April 2, 2013 – The laws of physics begin to intervene as data rates increase, and signal integrity deteriorates when frequencies reach into the multi-gigabit range. The degree of high-speed signal distortion becomes significantly greater as channel lengths become longer. Reducing the physical distance between daughtercards becomes a priority. Bob Hult looks at some of the latest solutions developed to connect cable backplanes.
Fiber optic links have been a mainstay media in the telecommunications industry for many years. Fiber offers a number of specific advantages over copper interfaces, including: Much-reduced attenuation and signal distortion over long distances Greatly increased bandwidth Immunity from EMI/ESD Much-reduced cable bulk and weight Reduced latency No electrical shock hazard or ground loop potentialRead More
March 5, 2013 – Intense competition between countries continues to push high-performance computer technology to new levels. Advanced machines can fall from the leading edge to obsolescence in as little as three years. So what are the challenges that face designers of supercomputers today? Not surprisingly, many are very similar to those that exist in commercial computing equipment: packaging density, increasing bandwidth, power, and thermal management.
The next generation of connectors will need to work in small, high-power applications that must keep their cool in difficult conditions. But a lack of standards and constant cost pressures means it won’t be easy.
The race to faster connection links, both internal and external, have driven the connector industry to develop entirely new products that have bumped their rated bandwidth from a few hundred megahertz to 25+ Gb/s. The introduction of the universal serial bus (USB) 3.0 caused some skeptics to question the practical value of 5 Gb/s I/O links, as so few applications could take advantage of that data rate. USB 3.0 is now appearing on a host of computers and peripherals, which enable them to support new generations of emerging high-speed applications.
Adjusting to the challenging global economy of 2012, many connector manufacturers focused more on filling out existing product offerings to better match immediate system packaging needs and emerging trends rather than introducing groundbreaking new products. Offering connector product lines that feature good, better, and best options provides the ability to deliver the needed performance atRead More
Copper conductors will continue to reign supreme for many years, but basic laws of physics are pointing to limitations, and increasingly, fiber can provide more cost-effective solutions. Are you willing to bet on when this will occur?
Electronic connectors play a critical role in the expanding world of unmanned vehicles and devices. The electronic component industry has benefited over the years from the introduction of entirely new classes of products that created additional applications for separable connectors. In some cases, what has historically been a mechanical device is adapted to orRead More
October 2012 – Bob Hult discusses the many connector options available for rugged embedded computing designs and evaluates the benefits of various types by application.
September 4, 2012 – The power connector segment has experienced an extreme makeover in both product and philosophy, and is now much better aligned with the needs of current and next-generation equipment designers. What does the future hold?
The venerable card edge connector has been a mainstay interface that has served the electronics industry for many years by solving critical packaging challenges of complex electronic equipment. Early devices often utilized masses of discrete hand-soldered wires between subassemblies, a process that added cost and complexity, introduced error, and made repair difficult. The industry neededRead More
Since its development in the early 1970s, Ethernet has constantly evolved to support emerging demands of local area computer networks. Ethernet originally used a shared coaxial cable as its communication media, but migrated to unshielded twisted-pair, point-to-point links that increased bandwidth as well as reach from local area networks (LANs) to wide area networks (WANs).Read More
