TTBy Tonetron Engineering Team · Dongguan Taitron Electronic Limited
What is a TDR test and why does it matter?
It measures impedance along the cable and shows where a defect is, not just that one exists.
Answer: Time Domain Reflectometry sends a fast pulse down the cable and reads the reflections — it measures impedance along the length and locates where it deviates.
What it finds — impedance discontinuities at connectors, crushed sections, and poor shield termination.
Why it beats a pass/fail test — it tells you where, which is what production needs to fix the process.
What it does not do — it does not prove the link will pass at 48 Gbps; that needs eye-diagram or protocol-level testing.