How do Coaxial Cables work?

Coaxial cables are a popular choice because their shielded design allows the centre conductor to transmit data quickly while being protected from damage and interference.

Coaxial cables are mainly built up of these four different layers:

1.   A centre conductor which is usually a copper wire, which data and video travels through

2.   Surrounding the copper wire is a dielectric plastic insulator

3.   A braided mesh made from copper then helps to shield the cable from electromagnetic interference (EMI)

4.  The external layer is a plastic coating which protects the internal layers from damage

Coaxial cable works by carrying data in the centre conductor, while the surrounding layers of shielding stop any signal loss (also called attenuation loss) and help reduce EMI.

The first layer, called the dielectric, provides distance between the core conductor and the outer layers, as well as some insulation.

The next layers, collectively referred to as the shield, keep electrical impulses and radio transmissions out. The different layers of a coaxial cable are shown in the image below:

 

What is the transmission speed of Coaxial Cable?

The transmission speed of coaxial cable is 10Mbps (megabits per second), and they offer 80 times more transmission capacity than twisted pair cables.

Coaxial cable advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of coaxial cable

•         Inexpensive
•         Easy to wire and install
•         Easy to expand
•         Good resistance to EMI
•         Up to 10Mbps capacity
•         Durable

Another benefit of coaxial cable is the electromagnetic field carrying the signal exists only in the space between the inner and outer conductors. This means coaxial cable can be installed next to metal objects without losing power, unlike other types of transmission lines.

Disadvantages of coaxial cable

The main disadvantage of using coaxial cable is that single cable failure can take down an entire network.