DIN EN 50173-4:2011-09

For more than 15 years, the concept of generic cabling systems has been established as an indispensable part of information-technical infrastructure of buildings as it offers considerable technical and economical advantages with respect to the demand-oriented approach. The approach was originally developed for a service-independent, universally applicable pre-cabling to support ICT applications in office premises. The basic principles of generic cabling systems - uniform topology, classification of channels with defined characteristics, uniform interface for connection of terminal equipment - can also be transferred with certain modifications to other fields. Examples are industrial premises, homes and data centres. CENELEC/TC 215 has prepared the EN 50173 standard series in order to take account of the need of users for suitable standards for these fields of application. Care has been taken that those requirements and characteristics which apply for several or all buildings, are only specified once - in Part 1. Therefore, for realization of a generic cable system in a certain environment (type of building, site), the relevant part X (X = 2, 3, 4, 5, ...) shall always be used together with DIN EN 50173-1. The implementation of the channel classes E_A and F_A and the associated component categories 6_A and 7_A which have been incorporated in EN 50173-1 resulted in corresponding modifications and adaptations for Parts 2 to 5 of the series which have been incorporated into the DIN standards introduced here. DIN EN 50173-1 contains the primary and secondary cabling subsystems and the transmission-relevant specifications of the channel classes and associated component categories for cables, connectors and connection cords of the terminal equipment. One significant improvement with respect to DIN EN 50173-1:2010-06 is the implementation of the requirements for the component categories 6_A and 7_A. Further changes are the modification of the requirements for the insertion loss of coaxial channels, modification of the channel of class OF-100 for optical fibre cabling and the definition of a new optical fibre category OM4, the supplementation and modification of requirements for the joining technique and the definition of both a new interface for 2 optical fibres as well as for 12 and 24 fibres, the revision of the test requirements for the mechanical and environment-relevant performance of the joining technique, the update of Annex F "Supported network tools", the introduction of a new normative Annex I "Test methods for determination of compliance with the standards of the EN 50173 series" and various technical and editorial corrections. DIN EN 50173-2 contains specifications for the tertiary (horizontal) cabling subsystem and requirements for the so-called information technological connection at the workplace which shall be used in office premises. These requirements apply equally for premises in buildings with mixed use (homes, doctor's surgeries, law offices, etcetera), which are intended to be used as offices. In addition to the consideration of the new channel classes E_A and F_A and the associated component categories 6_A and 7_A, this standard contains requirements for type OM4 multimode optical fibres and type OS2 single mode optical fibres, and revised specifications for joining technique. DIN EN 50173-3 contains the special requirements for generic cable systems which shall be applied for industrial premises. By doing so, it supports the users of industrial automation systems which are increasingly interested in the use of a generic infrastructure instead of proprietary solutions, especially for continuous integration of these solutions into the existing company networks in the office sector which, as a rule, have already been designed generically for many years and mostly use ethernet-based protocols. The supported network tools for process monitoring and control are given in Tables F.8, F.9 and F.10 of DIN EN 50173-1:2007. In order to take into account the topological features in industrially used cabling systems, subsystems of horizontal floor wiring and intermediate cabling are additionally introduced, and typical reference designs and the achievable maximum channel lengths are given. In addition to channel lengths with symmetrical copper cables and optical cables with quartz glass fibres, the standard also contains the corresponding requirements for the use of plastic fibres and plastic-coated quartz glass fibres. The specifications for the joining technique to be used take into account the rough environmental conditions frequently occurring in industrial plants. In addition to the new channel classes E_A and F_A and the associated component categories 6_A and 7_A, this standard contains revised specifications for the joining technique of optical fibres. DIN EN 50173-4 contains those specifications for generic cabling systems which are to be used in homes (single family and multi-family houses). These requirements apply similarly to premises in buildings of mixed use (flats, medical practices, law offices, etcetera) which are for residential use. Thereby it is taken into account that in flats often various network applications from one or more of the following groups are intended to be supported: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Broadcast and Communication Technologies (BCT) and Control/Command Communications in Buildings (CCCB). For support of ICT- and BCT-network applications, the standard introduces the subsystem of residential cabling, which may be supplemented by a secondary subsystem, if appropriate. Contrary to the star-shaped structure for ICT- and BCT-network applications, the topology for CCCB applications may have manifold characteristics (for example, bus, branch, closed loop). Therefore, clause 5 of the standard defines an individual cabling structure for these applications which may be realized in the coverage area subsystem. Corresponding CCCB-network applications are specified, for example, in the standards of the DIN EN 50090 series. In addition to taking into account the new channel classes E_A and F_A and the associated component categories 6_A and 7_A, this standard contains corrected levels of BCT channels with coaxial cables, updated formulas regarding the length of BCT channels and revised specifications for the joining technique. DIN EN 50173-5 provides the operators and planners of data centres for the first time with a tool which allows for structured cabling and at the same time takes into account the special needs and characteristics of these facilities. Data centres are characterized, amongst others, by an extremely high volume of data cables needed for provision of central server services (for example, web hosting) to a large amount of users, both internally as well as to the outside world. The cabling topology defined in this standard provides a flexible structure which quickly and sufficiently supports modifications and expansions on the cabling with minimum operational disruption and thereby also takes into account the need of redundant network designs. The high-performance channel classes provide a technically future-proof and economically attractive cabling infrastructure even at quickly increasing transfer rates of the transfer facilities in data centres. In addition to taking into account the new channel classes E_A and F_A and the associated component categories 6_A and 7_A, this standard contains clarified specifications for fibre-optic cabling and multimode optical fibre cables and revised specifications for joining technique. The former informative Annex B "Channel insertion loss models for high bit rate, multimode, optical fibre applications" has been replaced by normative Annex B "Use of joining technique with high packing density in fibre-optic cabling". Literature: von Pattay at al.: Anwendungsneutrale Verkabelung für Gebäudekomplexe (Application-neutral customer premises cabling). In DIN-Mitteilungen + electronorm 2003-01, page 19 et seq (figure - cable feed of an equipment rack in the data centre (rear view) source: company dvt Consulting AG, 61389 Schmitten). The responsible Committee is Joint Subcommittee GUK 715.3 "Informationstechnische Verkabelung von Gebäudekomplexen" ("Customer premises cabling") of the DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies) at DIN and VDE.