| Full title | Information technology. Generic cabling for customer premises. Part 3: Industrial premises |
| Publisher | ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25 |
| Current edition | ISO/IEC 11801-3:2017 (edition 1, November 2017) with Cor 1:2018 and Amd 1:2021 |
| European counterpart | BS EN 50173-3:2018 (Information technology. Generic cabling systems. Industrial spaces), Current, under review |
| Related standards | ISO/IEC 11801-1, ISO/IEC 11801-2, ISO/IEC 11801-5, ISO/IEC TR 29106, IEC 61918, IEC 61784-5, ISO/IEC 14763-2 |
What it covers
ISO/IEC 11801-3 specifies generic cabling for industrial premises. It covers balanced and optical fibre cabling, and is optimised for premises where telecommunications services are distributed over distances of up to 10 000 m.
Its purpose is to give robust services to the automation islands in a factory, or in industrial spaces inside other buildings. Office spaces on the same site fall under ISO/IEC 11801-2. Data centre spaces fall under ISO/IEC 11801-5.
The cabling for critical automation within an automation island is not covered. That is addressed by IEC 61918 and the IEC 61784-5 series.
The standard contains only the requirements specific to industrial premises. General requirements for the series, including channel classes and components, are in ISO/IEC 11801-1.
Structure
Industrial generic cabling adds a level to the office hierarchy. Its cabling subsystems are:
| Subsystem | Role |
|---|---|
| Campus backbone and building backbone | Link distributors between and within buildings, as in ISO/IEC 11801-1 |
| Floor cabling | From the floor distributor towards the intermediate distributors (IDs) |
| Intermediate cabling | From an ID to telecommunications outlets (TOs) at the automation island, with optional consolidation points (CPs) between IDs and TOs |
A centralised architecture is also described. The standard includes length equations for intermediate links and floor links, and channel length equations with inter-connections and bulkhead connections.
Annexes added in 2017
- Annex A (normative), Industrial cabling system: supports critical process control, monitoring and automation (PCMA) services between automation islands.
- Annex B (normative): introduces the end-to-end link (E2E), an extra channel configuration used for industrial cabling.
Amendment 1:2021
- Adds requirements and recommendations for balanced single-pair cabling, including 40 m and 1 000 m channel models.
- Adds an optional edge distributor to support the transition from 4-pair to 1-pair cabling.
- Adds Annex D with performance limits for Class D, E and EA end-to-end links, tested to ISO/IEC 14763-4.
- Requires connecting hardware to IEC 63171-6 where 1-pair cabling is installed at the TO, and adds references to IEC 61156-11 and IEC 61156-12 cables.
- Updates link length tables and adds temperature derating of 1-pair intermediate link lengths above 20 °C.
MICE environmental classification
Industrial cabling is described by its environment using the MICE system. Each element is graded from 1 (least severe) to 3 (most severe):
| Element | Describes |
|---|---|
| M | Mechanical |
| I | Ingress |
| C | Climatic and chemical |
| E | Electromagnetic |
A location is written as, for example, M1I1C1E1, which is typical of an office. M3I3C3E3 is the harshest environment within the scope of the standards. The elements are graded separately, so a location with heavy vibration but clean air could be M3I1C1E1.
Where MICE is defined
- ISO/IEC TR 29106:2007 (with Amd 1:2012 and Amd 2:2019) introduces the MICE concepts and gives the sources used to set the class boundaries.
- ISO/IEC 11801-1:2017 holds the environmental classification used across the series, in clause 6.2.2 (Table 1, Channel environments, and Table 2, Details of environmental classification).
- IEC 61918 Annex B gives a MICE description methodology for installations.
Relationship to other standards
- Replaces ISO/IEC 24702:2006 and its Amendment 1:2009.
- In Europe the counterpart document is EN 50173-3. BS EN 50173-3:2018 superseded EN 50173-3:2007 + A1:2010. It covers structure, minimum configuration, TO interfaces, link and channel performance, implementation options, component performance and conformance.
- Installation outside automation islands is covered by ISO/IEC 14763-2. Installation inside them is covered by IEC 61918 with the IEC 61784-5 profile parts.
- End-to-end links are tested to ISO/IEC 14763-4.
What it means in practice
- Assess each space for its MICE grades before choosing cable, connectors and enclosures. The grade can change along a single run.
- Machine-side cabling inside the island follows IEC 61918.
- For a channel that includes a device cord or bulkhead, check whether the test report uses permanent link, channel or end-to-end link limits.
- For single-pair Ethernet at the TO, check that the connecting hardware is to IEC 63171-6.
Related reading: What is structured cabling?.