Copper tester verifies cable bandwidth

A Trend Communications product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Oct 30, 2008

Trend Communications has launched a tester for the installation and maintenance of next-generation broadband lines over copper cables.

The Trend Multipro Copper tester verifies that the twisted pair cables to the office or home have the required bandwidth of up to 30MHz to carry the new high-speed data services such as VDSL.

The portable and rugged instrument measures cable characteristics before installation to determine whether the cable would degrade service performance.

The Multipro Copper enables carriers to install high-speed lines up to 5km from the exchange, opening up higher speed broadband internet, including TV, to many users.

The tester contains a collection of functions to test, diagnose, analyse and measure cables, and is aimed at installers and maintainers of VDSL.

Tests include frequency response, return loss and noise.

Diagnostics cover crosstalk, induced voltages, interference and noise.

Analysis is carried out using the integral spectrum analyser, oscilloscope and time domain reflectometer (TDR).

Measurements include capacitance and insulation.

The operator can measure all the parameters of a cable from the near end to the far end using an optional transponder located at the far end.

Normally two operators would be needed for such a test.

The transponder receives control signals generated by the tester and sent down the cable under test.

Transponders can also be inserted into the cable at each joint to isolate faulty cable segments.

To identify intermittent faults a transponder can be permanently or temporarily connected at any point in the cable and activated by the tester when required.

Trend's Multipro tester addresses the expanding broadband internet and residential Triple Play markets.

A test sequencer can be programmed to make all the measurements automatically and compare results against preset limits.

The cable tester is housed in a module that clips on the handheld universal Trend Multipro test platform.

Users are able to reconfigure the Trend Multipro.