High Flex Cable Information
A standard coaxial cable is made from a centre core which the signal propagates along, a dielectric to make sure that the signal is retained in the core, a braided shield and a PVC jacket. The centre core on most coaxial cables used in broadcast systems is a single strand of signal wire usually made from copper or for high-frequency applications the core is also silvered to add conductivity to the cable.
In systems that demand movement of the cables with items of equipment, a flexible cable may be a solution, for a cable to become more flexible it needs to have a core that is multi-stranded. This allows for the cable to bend and flex without the potential to break that a single core has. The downside of increasing the cable's flexibility is that the signal integrity isn't as good as a single-core version.
The areas of application that require more movement of the cable than others are Machine Vision and Medical equipment, which tend us use the CoaXPress protocols.
CoaXPress offers a combination of Image data, Communication, Control and power over a single coaxial cable increasing the demands of the cable from a simple SDI standard. If you are looking for a cable to offer flexible SDI capability the following information will more than cover these standards too.
Cable Type | Cable Group | Operating Frequency | Impedance | Jacket Material / Size | Dielectric Material / Size | Centre Conductor Material / Size | Conductor Type | Shielding Outer Conductor |
Belden 1505F | BC | DC-6GHz | 75 ohms | PVC / 6.15mm | FHDPE / 3.68mm | Compacted Copper / 0.79mm | Stranded/ Flexible | Tinned Copper Braid |
Belden 1694F | AS/BH | DC-6GHz | 75 ohms | PVC / 7.01mm | PE / 4.57mm | Copper / 1.016mm | Stranded/ Flexible | Double Layer Tinned Copper Braid |
Canford SDV-F-R |
AS/BH | DC-12GHz | 75 ohms | PVC / 6.8mm | FHDPE / 4.8mm | Copper / 19/0.2mm | Stranded/ Flexible | Tinned copper Braid & Foil |
Canford SDV-XF |
AS/BH | DC-12GHz | 75 ohms | PVC / 7.2mm | FHDPE / 4.8mm | Copper / 19/0.2mm | Stranded/ Flexible | Double Tinned Copper Braid |
Key to acronyms:
PVC - Polyvinyl chloride
FHDPE - Gas injected Foam High-Density Polyethylene
Cambridge Electronic Industries have been testing the capabilities of multistranded coaxial cables for use in a CXP environment and are happy to offer the following information on lengths of cable that can be achieved depending on the frequency of the signal. The tests were completed using a Bitflow CLX-PC2-CXP1 and a Basler BOA4096-93CC 1C Camera. Other test setups may provide different results.
Cable Type | Micro BNC Connectors | Maximum Distance at CXP-3 | Maximum Distance at CXP-6 | Maximum Distance at CXP-12 | Min Bend Radius |
Belden 1505F | XPT-D001-NGAB | 50m | 23m | 20m | 63.5mm |
Belden 1694F | XPT-D001-NGAS | 100m | 60m | 25m | 69.85mm |
Canford SDV-F-R |
XPT-D001-NGAS | 100m | 60m | 20m | 35mm |
Canford SDV-XF |
XPT-D001-NGAS | 90m | 40m | 13m | 35mm |