Wednesday 10 August 2016

Attenuation of Coaxial Cable

The power loss caused by a coax cable is referred to as attenuation. It is defined in terms of decibels per unit length, and at a given frequency. Obviously the longer the coax cable, the greater the loss, but it is also found that the loss is frequency dependent, broadly rising with frequency, although the actual level of loss is not linearly dependent upon the frequency.


Attenuation of coax-cables is described as the attenuation of the individual parts. Inner conductor, dielectric and outer conductor attenuation form the overall attenuation of the cable according equation [1].

αtot = α i+ α foam+ αo                                                                               [1]

The individual components are described with equation [2], [3]and [4].

Attenuation of inner conductor

α i             =          36.1*ki *√f / Zc*de                                             [2]

Attenuation of outer conductor

α o          =          36.1*ko *√f / Zc*De                                                          [3]

Attenuation of the dielectric layer

αfoam =     9.096 *√ εr* tan δ *f                                               [4]

α i        -           attenuation inner conductor [dB/100m]
α o        -           attenuation outer conductor [dB/100m]
αfoam     -           attenuation dielectric layer [dB/100m]
Zc         -           characteristic impedance [ohm]
f           -           frequency [MHz]
εr          -           dielectric constant
ki         -          shape factor inner conductor
ko         -           shape factor outer conductor
de         -          electrical equivalent inner diameter
De        -          electrical equivalent outer diameter

The electrical equivalent diameter considers the skin effect, which occurs on high frequency signals where the current tends to flow only in a very thin skin layer. The depth of penetration is given by following formula.

‘δ       =      15.9 / √(σ*f )

δ          -          conducting layer         [mm]
σ          -          conductivity                [m/Ω mm2]
f           -           frequency                    [kHz]

With above relation
de = di CU  – 2* δ
De = Do CUinner + 2* δ



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