Internships Patch Panels

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 Patch Panels

I learned the basics for how patch panels work. Behind patch panels is a device. That device then connects to another device. For example, in the server room, we have the SNPs (controls where signals go to) connected to switches via copper wires. The SNPs are what have patch panels in front of them and the switches don't. Now, ignoring the switches for now we can focus on how patch panels work. Each set of patch panels contain 2 rows. The top row is conventionally the output and the bottom row is conventionally the input. When I say rows, I am referring to open holes that are not connected to anything, so you can easily plug another cable in. Without anything plugged into the holes for the patch panels, the system still works since, as mentioned before, the SNPs are connected to switches via copper wires. The holes are basically an open circuit. As soon as I plug in a cable, the open circuit runs to that cable. This cuts off the signal from the SNP and the switch, so now any display on the monitor is gone as if I disconnected it. I can then connect the other end of the plugged in cable to elsewhere on the patch panel so then feed that signal to it. So, for example, if I wanted to route a camera feed from one monitor to another I would first have to look into the software and determine which SNP the camera is in and which SNP the monitor is in. For the sake of this example, the camera is located in SNP 3 Output 5 and the monitor I want to route it to is located in SNP 22 Input 24. I then take my patching cable, connect one end to SNP 3 Output 5 so that I break the circuit and now have it running through the cable. Afterwards, I connect the other end to SNP 22 Input 24. Now I feeding the output from the camera to the input of the monitor. This is more convenient than having to go to the back, locate, and manually disconnect the BNC connection and connect it elsewhere. Doing this is also bad because the BNC cables are more likely to be damaged from the BNC connection because they are not designed to be disconnected and connected multiple times. In contrast, patch cables are designed to be disconnected and connected multiple times. Not only that, they are in the front to be easily accessible instead of having to go to the cramped space in the back.
The application for patch cables vary. They can test for signal and send signal. Inside the server room, we have a monitor that is connected to one of the SNPs. We can connect any patch cable to the input and therefore have freedom to connect to the output of any of the other 20 SNPs. Once we do this, we can view the signal display on the monitor and what channel broadcast the signal displays if any. We can also see how good or how bad the signal is, again, without having to go in the back and disconnect cables. An alternative would be to use a Phabrix. Phabrix are signal generators, analyzers, and monitors with the capability to see a screen display of the signal and a display for the values such as signal strength, power strength, resolution etc.... Again, this is useful for trouble shooting and narrowing down the issue for where any signal could not be coming through.





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