A research report providing a description of the major new connector initiatives and their impact on technology driving the industry has been released by Bishop & Associates. The report's objective is to create a resource for the understanding of the new technologies, their purpose and uniqueness, and to provide a basis for determining their viability in an ever-changing world of electronic systems.
Many connector technologies were originally developed for the computer industry, but they also impact both the consumer and telecom market. According to Bishop & Associates the long awaited convergence has begun and developments in one part of the marketplace can permeate others. In addition to providing the sales volume for each connector along with the rationale behind its importance to the industry, the report also addresses new realities in the development of connector technologies, including the role that others outside the connector industry have in dictating new connector designs.
The connector industry has changed, it says. As the report states: "The time when OEMs designed unique systems and selected peculiar hardware has almost come to an end. Custom connectors were a part of this uniqueness. Companies in response to requirements from the OEMs designed connectors from scratch. Today, the system design effort takes place at the integrated semiconductor designers workstations, creating standardised building blocks which OEMs will connect together to build their almost identical hardware systems: systems that will utilise standard interconnects."
The reality is that the role of the connector is significantly changed from what it was just a few short years ago. The connector was mainly a mechanical device that was needed to provide a separable interface. The requirement for a new connector was most often driven by a form factor change, and electrical performance was almost a secondary consideration. With the increase in the speed of today's technology, that is no longer the case. The electrical performance of the connector is primary in the design of a connector and the design process reflects that for current connectors.
No longer is a connector designed and then tested for electrical performance. Design begins with electrical modelling of the connector to ensure that the performance of the connector will not negatively affect the performance of the circuitry into which it will be inserted. The evaluation of the electrical performance of a connector is the responsibility of the signal integrity (SI) engineer, whose importance to the connector industry has soared in recent years, says Bishop & Associates. Once a minor responsibility, SI is now a separate department at the larger connector manufacturers and is vital to the design process.
The USB connector is an example of one of the technologies covered. With PC systems numbering around 150 million a year, the decision by Intel to natively support 6 to 8 USB 2.0 ports in its latest chipsets immediately creates a market for over 1 billion connectors a year for just the computer side of the interface. The viability of USB increased when the data rate of the connector went from 12 Mbps to 480 Mbps. Meanwhile IEEE 1394, another serial technology, has increased its speed to 800 Mbps with the release of the IEEE-1394b specification. Its impact is explored as well as that of the proposed addition of a 1394 wireless specification and the possible adoption of a 'wireless USB' as the UWB standard.
For more information see www.bishopinc.com
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