WCA March 2025

Technology News

Sikora offers technology for the extrusion of data cables (image created using AI)

AI boom drives demand for high-quality data cables

are therefore unable to accurately record short-term deviations and variations. The critical parameters that can affect quality are: • Diameter – too large or too small; endangers the function • Out-of-roundness – any deviation has an effect • Eccentricity of the conductor in the insulation • Degree of foaming and capacity of the insulation • Distance variations in twisted pairs Sikora measuring technology records all relevant nominal values and short-term variations during the extrusion of these wires. A watchdog function immediately reports if such limit values are exceeded, helping to ensure the quality of the wires. Sikora AG www.sikora.net

minimised reflections can be used for this high data rate, up to a length of 100m and more. The challenges with this cable type lie in the short-term periodic variations, and not only in the diameter and the scatter of these and other measured values. It is the single value accuracy that matters, not the average of many measured values. Sikora devices such as those in the Laser, Centerview or Capacitance ranges measure diameter and eccentricity values with high single-value precision, so that decisive deviations and scatter of the nominal values can be precisely recorded. Some other measuring devices only show smoothed average values from several less precise single values, and

With huge investment in AI data centres around the world, the demand for high quality data cables is rapidly growing. The quality requirements for these cables are setting new standards for the extrusion process. In the past, it was sufficient to control the diameter to the nominal value, but now brief variations in a wide range of parameters of this cable type can cause reflections during data transmission. This significantly reduces the usable length of a wire pair. Meeting the requirements for this cable type on a permanent basis requires continuous monitoring of the performance of the extrusion process. Data cables are generally used for data transmission in the range of up to several gigabytes/sec. Twisted wires with low-loss foamed insulation with

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March 2025