From the banks of the Yarra, John Ward reports on the 51st meeting of the International Cabling Standards Committee.

On a cool October morning, 47 jetlagged cabling Standards delegates from 15 countries assembled in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre for the latest ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee /1 Sub Committee 25 Working Group 3 meetings (ISO/IEC JTC/1 SC 25 WG3).

The last time this committee met in Australia was in 2000 in Sydney when we hosted the Olympics, and it was the first ever paperless meeting.

The 2011 meeting in Melbourne was only the third time that the IEC and ISO/IEC general meetings have been combined, the previous time being in 2010 in the American city of Seattle.

Secretary of JTC/1 SC25 and Chairman of Working Group 3 (WG3) Walter von Pattay opened the meeting. The Australian Head of Delegation (HOD) welcomed the working group and special guest Colin Browitt (retired founding member of the Australian Standards Committee) on behalf of the host nation and Standards Australia.

First up, von Pattay revealed that the overdue Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) 14763-2 Implementation and operation of customer premises cabling – Part 2: Planning and installation (guide), or PIG, had been mislaid and had to be sent again to Geneva Central Office (CO) in July 2011. It was due to published “any day now”.

Yet another ‘no’ vote took place in response to calls for the second edition of ISO/IEC 14763-3 Implementation and operation of customer premises cabling – Part 3: Testing of optical fibre cabling to be replaced by a series of IEC documents.

It was decided that this work would be conducted in close contact with IEC TC86 and its subcommittees, and that duplication of text available in other IEC documents was allowed under the principle that 14763-3 can contain all the required information in one document, as long as the text referenced is clearly marked. (We copy this as AS/NZS ISO/IEC 14763-3.)

WG3 recommended that the ‘three jumper test method’ should be retained as the default fibre optics (FO) test method, writing to SC86 and SC86B requesting their recommendation on this and marginal FO test result issues.

A suggestion that marginal results should be handled in the same way as copper marginal results in 61935-1 was rejected – allowing the customer choose in line with 14763-2 (PIG).

ISO/IEC 14763-3 comment resolution proceeded with the FO editor agreeing to create and circulate a compilation of the remaining unresolved comments, including additional comments from the German and Japanese national committees (NCs), together with proposed resolutions.

He would then circulate an updated working draft of the second edition of 14763-3.

It was confirmed that Amendment 2 and the consolidated edition of ISO/IEC 11801 (ed. 2.2) and ISO/IEC TR 29125 IT – Telecommunications cabling requirements for remote powering of data terminal equipment (DTE), or Power over Ethernet, had all been published since the previous meeting in Berlin. (Ed. 2.2 will soon be published as the next edition of AS/NZS 3080 and AS/NZS ISO/IEC TR 29125)

The enhancement of the modelling tool for channels was continued with a revamped Joint Modelling Task Group in a combined effort with IEC SC46C and SC48B.

New work/standards numbering was proposed for guidance for balanced cabling in support of at least 40Gbps data transmission (ISO/IEC 11801-99-x)

The PDAM 1 (FO) to ISO/IEC 24764 Generic cabling for data centres, had received substantial support, all the comments were resolved and an FDAM was to be ready for distribution soon after the Melbourne meeting. The editor proposed  a New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) to 24764 Application-specific cords for data centres – twinaxial cords.

There was discussion that this would be an application-specific Standard and  not  generic cabling and would contain performance specifications as detailed by IEEE.

It was agreed to distribute an NWIP for a multi-part standard on application-specific cable assemblies, the first part being for twinaxial cable assemblies, Type 1 (very high frequencies), as soon as submitted by WG3. The design of new test methods needed for this type of cable operating at very high frequencies would be part of the Scope of the work to be done.

It was revealed that Industrial Cabling Standard ISO/IEC 24702 was still awaiting distribution due to an amendment (correction) to its MICE table. Walter von Pattay said the re-submitted FDAM 1 (corrigendum) to ISO/IEC 29106 Introduction to the MICE table to central office in Geneva was out for ballot as document JCT 1 N10704, with comment due by 6 December.

Professor Dr Albrecht Oehler (Germany) was proposed and accepted as the new convener of WG3 for the upcoming term of office. Von Pattay (who confided to some his desire to relinquish the chairmanship of WG3 while maintaining his JTC1 SC25 secretariat role) wished him well in the new role in 2012.

IEC TC46/WG9 was considering proposals for Level V accuracy requirements for cable testers. These requirements, together with Category 7A connecting hardware specifications, would influence field test measurement errors above 600MHz where tester accuracy in the past has had to be relaxed.

WG9 sought guidance concerning the upper frequency and accuracy of Level V testers. WG3 did not have a definitive answer but indicated that the Joint Modelling Task Group (JMTG) was performing modelling and measurements up to 2GHz – which would assist the development of such a tester.

TC46/WG9 announced progress in the completion of detail specification for Cat 6, Cat 6A, Cat 7 and Cat 7A cords. The IEC 60603-7 connector series was completed, IEC 60512-28-100 (connector tests to 1,000MHz) was approved to be circulated as a CDV, and IEC 60512-29-100 (tests to 500MHz on M12 connectors) was under circulation.

WG3 indicated it was interested in detail specification for cords with M12 connectors, these cords being used in industrial installations all around the world.
TC46/WG9 stated that Level IIIe testers were not suitable for testing 10GBASE-T due to inaccuracies of RL measurement at 500MHz. SC25/WG3requested further information to try to understand the scale of the problem, and to determine whether the issue affects Level IV testers.

The UK SC48B liaison stated that IEC 61076-2-109 Ed 1, which specifies 500MHz M12 connectors, was out for a second CD. A revision of 61076-2-104 would be raised to include three new variants of the M8 connector. IEC 60512-29-100 CD, detailing testing to 500MHz of the M12 connector, would progress to a second CD.

The second round robin of companies testing these connectors was also due to start early 2012.

IEC SC65C JWG10 is working on definitions and test specifications for an end-to-end link, an industrial equivalent to a generic channel plus the plugs at each end. A teleconference would review JWG10 proposals and start planning actions to create a full set of specifications.

The JWG10 would be selecting one of the M12 connectors according to IEC 61076-2-109, but at the time it was not able to specify which variant.

IEC TC100 predicted that cable TV networks will be specified up to 3,000MHz to make it possible to directly distribute satellite TV signals and reduce the number of satellite dishes.

TC100 highlighted issues with the increasing use of copper-clad aluminium (CCA) systems, and recommended avoiding use of  such materials. It was noted that CCA would affect the guidelines in the Power over Ethernet (PoE) documents for temperature rise when conducting power.

WG3 intended adding cable TV networks to the list of supported applications in the third edition of ISO/IEC 11801.

CENELEC (European Standards body) announced a modification of specifications for the different lengths of BCT channels in a way that allowed implementing them with Cat 7a material. Changes to its document for cabling homes prompted SC25/WG3 to add such a revision to its list of topics for the third edition of ISO/IEC 11801.

The IEEE 802 had formed a task force for a new project for 100G over backplane and twinaxl. A study group had been formed for next-generation 10G optical physical layer standards, and the 10G Base-SR had been amended to include OM4.

The US  NWIP amendment to 14763-2 (PIG) for Automated Infrastructure Management Systems (AIMS) was approved. This would standardise high-level features and functions to encourage converging of design approaches, improving compatibility in this growing segment of telecommunications cabling management.

SC25/WG3 agreed that this project was not intended to converge on a single design implementation.

The US TIA was performing an industry survey concerning reach and topology for next-generation cabling networks. The US confirmed ongoing synchronisation of its national Standards with international ones. Cat 7A was under consideration.

The French requested SC25/WG3 to better define OS1 and OS2 requirements. The OS1/OS2 question was added to the third edition 11801 list.

The US editor of the 11801-1 redesign project led its comment resolution. An updated comment sheet was prepared. Items that could be considered as technical change were marked ‘To be considered for a third edition’. The Japanese comments JP10, 11, 12, 13 were deferred to the JMTG to provide a future recommendation for resolution together with additional items concerning fibre optics.

The remaining FO comments to the 11801 generic cabling redesign document were resolved, being mostly rejections, editorial and some minor technical clarifications. Items considered as technical change were marked ‘To be considered for a third edition’.

Experts from SC48B were told of the informal request from the JMTG to provide input concerning connector performance.The editor would now concentrate on the next tasks in the reshuffling project – 24702 and 15018. These drafts would be prepared and circulated to the NCs in time for the next meeting of SC25/WG3

The previous S25 WG3 request to SC48B WG3 as to the status of 61076-3-113 (small FF – 8470 multi-lane shielded ‘Infiniband’ copper connector) brought the reply: “The project was within a US trade consortium, approved and a first CD circulated and commented, but there was no following action.”

It was agreed that this proposal should become a new standard series, not linked in numbering to the data centre or generic standards.

Germany presented an overview illustrating capacity and length information with respect to 40Gb data rates on EA and FA systems. They proposed that WG3 raise a NWIP for a Technical Report (TR) to specify the capacity and channel requirements that can be achieved using existing component values.

It was discussed that there is a possibility of a two-connector generic channel. WG3 decided to form a study group to investigate the use of twisted-pair cabling for 40GBase-T and agreed that a NWIP be drafted.

The benefits of investigating the exploitation of existing cabling – within its technical limits but also beyond the present 11801 specification with respect to the applications/capabilities of future cabling – were debated. The US presented a contribution from the TIA concerning objectives for its next-generation cabling project, which included being able to carry 40Gb.

The Israeli liaison to SC86A reported that the new MDU cable would be specified by a new document under 60794-2 (indoor) characterised by reduced bending radius, flame performance, etc. The rapid/multiple deployment cables would be part of the 60794-3 outdoor series and would not exclude tight buffered cable.

SC86C WG1 indicated it had decided not to create a reference test method for optical return loss.

The IEC SC86B WG6 Melbourne meeting rejected proposals for the inclusion of up-angled (key-up to key-up) variant of the MPO angled plug in the MPO interface. ISO/IEC 14763-2 and CLC EN50174-2 feature an implementation of array optical fibre connecting hardware polarity maintenance using a key-up to key-up adapter.