The shield can consist of a metal braid, or a metal or polyester foil. The shield can wrap all 4 twisted pairs, or just individual conductor pairs, or both the entire cable and individual conductor pairs. In the shield product code, the letter preceding the slash corresponds to the shield of the entire cable; the code following the slash corresponds to the shield of the individual pair.
As a guide, if you have a motor or generator sitting next to the network cable, EMI and RFI can wreak havoc on the data transmission over the copper wire. This will cause data errors and likely lead to downtime. To eliminate EMI/RFI interference, you will need to use cable shieldings and connectors.
As you can see from the list below, there are basically two types of cable shielding: braided and foil. Which one you choose will depend on your application.
Here is a glossary of terms to help you decipher cable shielding.
Cable shielding terms
FTP – Foil twisted pair: creates an additional layer of protection with a shield/shield wrapped around the individual twisted pair.
STP – Shielded Twisted Pair: adds an extra layer of protection by wrapping individual twisted pairs with a braided shield.
F/UTP – Foil/Unshielded Twisted Pair: An integral foil shield wrapped around 4 pairs of unshielded twisted pairs. Commonly used in 10GBaseT applications.
S/UTP – Shielded/Unshielded Twisted Pair: An integral braided shield wrapped around all 4 pairs of unshielded twisted pairs.
SFTP – Shielded and Foil Twisted Pair: Foil shield around individual twisted pairs, the overall shield is sometimes a flexible braided shield. This provides the highest level of interference protection.
SF/UTP – Shielded and Foil/Unshielded Twisted Pair : Both an overall braided screen and a foil shield for unshielded twisted pairs. These cables are sometimes referred to as STP cables and are very effective in protecting EMI/RFI from entering or leaving the cable.
S/FTP – Shielded Foil/Twisted Pair : An overall braided screen with a foil shield for twisted pairs. The shield beneath the jacket is a braid, and each individual pair is surrounded by its own foil shield. The purpose of adding aluminum foil to the individual pairs is to limit the amount of crosstalk between them.
F/FTP – Foil/Foil Twisted Pair: Foil shield overall, foil shield for twisted pairs. As with F/UTP, this cable is typically used for 10GBaseT applications.
U/FTP – Unshielded/Foil Twisted Pair: Twisted pair cable without an overall shield or braid, with a foil shield. This cable is also often used in 10GBaseT applications.
U/UTP (UTP) – Unshielded/Unshielded Twisted Pair: pairs of wires stranded together with no shielding at all. These cables are often referred to as UTP and are one of the most basic methods used to help prevent electromagnetic interference.
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