Structured Cabling : An Essential Utility for the 21st Century:
By the early 1990s, the
industry was rolling out
another approach to smart
homes/offices. The
technology had many names
at first, but today the
industry has settled on
the name structured
wiring. However, the
standards bodies have
recently given the
technology the
designation of structured
cabling. This new cabling
system was initially
developed by
manufacturers in the
voice and data industry
for commercial
applications. It was
subsequently reengineered
and downsized for
residential applications
to make the technology
practical, economical,
and worthwhile to
consumers.
Today, the primary market
for structured cabling is
in new construction,
where it provides the
backbone for the
distribution of voice,
data, and video signals
throughout the
home/office. Structured
cabling systems are now
being installed in
virtually all areas of
new construction.
Over the past five years,
structured cabling has
gained mainstream
acceptance. A survey
conducted by the National
Association of Home
Builders found that 34
percent of all builders
now offer structured
cabling system packages
as a standard or optional
amenity. National
builders are installing a
basic structured cabling
system in every new home
they build, while
offering homeowners a
full range of optional
components that can be
installed during the
construction phase, or
any time in the future.
Several factors are
contributing to the
growth and mainstream
acceptance of structured
cabling:
• Builders are more
familiar with structured
cabling and recognize
that it gives them a
competitive edge.
Furthermore, if they do
not install a structured
cabling system, they run
the risk of building new
homes that will quickly
become obsolete.
• Industry-wide standards
for structured cabling
have been established by
the Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA),
and manufacturers’
products now conform to
that single standard.
• There is greater
penetration of broadband
services into the
home/office, such as
high-speed Internet
connectivity through DSL
and cable modems, and
greater consumer demand
for these services.
• Homebuyers are
recognizing that the
lifestyle benefits of a
structured cabling system
are worth the 1 to 2
percent that a system
adds to the cost of a new
home.
• The real estate
industry is recognizing
that the resale value of
new homes could be
adversely affected if a
home does not have the
fourth utility installed.
Back in the 1950s it was
the rare American family
that had more than one
telephone line coming
into the house. As the
kids grew up and entered
their teenage years,
intense competition for
using the phone usually
led to arguments and
strict rules for
telephone use. Early in
the 21st century,
families find themselves
facing a similar
dilemma—everyone wants to
be on the Internet at the
same time. Moreover, no
one likes to sit and wait
for website pages to
download, especially
pages with graphics,
photos, and video
content. The problem:
conventional telephone
wiring was not designed
for high-speed data
communications.
Homes without structured
cabling systems do not
have the infrastructure
to support the latest
networking and
entertainment
applications consumers
are demanding. This
includes whole-house
distribution of digital
cable, MP3 music files,
and Internet-based gaming
and streaming video.
Another frequent
homeowner complaint is
poor television reception
when multiple televisions
share a single cable TV
connection using simple
cable TV splitters.
The emergence of the home
office also places
greater demands on
conventional telephone
wiring that was not
designed to support a
data communications
network in the home.
Indeed, today’s new
homebuyers put a home
office high on their list
of "must have upgrades"
when looking at new
homes. Their intent is to
set up a home office with
two or more telephone
lines, a fax line and a
high-speed Internet
connection. They also
want to share files
between their home
computers and share
peripheral equipment,
such as printers,
scanners, cameras and
back-up disk drives.
Structured cabling
systems are based on a
home run wiring scheme,
also known as a star
topology. In a modern
wired home/office, all
the cables originate from
a single distribution
enclosure. This enclosure
can have various names,
depending on the
manufacturer. Leviton,
for example, calls the
enclosure a Structured
Media Center™, Other
manufacturers refer to it
as a structured wiring
cabinet, customer premise
enclosure, a hub, et.al.
The standards bodies now
refer to it as a
distribution cabling
device.
The distribution cabling
device serves as the
"nerve center" of the
system. It contains all
the modules/components
for networking voice,
data, video and audio
signals in the home, as
well as modules that
interface with other home
systems, such as security
and HVAC systems (photo
1).
Distribution cabling
devices are available in
various sizes and
configurations, depending
on the manufacturer’s
specifications and
design.
Structured cabling
systems use two basic
types of wire: unshielded
twisted pair (UTP) cables
and coaxial cables. UTP
cables, such as Category
5 and 5e, contain four
pairs of twisted wires
inside a single cable
jacket. The way the wires
are twisted reduces noise
and provides the
bandwidth required by
Internet connections and
modems. UTP cabling is
predominately used for
distributing voice and
data signals, while RG-6
coaxial cable is used to
distribute video signals.
In some high-end
applications, 50-micron
multimode fiber optic
cable is used in place of
UTP. UTP and coaxial
cables are terminated in
each room at wall outlets
designed for high-quality
data and audio/visual
(a/v) signals. Wall
outlets feature snap-in
jacks and connectors that
can be quickly installed.
Once the enclosure and cabling have been installed, a homeowner can choose from a variety of structured cabling modules to meet their personal needs. Structured cabling modules typically support the following functions:
• Telephone Service: The telephone module distributes telephone lines throughout the house over UTP cabling.
• Computer networking: Several modules are available for creating a network, including Ethernet hubs for sharing files and peripheral equipment, and Internet gateways that also create a home network, allowing multiple users to share a single broadband Internet connection simultaneously. A second benefit of the Internet gateway is that it creates a hardware-based network address translation (NAT) firewall, which makes the computer’s Internet address invisible to a hacker.
• Home Entertainment: Audio and video modules can create an integrated, whole-house entertainment system. For whole-house audio, modules are available that interconnect a homeowner’s stereo amplifier or receiver to distribute stereo sound throughout the house over CL3-rated speaker wire. Leviton, for one, has an alternative technology based on an audio/video module that uses UTP cabling to distribute line level audio and composite video signals, such as MP3 files, Internet radio and streaming video that reside on a computer.
To distribute video, one way and bi-directional modules are available. A bi-directional video module can distribute all types of video sources, including digital and standard cable modem TV, satellite TV, DVD and VCR. Also available is an enhanced RF video distribution module with an attenuator that can variably boost the video signal strength of cable TV signals before they are distributed throughout the home.
• Home Monitoring: By installing indoor and/or outdoor cameras, structured cabling can create a closed circuit TV system (CCTV) within the home for home monitoring. The cameras produce high-quality video output that is routed through the bi-directional video module. The video can be viewed on any TV in the home connected to the structured cabling network. With additional components, it is also possible to access the home’s CCTV over the Internet, which lets homeowners monitor their homes when they are out, or monitor a vacation home.
• Home Automation: Other low-voltage systems, such as security and alarm systems and HVAC systems, can be integrated into a home’s structured cabling system. By doing this, a homeowner can access the alarm system or HVAC system by telephone.
The information
revolution has paved the
way for structured
cabling to enter the
mainstream of new home
construction, where it
will take its place
alongside the other
essential home services
—namely, telephone, gas
and electricity—as a
fourth utility. Without a
doubt, electrical
inspectors will be seeing
more homes with
structured cabling
installations in the
coming years.
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