Attenuation

The measure (ratio) of the magnitude of the power of a signal in transmission between points. A decrease in attenuation can be caused by power loss in the dielectric, conductor losses and radiation, attenuation is usually measured in decibels per unit length (db/ft) at a specific frequency. It is used in cable manufacturing where the cable is sized to meet application needs. Attenuation is very dependent on signal frequency. A cable that works very well with low frequency data may do very poorly at higher data rates. Cables with lower attenuation are better. Another different yet related aspect is insertion loss (see entry).