Active cable

Article summary

Active cables are copper or fiber-optic cables used for data transmission that use an electronic circuit to boost their performance. Without an electronic circuit, a cable is considered passive. Unlike passive cables, which can suffer from data degradation due to issues such as attenuation, crosstalk, and group velocity distortion, active cables contain one or more integrated circuits to address these problems. This active boosting allows cables to be more compact, thinner, and longer, and to transmit data faster than passive cables. Active cables are used in enterprise networks to connect consumer devices such as cameras, gaming consoles, and HDTVs. Embedding circuitry in cables can allow less copper to be used in cable production while retaining performance. This reduces weight and offers longer reach and lower power consumption. Active cables use one or more integrated circuits to boost the signal passing through the cable. This helps to compensate for issues that can degrade data, such as attenuation, crosstalk, and group velocity distortion. There are two main types of active cables: active electrical cable (AEC), which utilize copper, and active optical cable (AOC), which utilize fiber-optics. Both types have pluggable transceivers that are permanently connected to multiple strands of copper or fiber cable.…

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