In today's network-centric and data-intensive marketplace, connectors should be the focus of most people's attention. Connectors are the lifeblood of today's technology-driven world. The term covers many aspects, from references to the internet and data networks to household appliances and devices of all sizes.
As technology continues to advance, the connections between any design components become increasingly important. Where previously you may have relied on a "spare" or favorite connector for all your projects, bandwidth needs to be increased and crosstalk or environmental effects need to be eliminated in order to find new, more robust connectors to optimize your design and ensure the best results. Never before have connectors played such a critical role in the success of an embedded system design.
1. The requirements for connector integrity and performance are getting higher and higher
The main potential hurdle for a connector to meet today's high-speed design requirements is the physical aspects of its design, such as stack height, distance between boards, current requirements or handling and operating temperature. As system speeds increase, interconnect design is no longer based solely on mechanical requirements. Now, there are some additional electrical performance issues to consider.
Today's designers must consider issues such as crosstalk, skew, and propagation delay. The successful design of any connector requires striking the right balance between maximizing its physical and mechanical strength and optimizing signal integrity. Connectors are an important link in the signal transmission chain and should not be overlooked when designing high-speed systems. In fact, the design and manufacture of connectors should be part of the overall system-level design process.
2. Increase bandwidth requirements
Increasing bandwidth requirements enable connectors to handle higher data rates for all types of applications. Today, it's not just mission-critical military and aerospace designs that require cutting-edge technology. It can now be found in everything from cars to consumer IoT devices.
Today's rapidly increasing bandwidth demands challenge the ability of traditional design methods to take advantage of existing technology components. While connectors are often considered the "back end" of many product implementations, they need to be held to the same design standards as all other components in any high speed/high bandwidth product.
3. Electrical performance issues that need to be considered
Crosstalk is the unwanted transmission of electrical signals between two or more transmission media due to inductive or capacitive coupling. Crosstalk can also arise due to inhomogeneities in the transmission medium and skew effects in the signal transmission pair. At high speeds, circuits generate electrical noise that affects crosstalk between signals, and EMI noise that interferes with other circuits. These realities mean that signal integrity and reliability become important factors. Historically, crosstalk has been attributed to cables, but as LAN speeds have increased and cable quality has improved, other channel components have begun to affect crosstalk performance.
Connector crosstalk can be a big problem unless the design of the connector allows it. Skew or Propagation Delay—Intra-pair and inter-pair skew describe the propagation delay, respectively, difference between electrical signals within a signal pair and between two or more signal pairs in a cable. Both affect available bandwidth. Intra-pair skew causes signal distortion, and reduction in transmission bandwidth results in higher electromagnetic emissions and lower noise immunity.
Since, as with most multi-lane data bus systems, all data must be valid at the same time, pair-to-pair skew results in reduced bandwidth. Both issues can be affected by differences in the mechanical length of the signal to the inner conductor or different dielectric constants, and are mainly seen in the 90° variant of the connector. The HSD 90° splice has a base grid of 2 mm, which results in a length difference of 4 mm between a pair of conductors and implies a time delay difference of approximately 20 ps.
Environmental Influences - Many of us work indoors under moderate and controlled conditions, so the equipment and appliances around us contribute to only moderately stressful lives. However, most electrical and electronic systems and machinery that make our lives run smoothly must operate under harsh conditions exposed to the natural elements. If the connector needs to be used in a harsh operating environment, the design engineer should pay attention to the selection of the connector and check the manufacturer's IP (Ingress Protection) rating to protect against solid objects and water at various angles, depths, and operating time ranges.
Make a seal. They should also consider the end use environment of the connector and compare that scenario to the details behind the connector's IP rating. Most IP designations have specific criteria, but each manufacturer may define an IP68 rating differently, so when looking for a connector with an IP68 sealing rating, design engineers should be sure to ask the manufacturer exactly how the IP68 rating is measured. For example, immersion in a system of 2 meters for 24 hours will have different effects on the connector than immersion in 24 hours for 120 hours, but both cases can be defined as IP68 rating.
4. Select the correct connector
For connectors to be selected for high-speed performance printed circuit boards (PCBs), the connector must be evaluated in real-world use. Connector-only data can be used to compare the relative performance between two similar connectors, but it may be far from the performance obtained in real-world applications. Laminate selection is another increasingly important factor in cable and connector design.
While FR-4 is not the best laminate choice for high-speed/high-bandwidth designs, it remains the first choice of many product developers due to its low cost and wide availability. All connectors need to be routable and available. For example, if the routing of a connector requires 16 layers, the design engineer must ensure that the connector used is capable of designing many systems by itself. This is why it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the PCB to which the connector connects, taking into account factors such as design optimization, manufacturability and final product implementation.
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