Analyzing Handling Effects on Performance Parameters of Ethernet Cables using the Feature Selective Validation Method and Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

The use of Ethernet cables is a vital, if under- discussed element of the infrastructure for the internet of things (IOT). While there are many cable types on the market, one worrying trend is the wide availability of copper clad aluminum (CCA) cables, which are widely considered unsuitable for infrastructure deployment. The availability of these copper clad aluminum (CCA) cables frequently disguised as compliant Ethernet communication cables calls for a method of assessing their performance, as this is crucial to ensuring quality of service delivery. This paper presents a method of analyzing the measured return loss and impedance profile due to handling stress. In this research, four Ethernet cables of which one of them was copper CCA cable were subjected to three rounds of coiling and uncoiling tests to represent stress from handling during installation. The Feature Selective Validation (FSV) method and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) tests were used to quantify the variations between the tests. The results indicate that the CCA cable has the lowest resilience to physical stress with high potential for degradation.