Mil-Spec Cable and Cable Assemblies Product Roundup
This week’s Product Roundup highlights Mil-Spec cables and cable assemblies from leading suppliers.
Mil-Spec Cable and Cable Assemblies
EZ Form Cable, a Trexon Company, has 27 active semi-rigid cables that are qualified to MIL-DTL-17 and listed on the Qualified Products List (QPL) of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). EZ Form, an AS9100D certified manufacturer of RF and microwave cable products for critical applications in the military and aerospace, has one of largest offerings of semi-rigid cable for those markets. This extensive and diverse range includes copper and aluminum jacketed semi-rigid cables in sizes of .034, .047, .086, .141, and .250 diameters. These are available un-plated or with silver, tin, or tin-lead plating. EZ Form is a full-service supplier that provides bulk cable, discrete RF cable assemblies, delay lines, phase-matched cable assemblies, and RF connectors.
Allied Electronics & Automation supplies Johnson-Cinch SMA RF Cable Assemblies. These cable assemblies have SMA connectors on both ends, built to M39012 specifications. SMA connectors are semi-precision, sub-miniature, high-frequency connectors that offer reliable broadband performance. These SMA assemblies offer both flexible and semi-rigid (hand conformable) cable types. Allied offers custom lengths if needed. Heat-shrink representation may vary.
CDM Electronics supplies heavy duty, harsh environment cable assemblies. Supporting military and industrial marketplaces, CDM’s assemblies are found in generators, military vehicles, commercial and military aircraft, power distribution panels, emergency shelters, and simulators. CDM’s high-power-cable center of excellence provides superior quality assemblies at off-the-shelf pricing. All assemblies are American-made in a state of the art AS9100 / ISO 9001:2015 facility.
Semi-rigid space-qualified cables from Smiths Interconnect are available with a copper or aluminum jacket, with a selection of different platings and four diameters: .047”, .085”, .141”, and .250”. High-frequency RF cable assemblies are available with a wide variety of flexible and semi-rigid cable types with space orbit qualifications and are well-suited for satellite payloads (GEO/MEO and LEO constellations), deep space probes, ground antenna networks, and space robotic systems. The conformable or hand-formable BJ (braided jacket) has a tin-filled braid with a metal foil underlay and is also available in the same diameters as the semi-rigid type. Semi-rigid .047 diameter cable is often used as an interconnect without connectors. The exposed center conductor and outer jacket are soldered directly to the circuits being connected.
Omnetics specializes in miniature connectors and small wire gauge interconnects to meet the unique and demanding requirements for military and defense, with IPC-610 and IPC-620 trained workers onsite. A wide range of cable and wire configurations are available. The Nano product line, with .025” (.635 mm) pitch, accepts AWG conductors in the range of 30-38 AWG. The Micro product line, with .050” (1.2 mm) pitch, accepts conductors with 26-30 AWG in general. Smaller AWG wire can be accommodated in both product lines with special considerations. With such small wire sizes, tensile strength is often a major concern. Omnetics has many solutions for this problem, including high-strength copper alloys, high-strength Kevlar or Nomex strength members, miniature strength members impregnated in the stranded conductor bundle, and more. These techniques enhance ruggedness and durability to ensure the cable harness will not fail in the field.
TR Multicoax series from Ardent Concepts, an Amphenol company, delivers superior signal integrity from multiple GHz+ channels. With a choice of 20 GHz, 40 GHz, or 70 GHz configurations, users can upgrade their connectors as bandwidth requirements on their applications increase. TR is the highest density high-speed multicoax connector on the market. The compression-mount interface drives lower total cost of testing by avoiding costly solder-down components that can’t be recovered and encouraging reuse across programs. These products are Mil-Std 202 qualified and designed into global military and aerospace applications.
Semflex, from Cinch Connectivity Solutions, offers the broadest range of cable assemblies in the industry, covering a frequency range from DC to 50 GHz. Semflex manufactures its own high-performance coaxial cables and connectors, as well as utilizing standard industry components. Four series of catalog-configured cable assemblies as well as custom-configured cable assemblies are available. Semflex cables have been widely used in military and aerospace applications.
Specific designs, materials, techniques, and processes are used to ruggedize Fischer Cable Assembly Solutions to withstand weathering, abrasion, shock, vibrations, temperature extremes, electromagnetic interferences, radiation, chemicals, and sterilization and cleaning processes, and to meet technical requirements such as high sealing performance, EMI shielding, flex life, and resistance to tension force. Proper materials are specified and selected to optimize the form, fit, and function of a large variety of electrical, optical, fluid/gas, and hybrid connections. Capabilities include overmolded cable assemblies for bend protection (thermoplastic and silicone) and right-angled overmolds, wiring harness assemblies, internal potting enhancing sealing level to allow for submersion, heat shrinking for added protection and support to exposed wire, as well as breakouts, pigtails, and fiber optic termination. Custom overmolds and cable colors are also available, typically tan 499 for defense applications. Signal integrity and data transmission performances are ensured with minimal near-end crosstalk (NEXT) and far-end crosstalk (FEXT), insertion loss and return loss, offering Ethernet up to 10 Gb/s, USB 3.2 gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s, USB 2.0 up to 480 Mb/s, and HDMI 1.4. Single-pair Ethernet (SPE) solutions offer data transmission speeds ranging from 10 Mb/s to 1 Gb/s, and Power over Data Line (PoDL) up to 52 Watts. The military standards used to test connectors include MIL-STD-202-214 for random vibration testing, MIL-STD-202-213 for shock resistance, MIL-STD-810-501.6 / 502.6 for high and low temperatures, MIL-STD-202-101 for corrosion resistance, and MIL-STD-202H / 810G / 883K for chemical resistance.
The NorComp M12 cable assembly product offering is used in a variety of heavy-duty, demanding end-use applications within highly stressful environments. This pre-assembled over-molded M12 cable remains sealed and watertight even if submerged. Moreover, the customized M12 cable assembly offering is available in combination with both male and female M12 connectors at a range of temperatures in various lengths built to specifications as required.
Northwire is a Quality Certified AS9100 manufacturer of wire, cable, and assemblies for the aerospace and defense industries. Expert design engineers work with clients to select the right materials and configurations to meet extreme environmental requirements for end applications with high flex, ruggedized, military-grade materials manufactured to specification. Quality control tests ensure that tensile and elongation of extruded materials are processed for long-lasting performance. Add high performance connectors from LEMO for a complete cable assembly solution, available in lightweight aluminum or chrome-plated brass housing materials and select from push-pull or ratchet-coupling configurations.
Amphenol PCD’s MIL-DTL-55116 audio cables for harsh environment applications are finished, turnkey, factory-assembled, and molded cable assemblies. They use Amphenol M55116 connectors and a rugged, watertight, two-stage molding process.
Learn more about Mil-spec connectivity solutions at Circular Mil-Spec Connectors Product Roundup, Mil-Spec RF Connectors, Cables, & Cable Assemblies Product Roundup, and Rectangular Mil-Spec Connectors Product Roundup.
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