TIA sets objectives for 40G over twisted pair

In a post on the Network Infrastructure Blog, Valerie Maguire of Siemon provides some detail on the work being done within the TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee to establish specifications for 40-Gbit/sec or higher transmission over twisted-pair copper cabling.

Maguire states that these next-generation cabling parameters are expected to be published in 2014, in addendum 1 to TIA-568-C.2. She further explains that four task groups have been formed to investigate these parameters. The subjects being investigated are Application Space, Capacity, Cables and Connectors.

The blog post also includes a table that lists a series of objectives and whether the TR-42.7 Subcommittee considers each objective "required," "highly desired," "nice to have" or "not required."

You can read Valerie Maguire's full blog post here.

Researchers use nanotubes to create copper-cable replacement

Researchers from Rice University have published results of their efforts to produce cables made of carbon nanotubes that can conduct electricity. The research's ultimate aim is to develop nanocables that can replace copper cables for conductivity.

In a media release, the university explained, "A Rice lab made such a cable from double-walled carbon nanotubes and powered a fluorescent light bulb at standard line voltage - a true test of the novel material's ability to stake a claim in energy systems of the future."

An abstract of the research has been published on Nature.com.

Enrique Barrera, a professor of mechanical engineering and mateials science at Rice, said that highly conductive nanotube-based cables could be just as efficient as traditional metals at one-sixth of the weight. He added that such cables may initially find use in applications where weight is a critical consideration, such as in airplanes and automobiles. In the future, he said, it could replace traditional wiring in homes.

The university's release continued, "The cables developed in the study are spun from pristine nanotubes and can be tied together without losing their conductivity. To increase conductivity of the cables, the team doped them with iodine and the cables remained stable. The conductivity-to-weight ratio beats metals, including copper and silver, and is second only to the metal with the highest specific conductivity, sodium."

Yao Zhao, one of the nanocables' developers, recently defended his dissertation toward his doctorate at the university and his the lead author of the new paper. He built the demonstration rig that allowed him to toggle through the nanocable and replace the conventional copper wire in the circuit.

This initial study used a few centimeters of cable; in that regard Barrera remarked that spinning billions of nanotubes into a cable at all is quite a feat. "The chemical processes used to grow and then align nanotubes will ultimately be part of a larger process that begins with raw materials and ends with a steady stream of nanocables," he said. The project's planned next stage will be to make longer, thicker cables taht carry higher current and still keep the cable lightweight. "We really want to go better than what copper or other metals can offer overall," Barrera said.

Tsinghua University partnered with Rice on the research and supplied the nanotubes for it.

Rice researchers Barrera and Zhao discuss their efforts in the video below.

Would-be cable thief gets shock of a lifetime

Not long ago I told you about the UK Chainsaw Cabling Massacre, when thieves cut down utility poles and stole the copper cables attached to them. Electrical cables contain significantly more copper than communications cables, so they are a more-frequent target of theft than are the twisted-pair cables we know and love.

In the chainsaw case, the thieves somehow were clever enough to get away with using the high-decibel saws and steal the cable undetected. More recently, a would-be thief was neither as clever nor as lucky.

Just a couple days ago in Gloucestershire, UK, an attempted copper-cable thief got the shock of his life when he tried to hacksaw through live electrical wires. According to the This Is Gloucestershire web site, the man "was hurled 30 feet into the air ... The injured man staggered from the site to a nearby house ... to ask for help. Paramedics arrived at 11pm to treat the man, whose arm was reported to have turned black."

Few commenters on the This is Gloucestershire site sympathized with the thief/victim. One commenter, Alan, chose not to take sides on whether to feel bad for the thief or cast ill toward him. Rather, Alan said, "This sort of thing will continue to occur until some sort of control is introduced on scrap metal merchants. Anyone selling scrap should provide photo ID and have their photo taken. If the scrap metal dealer cannot prove where his scrap came from he should be charged with receiving stolen goods."

Efforts along those lines have been tried in the U.S., reportedly with limited success.

Editor disses copper, praises fiber, makes me mad*

First let me say this: I have a high degree of respect for my colleague Stephen Hardy, editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Lightwave. Now that those pleasantries are out of the way, please allow me to launch into a tirade of disgust and anger over some comments he recently made at a corporate meeting held here at the offices of PennWell in Nashua, NH.

Actually you can hear, and see, the comments for yourself by watching this video of Stephen's presentation to our co-workers.

As you may know, the Lightwave franchise includes a Web site, magazine, newsletters, live and virtual events - all focused on fiber-optic technology. The video clip is Stephen's explanation to a "lay" audience what Lightwave is and what it does. To no one's surprise, he focused on the capabilities of fiber-optic technologies. But much to my surprise, he did so by ridiculing copper-based cabling technology. Check out what he says and does between 0:57 and 1:07 of the video. In 10 brief seconds, Stephen Hardy manages to completely and utterly dis copper cabling.

You may say, "So what? Everything he said is true." Perhaps. But here's my major gripe: That cable he holds up, and then trashes, between 0:57 and 1:07 is an armored fiber-optic cable that I loaned him to use in his presentation. That's right, I 1) have fiber-optic cables hanging around my desk and offer them to anyone who asks (or doesn't ask, but that's another issue); and 2) saw my colleague Stephen Hardy take the prop I had given him in good faith, and use it to misrepresent the copper/fiber dynamic.

I don't know how I'm going to get even with him, but I will. If you have any suggestions, please pass them along.

*I'm not really mad. Just having a little fun at Stephen's expense. And I thought you might enjoy his "Sham-Wow"-style presentation. We here at the office sure did.