Soldiers have always worn technology to keep them from harm and help them do their jobs better. In the information age, the technology they wear is built on information itself.   In contrast with 20th-century technology that reached its peak with highly destructive atomic weapons, in the information age the key military technology will beRead More

The marriage of high-reliability connectors and sensors brings a new facet of connectivity to the interconnect industry. Connector Manufacturers Connect to Sensors The physical and digital worlds are merging and sensors of all types are on the front line of that evolution. The emerging Internet of Things is essentially a network of connected sensors thatRead More

The challenges of high-bandwidth low-latency wireless for autonomous technology, high data volumes for media, and support for the Internet of Things are shaping the next generation of wireless.   While each generation of mobile technology has been developed to tackle new challenges, the current generation in development – the 5G standard – will be designedRead More

As autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems become mainstream, LiDAR sensors become smaller, cheaper, and consumer-friendly. Will this impact automotive connector design?   Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, is a core source of data for driverless car systems like that being developed by Google, and the huge, expensive, mechanical LiDAR units used onRead More

Since the modern automobile was invented, its basic functionality and shape has remained essentially the same. However, the environment in which vehicles operate and the data to which they connect are changing dramatically, and components will play a significant role in the automotive revolution.   The connected car has the power to shake up theRead More

Researchers from University of Tokyo have successfully built fundamental components from the semiconductor germanium for integrated photonic circuits that work at mid-infrared wavelengths and could improve Internet speeds.      Mid-infrared light, which has a wavelength longer than visible light but shorter than microwaves, has many important applications in remote sensing and communication technologies. ResearchersRead More

Manufacturers of rolling stock require high-quality electrical connection systems, and there is increasing demand for custom-tailored railway cabling solutions from connector manufacturers.      Like those in traditional mechanical engineering fields, manufacturers of rail vehicles face the increasing challenges of higher costs and time-to-market pressures. Electrical connections and cabling are one area where they canRead More

It’s a dream that’s been around since at least the late 1930s, when the public imagination was sparked by the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair. Take a look at how cars learn to be human, and why they’ll be better at it than we are.   The world is precariously close to seeingRead More

Is it for the sake of technology advancement, broader customer appeal, or just a good business opportunity? Bishop & Associates’ David Brearley looks at why connector giants expand into sensors.    You may have noticed there have been several acquisitions of sensor companies by connector companies in recent years. TE Connectivity, for example, acquired MeasurementRead More

Traditionally employed in heavy industrial applications, robots are moving into other industries. In the medical field, they are used for surgery, therapy, diagnostics, and much more.   Robots for specialized medical applications such as surgery bring together robotics and biology, and we’re seeing an increase in the number of robots specifically designed and developed for thisRead 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

The FCI 3mm RotaConnect wire-to-board connector mates horizontally with the existing board-to-board version. FCI announced the extension of the RotaConnect family with a wire-to-board solution. The wire-to-board (WtB) connector mates horizontally with the existing board-to-board version, which is hermaphroditic and surface-mount-soldered to the PCB. The 3.00mm pitch RotaConnect WtB features a dual-beam spring-contact design that delivers high performance andRead More