RF and microwave connectors seem to have been working silently in the communication field. They only occupy a small part of the communication field. It is difficult to set off any stormy waves on the market, or the emergence of novel products that can get the public ’s nerves. Become everyone’s after-dinner talk.
Imagine that you, as RF and microwave engineers , have heard of RF connectors in areas where RF and microwaves are not as narrow as they are. Have you ever talked about it in your life? Probably not. People often say that when 5G is launched in the future , how fast and how fast our internet speed will be; what kind of particularly powerful satellites have been launched by the country ; how unmanned driving technology is now in full swing. progress to what extent such ...... each of you can be spun from curiosity and gossip of the heart to check it out, but you thought did not have the next new RF connector look like it? No! So sad !
Although the RF connector industry has always been low-key, it is the foundation! No RF connector how to 5G communication , how to AI technology , mobile payment ? Let's talk about the challenges faced by RF connectors in 5G communications.
The global RF connector market scale exceeds 2 billion US dollars, and it is increasing at an average annual rate of 10.8% . It is bound to promote the innovation of our connector industry. The development of technology will inevitably face: reduction in size and weight, better performance, A more convenient method of use, and most importantly, a higher cost performance . It is estimated that the number of users with 7/16 DIN interface, which was widely popular in the mobile communication field, will continue to grow, while the new 4.1-9.5 interface and 4.3-10 connector are generally accepted in North America and Europe and many other countries or regions. . In the future, heads like N and DIN will be greatly replaced by these new connectors such as 4.3-10 and Nex10 . Investigating the reasons, we can explore from the following aspects:
1. PIM problem
Around 2011 , PIM problems were generally found in the mobile communication field in China, and third- order intermodulation interference appeared between communication channels , and the communication quality was seriously threatened. To solve this problem, China Mobile spent a lot of time and money to solve this problem. Need to find suppliers and instruments to investigate on-site and replace products. This is a huge amount of engineering. Since then , the PIM of RF connectors and cable assemblies has been put on important product index requirements. Unlike other intermodulation products, PIM is generated by the interaction of two or more high-power signals from cables, connectors, antennas, and many other passive components from unusual sources. The specific reasons are dissimilar metal contacts, corroded metal surfaces, product surface cleanliness, conductors containing magnetic materials, metal oxide contacts or other locations to generate signal mixing, which can generate the above-mentioned relatively high levels of harmonics and parasitic signals . This puts forward higher requirements for the selection of materials, coatings, and processing technology of our passive products. In fact, the size of the product and also have a certain relationship, such as the same process of N head and DIN head comparison, then, DIN can to 173dBc , and N will be able to 160dBc even good. Of course, in order to solve the intermodulation problem, 4.3-10 connectors have appeared on the market .
2. Size requirements
The smaller and smaller requirements for connectors are also a big trend now, which is also a very important reason for the emergence of 4.3-10 to replace DIN . If you look at the development history of connectors, you may also find that the development trend of connectors is also toward smaller development, which is in line with the development trend of high integration and small size of communication products. Therefore, the board-to-board connector has been used in a wider range of applications such as SMP , mini-SMP, etc.
3. Frequency issues
5G has put forward higher requirements for the communication frequency itself, 28GHz, 40GHz, and 80GHz are getting higher and higher. Our common N , DIN , 4.3-10 , SMA can no longer meet its needs, and the demand will slowly transition to K head V- head, but even V- head can only reach 65GHz , which has to be developed in the direction of 1.0mm , G3PO , and G4PO . This is not just a problem of the change of the connector interface, which further challenges our machining level!