News & Resources

Here you'll find information about OptEM's upcoming and past events, awards, access to software technical support, links to download technical papers, and links to other resource information we find interesting and helpful.

Upcoming Events

Trade Shows
IWCS Exhibition

IWCS: September 29 - October 2, 2019- OptEM will be exhibiting in booth 407 at the IWCS Conference/International Cable Connectivity Symposium in Charlotte, NC, USA. The IWCS presents the latest technologies in new and original wire and cable product design, materials, applications, processes and trends. OptEM will demonstrateOptEM Cable Designer a cable design software tool customized to design, analyze and model electrical and propagation parameters for all types of copper cables.

Paper Presentations

OptEM will present a paper entitled "Design Optimization of Screened Twisted Pairs" at the IWCS in Charlotte, NC, USA. The paper presentation details are as follows:

Paper Name - Design Optimization of Screened Twisted Pairs

Date - Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Time - 1:00 PM to 4:25 PM

Session - Session 6 Advancing Power (POE) & Data Transmission Over Copper

Abstract - The paper will demonstrate how OptEM Cable Designer, a software tool equipped with an electromagnetic field solver, can be used to optimize the design of an individually Screened Twisted Pair (STP) cable. Since the placement of screens on individual pairs of data cables addressed the problem of crosstalk, the paper focuses on the issues related to characteristic impedance and attenuation of the cable. It is accepted that attenuation became a critical design property of data cables operating in the GHz frequency range. This paper offers only a theoretical study of characteristic impedance and attenuation in STP cables. To achieve this goal, the author creates sensitivity tables for a 100 Ohm STP cable. Then, directed by the tables, the impact of individual design parameters on attenuation and characteristic impedance is investigated. The design parameters include: lay length, wire conductivity, screen conductivity, insulation loss tangent and dielectric constant, and wire and insulation diameters. It is demonstrated that selection of dielectric constant of the insulation has a critical impact on attenuation and that, depending on the selected dielectric, one can calculate an optimal characteristic impedance which leads to smallest attenuation of the STP cable.

Training

OptEM Cable Designer software training - see ourschedulefor the next 2-day training course nearest you. Don't see a scheduled course that's convenient for you? Pleasecontact usand we'll see what we can arrange.

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Awards

Best Technical Paper Award
Picture courtesy of www.wirenet.org

On May 5, 2014 Dr. Juliusz Poltz, the president and co-founder of OptEM, was awarded the Urbain J. H. Malo Memorial award by the Wire Association International (WAI) for the best 2013 technical paper in the Electrical Division. The paper is entitled "Optimizing Shielded Pair Manufacturing" and was originally presented at the Interwire Trade Exposition, 83rd WAI Annual Convention, in April 2013 in Atlanta, GA. The paper examines a method for estimating the expected tolerance of cable propagation properties based on available manufacturing tolerances and calculated sensitivities. The work establishes that the twinax cable insulation diameter and copper/skin eccentricity are responsible for attenuation tolerance, whereas copper and skin diameters are responsible for characteristic impedance tolerance. This best paper (electrical division) award was presented to Dr. Poltz during the WAI annual meeting held at the WAI Operations Summit & Wire Expo in May 2014 in Indianapolis, IN. The Wire Association International(WAI)Inc. is a worldwide technical society for wire and cable industry professionals governed by volunteers from around the world.

Exhibitor Recognition Award
OptEM Exhibitor Recognition at the DAC

In June 2013 OptEM was presented with an Exhibitor Recognition Award for 20 or More Years of Participation at the Design Automation Conference. TheDACis the premier conference and tradeshow covering the latest trends in electronic design and design automation (EDA). The 2013 DAC celebrated 50 years of innovation in EDA with a special banquet and ceremonial events at the conference in Austin, TX, USA. OptEM was pleased to receive this award and participate in this special event.

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Past Events

IWCS Conference October 2018 and UL-IWCS China Conference March 2019
UL-IWCS China 2019 Conference OptEM at the IWCS

OptEM showcasedOptEM Cable Designer, a cable design software tool customized to design, analyze and model electrical and propagation parameters for all types of copper cables, and presented a technical paper entitled Impact of Cable Length on NEXT) at both the IWCS conference in Providence, RI in October 2018, and at the UL-IWCS China conference in Shanghai in March 2019. The paper examines two pairs with varied lay length values simulated in the presence of a ground wire as components of a category cable core and then as elements of an F/UTP cable in order to determine the impact of cable length on NEXT. Further discussion is presented related to origins of NEXT resonance and the approach used for automated generation of lay values that can be used to push NEXT resonance above the required spectrum.

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