ACR
The first thing to understand about testing data cables is the ACR, this stands for Attenuation to Crosstalk Ratio. The pink area in the graph is the attenuation, this can be caused by several things as will be explained below, and the blue area is the crosstalk. Attenuation is the reduction in signal strength over the length of the cable and frequency range, the crosstalk is the external noise that is introduced into the cable. So, if the two areas meet, the data signal will be lost because the crosstalk noise will be at the same level as the attenuated signal.
ACR is the most important result when testing a link because it represents the overall performance of the cable.
Oct
14
14