EurekAlert!

Penn State engineers have developed and simulation tested a copper wire transmission scheme for distributing a broadband signal over local area networks (LANS) with a lower average bit error rate than fiber optic cable that is 10 times more expensive.

Dr. Mohsen Kavehrad, the W. L. Weiss professor of electrical engineering and director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research who led the study, says, "Using copper wire is much cheaper than fiber optic cable and, often, the wire is already in place. Our approach can improve the capability of existing local area networks and shows that copper is a competitor for new installations in the niche LAN market."

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