The military/aerospace market encompasses a wide variety of applications requiring numerous high-speed, rugged, and high-reliability interconnects. Who are the top connector companies that serve this market? The military/aerospace market is among the largest users of interconnect products. In 2021, military spending reached a record $2.1 trillion, a figure that includes a wide range of spendingRead More
What’s on the horizon for the connector industry? Bishop & Associates offers a new five-year forecast, while recognizing that the world is in a period of deep unknowns. Between the pandemic and its continuing aftershocks on supply chains and labor, the war in Ukraine and its impact on energy and military spending, the continued build-outRead More
Meet the Connector: Micro-D Connectors The tiny but mighty micro-D connector is half the size of a standard D-sub yet delivers rugged and reliable performance in commercial and military applications. Micro-D (and nano-D) connectors were derived from D-sub (D-subminiature) connectors in the 1970s. Their compact design led to their early popularity for use in computers.Read More
Meet the Connector: SCSI Connectors The Small Computer Systems Interface, or SCSI connector, (pronounced “scuzzy”) is a veteran of the small computing world. In the 1980s, this fast I/O connector served as a bus to link computers with components or peripherals such as disk drives. SCSI connectors typically feature two rows of pins in aRead More
Meet the Connector: Bayonet Connector Versatile and secure bayonet connectors are useful for a wide range of markets and applications. Bayonet connectors are a circular connector that delivers a secure and easy to operate connection by turning the locking ring until it latches into the mechanism. This standardized locking type allows for faster and moreRead More
From transportation to MIL/Aero to medical and more, hyperboloid contacts continue to be vital in the evolving world of electronics. Francois Robert Bonhomme invented the hyperboloid contact in 1956 in response to the need for more reliable connectors used in railway applications. By that time, rail systems had lighting and ventilation, but due to theRead More
Meet the Connector: MIL-C-5015/SAE-AS50151 Connectors With nearly a century of service in harsh environment equipment, this connector family has proven performance in military, automotive, transportation, and other rugged applications. MIL-C-5015 connectors, now formally known as SAE-AS50151, are heavy-duty, medium-density circular electrical connectors with soldered or crimped contacts. This military standard product family is used forRead More
Meet the Connector: Pin Header A pin header, or header, is a male connector with one or two rows of metal pins attached to a plastic base. Pin headers with more than two rows are available from some manufacturers. The pins are spaced in uniform intervals (commonly 2.54 mm or 0.1 inch apart) but manyRead More
Meet the Connector: PCIe Connectors Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCle), also called PCI Express, is a high-performance and high-bandwidth serial communication I/O interconnect bus standard. Interconnects that meet the PCIe standard include mezzanine and board-to-board connectors, over-the-board solutions, high-speed edge card sockets that support 1, 4, 8, and 16 PCIe links, and PCIe optical cableRead More
Meet the Connector: QMA Connectors The internal construction of the QMA is identical to the SMA and, like that connector, it delivers excellent performance up to 18 GHz and has the same power handling capabilities. The main difference is in the coupling mechanism. Instead of a threaded coupling, QMAs have a snap-on design with aRead More
As more products go cordless, durability has become an imperative for battery connectors. Batteries enable devices to operate using stored energy instead of a wired connection to an energy source. As more devices that once were wired become available in cordless versions for high-reliability purposes such as medical equipment or industrial equipment, the connectors thatRead More
Meet the Connector: N-Type Connectors The N-Type connector, or simply N connector, is an RF connector used to join coaxial cables. It was invented by Paul Neill of Bell Labs in the 1940s and was subsequently named for him. This medium-size, threaded, waterproof connector was one of the first that could carry microwave-frequency signals. TheRead More
