High-speed signal integrity concerns make choosing a connector for mezzanine board-to-board applications even more complex. Julian Ferry of Samtec offers advice on how to specify high-speed mezzanine connectors.   Choosing a connector for mezzanine board-to-board applications presents specification challenges in several engineering disciplines. High-speed signal integrity concerns make the selection even more complex. What is aRead More

With pervasive connectivity, powerful features emerge that change the entire automotive ecosystem in the connected car. In recent years, in-car systems have been supplemented by basic Internet connectivity, allowing drivers and passengers to remain “plugged in” to the business and social networks they take for granted when at home or in the office. But whatRead More

Traditional wiring approaches for automotive electronics can be unwieldy, driving up vehicle weight, costs, and complexity, without commensurately driving up value. Molex explains the five levels of interconnect technology advancement in the era of digital cars.   Electronics make nearly every vehicle feature a reality. Popular automotive infotainment, integrated smart phone connectivity, turn-by-turn navigation, and driver-assist applications are pushingRead More

The growing importance of the relationship between sensors and interconnects is fully evidenced in automotive safety systems, which require reliable, durable cable assemblies, according to Pete Doyon of Schleuniger.   As a young boy in the ’60s, my brother, sister, and I would stand on the rear seat of Dad’s Oldsmobile and hang onto theRead More

Today’s cars include sophisticated networks that control safety, entertainment, and communication in addition to vehicle performance, and all these systems need to talk to each other. Here, we look at how to specify an in-vehicle network connector.   Today’s vehicles increasingly employ sophisticated networks to control a number of vehicle functions, ranging from engine controlRead More

Any change to a connector design can cause undesirable and unanticipated results. In order to manage the risks associated with design changes, a well-established and effective process is required.   There are many possible motivations for changing the design of a connector. Typically these would include: Need for enhanced performance by a specific customer or theRead More

Amphenol RF fixed-length SMP cable assemblies are ideal for size-constrained, high-frequency applications. Amphenol RF introduced fixed-length SMP cable assemblies as a pre-configured solution for high-frequency applications with 50-ohm impedance requirements. The cable assemblies offer excellent performance up to 26.5GHz and are highly reliable in test environments. Amphenol SMP pre-configured cable assemblies feature Amphenol RF’s SMP plug connectors,Read More

The process of choosing the right electrical connector isn’t always black and white, and here Remke examines one of the most important connector decisions: Should you go with a stock connector or a custom option?   The process of choosing the right electrical connector for your application isn’t black and white, and neither are theRead More

Cable splices are a necessary evil in designing and installing a communications network, particularly in an industrial setting, so let’s take a look at safe fiber optic splicing techniques.     In a perfect world, a fiber optic installation would consist of long, continuous cable runs from one destination to another. However, in the realRead More

Installing fiber optic networks in harsh environments, such as on the factory floor, requires special considerations. Here, Berk-Tek explains how to specify water-resistant fiber optic cable for demanding applications.   Fiber optic cables have become an integral part of applications such as data centers, local area networks, telecom networks, industrial Ethernet, and wireless. Each applicationRead More

How do pre-terminated optical fiber and category-rated copper cabling stack up against field-terminated versions? Leviton shares five things to know about pre-terminated cabling and network deployment.   Pre-terminated cable provides a plug-and-play solution for links between switches, servers, patch panels, and zone distribution areas in the data center. These solutions include a variety of trunkRead More

The new AVX 2mm vertical poke-home WTB contact is 37% smaller than the next smallest product in the 9296 series and is ideal for light industrial applications.  AVX Corporation released a new 2mm vertical poke-home wire-to-board (WTB) contact. The latest addition to AVX’s 70-9296 Series, the new micro contact accepts 26 – 22AWG solid orRead More