emissions inherently.
- Controlled areas: Physical security to control access to areas where devices emit sensitive information.