Hidden PIM source discovered
Invention makes previously invisible source of PIM clearly visible.
Latest Research by Hughes Electronics and London Southbank University, a strategic alliance formed exclusively to investigate and mitigate sources of PIM in cellular networks, has found that humidity can make a significant contribution to PIM.
Humidity leaves behind it a layer of salts and other airborne contaminants which interfere with ‘clean’ signal transit. Greg Rymar CTO at Hughes Electronics said ‘Salts are electrical conductors that play havoc with skin effect signal transmission, though almost impossible to see the salts have a major effect on skin effect transmission’.
To counter the effect Hughes have designed an ingenious IP68 ingress inhibiting dust cap with a humidity indicator. The cap which protects open connector interfaces from dust and humidity incorporates an ingenious blue indicator in the top of the cap that turns to pink when it detects the presence of humidity.
The pioneering device is economical to deploy and can save riggers many wasted hours of PIM diagnosis and expensive trial and error remedies trying to track down sources of PIM they simply cannot see.