Editing Coaxial cable (section)

=== Signal leakage ===

Signal leakage is the passage of electromagnetic fields through the shield of a cable and occurs in both directions. Ingress is the passage of an outside signal into the cable and can result in noise and disruption of the desired signal. Egress is the passage of signal intended to remain within the cable into the outside world and can result in a weaker signal at the end of the cable and [[electromagnetic interference|radio frequency interference]] to nearby devices.  Severe leakage usually results from improperly installed connectors or faults in the cable shield.

For example, in the United States, signal leakage from [[cable television]] systems is regulated by the FCC, since cable signals use the same frequencies as aeronautical and radionavigation bands. CATV operators may also choose to monitor their networks for leakage to prevent ingress. Outside signals entering the cable can cause unwanted noise and picture ghosting. Excessive [[electronic noise|noise]] can overwhelm the signal, making it useless. In-channel ingress can be digitally removed by [[ingress cancellation]].

An ideal shield would be a perfect conductor with no holes, gaps, or bumps connected to a perfect ground. However, a smooth solid highly conductive shield would be heavy, inflexible, and expensive.  Such coax is used for straight-line feeds to commercial radio broadcast towers.  More economical cables must make compromises between shield efficacy, flexibility, and cost, such as the corrugated surface of flexible hardline, flexible braid, or foil shields. Since shields cannot be perfect conductors, current flowing on the inside of the shield produces an electromagnetic field on the outer surface of the shield.

Consider the [[skin effect]]. The magnitude of an alternating current in a conductor decays exponentially with distance beneath the surface, with the depth of penetration being proportional to the square root of the resistivity. This means that, in a shield of finite thickness, some small amount of current will still be flowing on the opposite surface of the conductor. With a perfect conductor (i.e., zero resistivity), all of the current would flow at the surface, with no penetration into and through the conductor. Real cables have a shield made of an imperfect, although usually very good, conductor, so there must always be some leakage.

The gaps or holes, allow some of the electromagnetic field to penetrate to the other side. For example, braided shields have many small gaps. The gaps are smaller when using a foil (solid metal) shield, but there is still a seam running the length of the cable. Foil becomes increasingly rigid with increasing thickness, so a thin foil layer is often surrounded by a layer of braided metal, which offers greater flexibility for a given cross-section.

Signal leakage can be severe if there is poor contact at the interface to connectors at either end of the cable or if there is a break in the shield.

To greatly reduce signal leakage into or out of the cable, by a factor of 1000, or even 10,000, superscreened cables are often used in critical applications, such as for [[neutron]] flux counters in [[nuclear reactors]].

Superscreened cables for nuclear use are defined in IEC 96-4-1, 1990, however as there have been long gaps in the construction of nuclear power stations in Europe, many existing installations are using superscreened cables to the UK standard AESS(TRG) 71181<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:16035253 |title=Superscreened co-axial cables for the nuclear power industry |website=International Atomic Energy Agency |type=Catalogue record |date= May 1977 }}</ref> which is referenced in IEC 61917.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meconinfo.co.in/IECPDF/pdf/iec61917%7Bed1.0%7Den.pdf|title=IEC 61917 Cables, cable assemblies and connectors – Introduction to electromagnetic (EMC) screening measurements First edition 1998-06}}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>