EMC Analysis of Shielded Twisted Pair and Shielded Parallel Pair Transmission Lines for Automotive Multi-Gig Ethernet

Abstract

In this work, the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) and Shielded Parallel Pair (SPP) cables for automotive Multi-Gig networks is investigated. Such high-speed networks are essential requirements for the implementation of new technologies like autonomous driving. As the safety and reliability of the future vehicles are of primary importance, the functionality of the individual network components regarding their EMC characteristics should be studied carefully. Possible automotive ethernet cable options are presented in a first step. After describing the measurement setup, the frequency domain measurements of the cables mentioned above with different lengths are explained and compared using mixed-mode Sparameter measurements up to 8 GHz. The screening attenuation, coupling attenuation and the unbalanced attenuation of both cables are investigated and compared using triaxial measurement setup. Using a bit error rate tester the time domain characteristics of the cables for different gigabit data rates are compared. Finally, based on the measurement results, the application frequency range of each cable is discussed.