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Home / Technical Articles / Cable spacing as a means of noise mitigation

Separation distances

In situations where there are a large number of cables varying in voltage and current levels, the IEEE 518-1982 standard has developed a useful set of tables indicating separation distances for the various classes of cables.

Cable spacing as a means of noise mitigation
Cable spacing as a means of noise mitigation (photo credit: antec.com.au)

There are four classification levels of susceptibility for cables.

Susceptibility, in this context, is understood to be an indication of how well the signal circuit can differentiate between the undesirable noise and required signal. It follows that a data communication physical standard such as RS-232E would have a high susceptibility, and a 1000-V, 200-A AC cable has a low susceptibility.

IEEE 518 – 1982 standard

The four susceptibility levels defined by the IEEE 518 – 1982 standard are briefly:

Level 1 (High) – This is defined as analog signals less than 50 V and digital signals less than 15 V. This would include digital logic buses and telephone circuits. Data communication cables fall into this category.

Level 2 (Medium) – This category includes analog signals greater than 50 V and switching circuits.

Level 3 (Low) – This includes switching signals greater than 50 V and analog signals greater than 50 V. Currents less than 20 A are also included in this category.

Level 4 (Power) – This includes voltages in the range 0–1000 V and currents in the range 20–800 A. This applies to both AC and DC circuits.

The IEEE 518 also provides for three different situations when calculating the separation distance required between the various levels of susceptibilities. In considering the specific case where one cable is a high-susceptibility cable and the other cable has a varying susceptibility, the required separation distance would vary as follows:

Both cables contained in a separate tray:

  • Level 1 to level 2-30 mm
  • Level 1 to level 3-160 mm
  • Level 1 to level 4-670 mm

One cable contained in a tray and the other in conduit:

  • Level 1 to level 2-30 mm
  • Level 1 to level 3-110 mm
  • Level 1 to level 4-460 mm

Both cables contained in separate conduit:

  • Level 1 to level 2-30 mm
  • Level 1 to level 3-80 mm
  • Level 1 to level 4-310 mm.

The figures are approximate as the original standard is quoted in inches.


Trays and conduits

Cable tray/conduit
Cable tray/conduit (photo credit: Legrand)

A few words need to be said about the construction of the trays and conduits. It is expected that the trays are manufactured from metal and be firmly earthed with complete continuity throughout the length of the tray. The trays should also be fully covered preventing the possibility of any area being without shielding.

Briefly galvanic noise can easily be avoided by refraining from the use of a shared signal reference conductor, in other words, keeping the two signal channels galvanically separate so that no interference takes place.

Electromagnetic induction can be minimized in several ways. One way is to put the source of electromagnetic flux within a metallic enclosure, a magnetic screen. Such a screen restricts the flow of magnetic flux from going beyond its periphery so that it cannot interfere with external conductors. A similar screen around the receptor of EMI can mitigate noise by not allowing flux lines inside its enclosure but to take a path along the plane of its surface.

Physical separation between the noise source and the receptor will also reduce magnetic coupling and therefore the interference.


Twisting of signal conductors

Twisting of signal conductors is another way to reduce EMI. The polarity of induced voltage will be reversed at each twist along the length of the signal cable and will cancel out the noise voltage. These are called twisted pair cables.

Multishield cable (Foil and Braid)
Multishield cable (Foil and Braid) – photo credit: multicable.com

Electrostatic interference can be prevented or at least minimized by the use of shields. A shield is usually made of a highly conductive material such as copper, which is placed in the path of coupling. An example is the use of a shield, which is placed around a signal conductor.

When a noise voltage tries to flow across the capacitance separating two conductors, say a power and a signal conductor (actually through the insulation of the conductors), it encounters the conducting screen, which is connected to ground. The result is that the noise is diverted to ground through the shield rather than flowing through the higher impedance path to the other conductor.

If the shield is not of a high conductive material, the flow of the diverted current through the shield can cause a local rise of voltage in the shield, which can cause part
of the noise current to flow through the capacitance between the shield and the second conductor.

Reference: Practical Grounding, Bonding, Shielding and Surge Protection – G. Vijayaraghavan, Mark Brown (Get hardcopy from Amazon)

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Edvard Csanyi

Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized for design of LV/MV switchgears and LV high power busbar trunking (<6300A) in power substations, commercial buildings and industry facilities. Professional in AutoCAD programming.

12 Comments


  1. Maryanne N. Egbe
    Jun 07, 2021

    thanks for the updates on Electrical. Well appreciated.


  2. meysam
    Mar 11, 2016

    how can we separate HV and MV cables? i mean are there any standard for classify HV (Up to 33KV) cables?


  3. Saidi
    Aug 11, 2015

    Is there any standard on separation between AC and DC power cabling within one cable tray.


  4. Mike Nolte
    Dec 31, 2014

    Wasn’t IEEE 518 withdrawn?


  5. rizaldy flores
    Oct 26, 2014

    This articles is very useful for us in electrical field bot only for engineers but also for technicians.. hope to see more about this website article..


  6. David Batchelor
    Jul 16, 2014

    These are very well presented topics which are great for young Engineers to understand the complex world of Building services. Please continue with these post


  7. Debraj Chatterjee
    Jul 14, 2014

    HOw can i download this articles..


    • Edvard
      Jan 04, 2015

      See the little blue button ‘Get PDF’ on your left? Try it!

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