Plenum Cable Types & Specifications: Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6a
Plenum cables are cables with CMP-rated jackets that are suitable for installation in the plenum spaces of buildings. All Ethernet cables, including Cat6 cable, Cat6a cable, and Cat5e cable, have CMP-rated jackets.
Let's start with a definition of plenum spaces before we go into the details:
Plenum Spaces
Plenum spaces are areas of a building where air circulation for air conditioning and heating systems is facilitated. Plenum spaces accomplish this by allowing conditioned/heated or return air to flow at a higher atmospheric pressure.
Plenum Cables
Plenum cables, as previously indicated, are those having CMP-rated jackets. Communication Multipurpose Cable, Plenum is the abbreviation for Communication Multipurpose Cable, Plenum. The jacket material received the highest CMP grade in the industry. CMP-marked cables are composed of the highest-quality PVC (polyvinyl chloride) material. Due to the harsh temperature conditions in plenum spaces, ethernet cables placed here should be of the highest quality jacket material.
The plenum wires are fire-resistant and prevent the spread of fire. Plenum cables or CMP-rated cables release no smoke or harmful gases when exposed to a fire. Plenum cables are also UV resistant, making them an excellent choice for both residential and commercial installations. The plenum cables' thick coating also provides excellent protection against alien crosstalk, near-end crosstalk, and EMI (electromagnetic interference).
Plenum cables are classified as follows:
Plenum Cat5e Cable
Plenum Cat6 Cable
Plenum Cat6a Cable
Cat5e Plenum Cable Specifications
A CMP-rated jacket is included with a Cat5e plenum cable. It has a 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) data transfer rate over a distance of 50 meters (164 feet) and 100Mbps over a distance of 100 meters (328 feet). Although the TIA/EIA standard for bandwidth capabilities is 100MHz, several manufacturers make Cat5e cables with bandwidth capabilities up to 350MHz.
Pure copper conductors and CCA (copper-clad aluminum) conductors are also available in Cat5e plenum cable. In every way, cables with pure copper conductors outperform those with CCA conductors in terms of performance. This cable is also available in UTP and STP versions. Unshielded twisted pair is referred to as UTP, whereas shielded twisted pair is referred to as STP. In locations where high EMI is prevalent, STP cables are preferable, whereas UTP cables are used in environments where EMI is not an issue. STP cables are significantly more costly than UTP cables.
The wire gauge of Cat5 cable ranges from 22AWG to 26AWG (depending on the manufacturer)
Cat6 Plenum Cable Specifications
Cat6 Plenum cable is defined as a Cat6 cable with CMP-rated jackets. The properties of the jacket are the same as those covered in the previous sections.
Cat6 plenum cable enables 10Gbps data transfer rates over a distance of 50 meters (164 feet) and 1Gbps over 100 meters (328 feet) when it comes to data speed. Cat6 cables have a bandwidth of 550MHz, which is sufficient for most applications. There are pure copper conductors as well as copper-clad aluminum conductors in these cables. Cat6 plenum cables marked with UTP are unshielded twisted pairs, whereas those marked with STP are shielded twisted pairs.
The wire gauge of the Cat6 cable ranges from 22AWG to 26AWG (depending on the manufacturer).
Cat6a Plenum Cable Specifications
A Cat6 Plenum cable is a Cat6a cable with a CMP-rated covering. The jacket features the same thick covering, fire resistance, and UV resistance as the previous two cables.
The Cat6a Plenum cable delivers data transmission rates of 10Gbps over a distance of 100 meters in terms of data throughput. The wire's 750MHz bandwidth allows it to retain signal strength over greater distances. The wire gauge of the Cat6a cable ranges from 22AWG to 26AWG (depending on the manufacturer). High-speed applications such as 100BASE-XT Fast Ethernet, 10BASE-T, 1000BASE-T (IEEE802.3), 750MHz Broadband Video, and other secure networking applications commonly use the cable.
