e-waste, air pollution, and water contamination are toxic legacies of the electronics industry. But new products and projects are aiming to change that, along with five electronics industry sustainability initiatives that guide the next generation of global electronics development. There is no denying it: The electronics industry contributes heavily to pollution. According to the WorldRead More

The Connected Factory Exchange (IPC-CFX) is a new IoT standard that guides Industry 4.0 applications. As Industry 4.0 comes into widespread use, the global trade association IPC saw a need to develop a standard to guide applications that operate within these connected and automated smart factory systems. The new Connected Factory Exchange, or IPC-CFX, isRead More

In a global economy, we see many of the same cars on the roads in Europe and the US. But the electronics packages inside them may differ due to differences in standards for automotive connectors and components. The global automobile market is not constrained by borders, national pride, or even tariffs. On the streets ofRead More

Changing medical standards and regulations add complexity to compliance processes required for products and component destined for the medical market. Medical Standards Regulations can make designing new products more complicated, more costly, and more time-consuming, adding steps that delay time to market. So why do standards organizations keep setting up these road blocks? Because regulationsRead More

Managing creepage and clearance is one design strategy that can help reduce risk in medical devices and systems. How to Reduce Risk in Medical Devices Medical equipment used to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients, such as electrocardiographs (ECGs), thermal cauteries, and monitors, has to meet extremely high safety requirements. The international standard IEC 60601-1 guidesRead More

As the Department of Defense prepares for the future of the military, the electronics industry is working to help it understand the complex needs and issues that affect R&D, manufacturing, the workforce, and the supply chain. In August 2018, President Trump signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA 2019)Read More

An extension of the EU exemption known as 6(c) brought relief to the connector industry. Back in 2015, there was a great gnashing of teeth over concern that the European Union would no longer allow the use of lead in certain types of copper contacts. Contacts that are made on precision-screw machines rely on aRead More

For more than a century, the UL mark has helped inspire confidence in a product’s safety and quality. For UL, facilitating the standards development process, developing standards and certifying to those standards helps ensure that quality starts at the component level. UL is a premier global independent safety science company that has championed progress forRead More

The VITA 76.0 connector ensures exceptional signal integrity for high-speed interconnects over maximum cable length on size-, weight-, and power (SWaP)-constrained ground, airborne, and naval platforms. By Mike Southworth, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions, and Ken Braund, Meritec In 2015, VITA adopted the VITA 76.0 standard, “High Performance Cable – Ruggedized 10 Gbaud Bulkhead Connector for CuRead More

US-based aircraft have a new equipment mandate to improve surveillance and communications. The deadline is fast approaching, but operators have numerous options to get compliant. New ADS-B Standards Nearly a decade ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set in place a timeline to transition from radar to next-generation, surveillance-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to manage theRead More

Observers have claimed Fibre Channel, which powers Storage Area Networks (SANs), has been in decline for years, replaced by newer, faster standards. But innovations in storage network software and infrastructure may help keep demand for Fibre Channel and its dedicated connectors and cables alive. By Neil Shurtz Computing applications are continuing to grow in complexity.Read More

The Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO) has released the industry’s first on-board optics specification. What does this mean for you? In April 2018, the Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO) released its first specification for optics that reside on the motherboard. COBO has specified modules capable of 400G and 800G rates. The designs will also supportRead More