October 2021 Connector Industry News
Industry events, awards, partnerships, personnel, acquisitions, facility, distribution, standards, association, and certification news from across the connector industry.
October 2021 Connector Industry News
October 2021 Connector Industry News > Event News
The element14 Spy Nerd Design Challenge gives community members the opportunity to develop security or spy-themed projects for the chance to win a Spy Kit Bundle plus a $200 shopping cart. Potential project areas include integrating hardware with new or existing IoT edge devices, securing consumer electronics, innovation around safe and smart retail, building robust and secure solutions for building or home automation, designing secure factory solutions, and creating better energy and renewables solutions. Members can also build their own version of commercially available spy-related products or design their own. Makers can develop spy devices with a range of tools, including Wi-Fi cameras, IP cameras, GSM bugs, wiretaps, body wires, GPS trackers, phone taps, or other types of surveillance bugs. For inspiration, watch a recent element14 Presents episode about a DIY Portal 2 Security Camera or an episode around the Raspberry S-pi Cam. The grand prize for the best overall project is a Spy Kit Bundle that includes an AI RF Detector, a Rabbler Noise Generator, night vision binoculars, and a $200 shopping cart to Newark. Submissions will be accepted through November 16 and can be submitted here.
The new IPC Design Competition invites printed circuit board designers to compete to become the IPC Design Champion of 2022. The competition includes a virtual preliminary heat and an in-person layout final for the three top contestants on January 25, 2022, at IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego. The preliminary heat will be held November 1, 2021, to December 1, 2021, allowing designers to use their preferred tools to complete a full board buildup within 30 days. Provided with only a schematic and a BOM (bill of materials), competitors will be judged against their interpretation and implementation of design per IPC standards and general DFX (design for excellence) principles. Three finalists will be invited to participate in the four-hour layout final at IPC APEX EXPO 2022. Registration for the IPC Design Competition is free but limited to 20 contestants and ends October 29, 2021. For more information, visit IPC.
PEI-Genesis is celebrating 75 years in business. The business started with two best friends, Murray Fisher and Bernie Bernbaum, repairing radios by buying surplus vacuum tubes and test equipment from the U.S. Army after WWII. At its beginning, the company stored inventory in rented garages in Philadelphia. Today it’s a global leader in the design and assembly of custom interconnect solutions, supplying harsh environment sectors such as military, medical, aerospace, transportation, and industrial. With over $80m in inventory, PEI-Genesis boasts one of the largest component inventories of connectors in the world, and over 70% of the company’s connectors are assembled to order. The company is a franchised distributor for leading brands including Amphenol, ITT Cannon, TE Connectivity, Cinch Connectivity Solutions, LEMO, Anderson Power Products, FilConn, Souriau, HARTING, and Positronic. Watch this video to learn more.
October 2021 Connector Industry News > Award News
Sager Electronics has been named 2020 Power Distributor of the Year by RECOM Power. “We are pleased to recognize Sager Electronics with our 2020 Power Distributor of the Year Award,” remarked Christoph Wolf, president of RECOM Power. “We anticipate many more years of success and are always appreciative of Sager’s commitment to our company’s growth and profitability.”
Amphenol Corporation was the recipient of two Cisco awards: Cisco 2021 GSM Supplier of the Year and Cisco 2021 Supply Chain Operations Supplier of the Year. Cisco unveiled the award winners at its annual Supplier Appreciation Event (SAE). The 30th annual SAE was aired virtually for the second year in a row on September 14, 2021. The Cisco 2021 GSM Supplier of the Year award recognizes Amphenol for demonstrating excellence in all of Cisco’s core performance areas – quality, technology, flexibility and productivity, and exceeding expectations to support the success of Cisco and its customers. The Cisco 2021 Supply Chain Operations Supplier of the Year award recognizes Amphenol for exceeding expectations across many areas of the business including quality, technology, responsiveness, flexibility, value creation, sustainability, and consistently demonstrating a high-level of partnership.
October 2021 Connector Industry News > Partnership, Personnel & Acquisitions News
Amphenol ICC announced the development of a 112 Gb/s interconnect technology built on their products. This combined solution is suited, but not limited to, high-speed communications, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and Industrial and Instrumentation applications. The interconnects use 112 Gb/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) technology to pack the maximum possible bandwidth into each communication channel. The bench setup demonstrated this solution with the eTopus 112 Gb/s ePHYTM SerDes IP evaluation board (EVB), utilizing four transmit (TX) and receive (RX) pairs, connecting two of Amphenol’s 4-Pair backplane right-angle receptacles with a 1 meter ExaMAX2 IO Assembly via Huber+Suhner connectors and cables. The total loss of the channel was 38 dB at 26.56 GHz, and the pinout was configured for worst-case crosstalk configuration using three near end crosstalk (NEXT) aggressors most adjacent to the victim pins in the connector. Pseudo-random bit stream (PRBS) data traffic is generated at the TX and FIR (finite impulse response). Conditioned signals are then sent through the eTopus breakout board and Amphenol’s interconnect. At the EVB RX, analog to digital converters (ADCs) digitize the incoming bit stream, fully adaptive digital signal processing (DSP) equalizes the signal levels, and finally the clock and data recovery (CDR) realizes the data stream. Pre-FEC (forward error correction) was lower than 9e-6 for the duration of the trade show, with estimated post-FEC BER reported as 1e-22.
Interstate Connecting Components, (ICC) earned its Boeing qualification to perform value-added assembly on Omega MIL-DTL-26500 BACC connectors from Cinch Connectivity. The new Boeing items include both BACC45 general purpose connectors and BACC63 high-performance connectors. The products feature attributes like environmental sealing, shielding, fluid resistance, vibration, and resistance to extreme temperatures of -55°C to +200°C. Finishes include anodized aluminum, electroless nickel, and cadmium over nickel. Available configurations include custom board mount, flex circuit, soldered wire, and crimp options. Omega MIL-DTL-26500 connectors are ideal for applications like avionics, aircraft, and missile systems.
HEICO Corporation’s Electronic Technologies Group acquired 80.1% of the stock of Nashua, New Hampshire-based RH Laboratories Inc. (RH). RH, now in its 20th year in business, is a designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art RF and microwave integrated assemblies, sub-assemblies, and components used in harsh environment defense applications, including space. Its products, which include multifunction assemblies, solid state control components, and receiver products, are most frequently found on electronic warfare, radar, and missile systems. RH’s customers include major defense prime contractors, the U.S. government, and other defense customers. RH employs 45 people at its 21,000 square foot Nashua engineering and production facility. HEICO Corporation is engaged primarily in the design, production, servicing, and distribution of products and services to segments of the aviation, defense, space, medical, telecommunications, and electronics industries through its Hollywood, Florida-based Flight Support Group and its Miami, Florida-based Electronic Technologies Group. HEICO’s customers include most of the world’s airlines and overhaul shops, as well as numerous defense and space contractors and military agencies worldwide.
Wiliot, a company that is transforming the IoT with tiny computers that turn trillions of everyday products into intelligent communication devices through its “Sensing as a Service” platform, announced two additions to its executive leadership team. Tony Small, formerly of Amazon and Zillow Group, has been named Chief Business Officer while Roee Zeiler, formerly of Blue Dot, Beamr, and Ernst & Young, has been named Chief Financial Officer. The breadth of Small and Zeiler’s backgrounds parallels the scope of Wiliot’s mission to change the fundamental structures of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to CPG to retail to industrial manufacturing. The appointments come on the heels of Wiliot’s $200-million series C round, which will be used to continue to grow its product, engineering, sales, and marketing teams in the United States, Israel, and around the world.
October 2021 Connector Industry News > New Technical Resources
For the fourth episode of Newark’s podcast series, The Innovation Experts, Keysight’s Mike Hoffman joined Newark’s Cliff Ortmeyer, global head of technical marketing and solutions development, to discuss what customers should look for when buying test and measurement equipment. Hoffman, product manager for Keysight Technology, offered some key advice for customers looking to purchase an oscilloscope. James McGregor, global head of Test & Tools at Newark, said, “Knowing exactly which functions and features your test product needs is essential to making the right decision. This ‘buyer’s guide’ episode provides a very useful review of features and performance, allowing engineers to specify the right equipment to meet their product design and test needs.” All podcast episodes are available on Newark’s Technical Resources Hub and major podcast providers, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
ECIA released its Industry Sentiment Update for September. The latest results from the Electronic Component Sales Trend (ECST) surveys for September and Q3 2021 point to an apparent stabilization of growth in recent months following wide swings in growth expectations over the past 20 months. The index average for growth expectations for overall components ranged between 120.0 and 127.0 between September and the October outlook. Similarly, expectations for overall end-market growth fell within a range of 111.4 and 115.4 in the same period. By comparison, the overall component index fell from 157.7 to 127.0 between March and August 2021 with the end-market index following a similar profile. Access the complete Industry Sentiment Update.
element14 released a new eBook, The State of 3D Printing in 2021, on the history of 3D printing, including the processes, materials, and applications, as well as what the future holds for this advancing technology. The 3D printing industry has quickly moved beyond industry-only tools to affordable models that can now be found in garages and home labs. As with any other technology, companies have taken advantage of innovations that have driven 3D printing into new areas and applications. 3D printers produce foods (including pizza) and build entire houses using massive robotic printers. The technology can be utilized for nearly anything and taken anywhere. The new eBook explores how all that has been made possible. Some of the best-selling printers from Newark, include Multicomp MC-I20, Ender – 3 V2, and Epsilon W27. For more information on 3D printing, find resources here. To read the full eBook, visit element14.com.
Facility News
Blackstone Technology GmbH is commissioning a state-of-the-art development laboratory for battery cell research at its new production site in Döbeln (Saxony). “With this step, we are further expanding our market-leading competencies in the field of battery technology,” explained Serhat Yilmaz, CMO of Blackstone Technology. “The development, analysis, and testing of our battery cells will now take place directly at the site. Once again, we are strengthening our commitment to the climate-neutral electromobility of tomorrow.” The new research center in Döbeln will enable further developments in battery cell technology to be realized and implemented by Blackstone Technology in a particularly timely manner. Read the full article
Distribution News
Heilind Electronics added Crouzet, a leading manufacturer of mechatronic components, to its industrial components portfolio. The global distribution agreement includes both Heilind Electronics and Interstate Connecting Components (ICC), the mil-aero division of Heilind. As authorized distributors, Heilind and ICC now offer Crouzet’s full portfolio, including automation and control components, motors and other motion control items, switches, circuit protection products, position sensors, and cockpit control components. Manufactured in compliance with industry standards and designed to serve a wide range of commercial and industrial applications, Crouzet products are also used in off-road and autonomous vehicles, nuclear and industrial valves, aircraft, and military ground and support vehicles. Visit Heilind’s website to learn more about its Crouzet offerings.
October 2021 Connector Industry News > Associations, Standards & Certifications News
SCHURTER has declared conformity with the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) and has applied the mark to all its CE marked product packaging labels. The newly marked packaging was rolled out the third week of September 2021, date lots coded 2138 and forward. The UKCA will be mandatory for products sold to Great Britain from January 1, 2023. Details regarding the UKCA can be found at: Using the UKCA marking – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Send inquiries to [email protected]. The UKCA mark came into effect on January 1, 2021, and is being placed on most goods previously subject to the CE mark used in Great Britain (this includes England, Scotland, and Wales). Accordingly, the UKCA marking’s technical requirements and conformity assessment processes and standards are largely the same as those for the CE marking.
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