Comparison between Measured Data-Carrying VDSL2 Cable Radiation and Radiation Limits for Wire-Line Telecommunication Networks

Abstract

Digital subscriber line (DSL) is a technology that are widely used for bringing high-speed Internet access to the users’ premises. Unfortunately, the use of the DSL over existing copper telecommunication networks can result in radiation that can cause interference to radio systems operating in the same frequency range. To restrict such radio disturbances various radiation limits for wire-line telecommunication networks have been proposed. However, radiation limits differ significantly from each other which makes it difficult to adopt common protection criteria. In this paper, the comparison between defined radiation limits and measurements of the E-field radiation from the copper telecommunication cable is performed based on the measurement methodology described in the ITU-T K.60 Recommendation. The aim of the measurement was to assess whether the radiation from the aerial copper telecommunication cable (type: TK59U-xDSL) when VDSL2 profile 17a technology is used, meets radiation limits mostly used in the European Union. Measurement results have shown that the radiation from the cable is approximately 6 dB above limits proposed by the ECC/REC(05)04 Recommendation, which could cause intolerable errors in radio signal reception, thus disabling radio service to operate as intended. The obtained results show that the power spectral density (PSD) should be reduced by 10 dB in order to assure an adequate protection of radio services.