A brief discussion on the application of Category 6 cabling system in smart buildings

With the continuous extension of network technology and application scenarios, structured cabling systems are also developing. However, the value of all technologies cannot be separated from practical applications, especially cabling technology. Over the past decade, Category 5e and Category 6 systems have long occupied the mainstream market for building cabling. With the rapid deployment of mobile 5G, the vigorous development of the Internet of Things, digital office, travel and life are constantly changing people's original habits; thus, higher requirements are put forward for the network system of smart buildings, which has accelerated the pace of Cat.6A cabling systems gradually replacing Cat.5e and Cat.6 systems, and began to become the mainstream of smart building cabling.

As we all know, the networking cost of the switch electrical port is much lower than that of the optical port, so the electrical port will continue to have a large market share in the horizontal cabling and system terminals of buildings. In the structured cabling market, the Cat.6A system is divided into shielded system and unshielded system, which complies with ANSI/TIA 568.2-D Cat.6A, ISO/IEC 2nd Class EA standards, with a transmission bandwidth of up to 500MHz, and supports high-speed LAN applications such as 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, 1GBASE-T, 2.5G/5GBASE-T, 10GBASE-T.

Cat.6A Cabling System from the Perspective of Wireless WIFI

In 2020, the number of IoT devices is expected to reach 10 billion. This rapid growth will continue to drive the demand for high-density network access (including WIFI). Whether it is social or office, connecting to WIFI has become indispensable. The current router port supports 2.4G and 5G frequency bands. At the same time, with the introduction and application of WIFI6 standards, the distribution and coverage of WIFI networks have been greatly improved. The port rate has been developed from 1G Base-T to 2.5G Base-T and 5G Base-T on a large scale, bringing users a faster and more stable Internet experience.

The Internet has become an indispensable part of people's daily life and work. Most of the global Internet traffic will start or end on Wi-Fi. So which type of transmission medium should we choose for wireless WIFI 2.5G and 5G?

It can be seen from Table 1 and Table 2 that Cat5e and Cat6 cabling can no longer meet the application of 2.5/5G Base-T.

In 2020, a number of WIFI6 network routers have been launched on the market, with a transmission rate of 9.6Gbps. Gartner data shows that WIFI6 deployment will be widely popularized in 2023, and the market size will increase from US$250 million in 2019 to US$5.25 billion in 2023; based on the increasingly important role of wireless WIFI in people's daily life and work, it is determined that Cat.6A wiring system will gradually replace Category 5e in smart buildings, and Category 6 system will become the mainstream.

Application of Category 6A system in confidential network

In the construction of intelligent systems in government buildings, it is inevitable to deal with the relationship between confidential network system wiring and non-confidential network system wiring. Compared with other networks, confidential networks have significantly higher requirements for network construction quality and information security; so how to efficiently ensure the quality and security of confidential network construction?

Based on comprehensive considerations of construction costs, transmission capacity, and future trends, the Cat.6A full range of shielded wiring design is adopted. Its excellent anti-electromagnetic interference capability enables the twisted pair cables for transmitting data to effectively reduce crosstalk and high-frequency noise interference problems, ensuring the accuracy of the cables during data transmission and eliminating the potential risk of signal leakage.

Application of Category 6A system in medical environment

With the rapid development of computer network systems in recent years, many institutions related to the national economy and people's livelihood, such as hospitals, schools, government agencies, banks, etc., have incorporated network system construction into the construction of the entire institution, making it one of the indispensable tools. Hospitals are responsible for important medical and clinical research tasks. Advanced medical auxiliary instruments and network information technology are one of the indispensable tools in modern hospitals; however, the ubiquitous medical electronic equipment in hospitals will continuously emit electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths to the surroundings when working, which is called electromagnetic radiation. Although electromagnetic radiation cannot be seen, it objectively exists in people's lives. Excessive electromagnetic radiation causes electromagnetic pollution. A large number of medical instruments in hospitals may cause serious electromagnetic interference to computer network systems, affecting the normal use of network information systems. If the network system does not have good anti-interference capabilities, it will also affect the normal use of medical instruments. At the same time, medical research data and patient information running on computer network systems are also at risk of being stolen.

Since the service life of building wiring is relatively long, generally more than 10 years, the wiring system must be designed to meet both current needs and future trends. Based on the service life and cost-effectiveness of building wiring, and excellent anti-electromagnetic interference capabilities, Category 6a shielded wiring systems have occupied an important position in medical industry solutions.

Category 6 cabling system supports POE applications

According to Grand View Research, the transmission rate will reach 10G Base-T. At the same time, the number of devices that need to be powered by POE will increase rapidly. By 2025, the global PoE market size is expected to reach US$3.77 billion. When designing network cabling in engineering, it is necessary to ensure faster network speeds and meet the POE power supply requirements of higher-power devices. Given the increasing power of 4PPoE technology applications, its potential overheating problem will affect the transmission performance and security of the structured cabling system, and it is also a key factor that needs to be considered when the new generation of PoE is applied in different application environments and sustainable green development.

Since the current is proportional to the heat generated, the number of cables allowed to run in a single bundle becomes another important consideration. Compared with Cat 5e and Cat.6 cabling, Cat 6A cabling system can achieve lower DC resistance and better heat dissipation performance; therefore, industry standard setting organizations (such as TIA) recommend the use of Cat 6A cabling system for 4PPoE deployment.

Summarize

In addition to the application scenarios mentioned above, social media, games, mobile payments, live video, high-definition video surveillance, etc., also prompt individuals to pursue higher network speeds, and will also promote companies in corresponding industries to accelerate the upgrade of existing networks.

Since the service life of building cabling is relatively long, generally more than 10 years, the cabling system must be designed to meet both current needs and future trends. Based on comprehensive factors such as construction cost, transmission capacity and future development trends, it is imperative for smart buildings to use Cat.6A cabling systems to replace Cat.5e and Cat.6 systems.