SMB Coax Connector

Subminiature Version B (SMB) Connectors are a coaxial connector type that has been around for roughly 60 years. SMB connectors are among the snap-on, blind-mate, or push-connect type of coaxial connectors and can be found as either 50 Ohm or 75 Ohm varieties. These connectors are generally specified to operate from DC to 2 GHz, 3 GHz, or 4 GHz, depending on the quality of construction and material selection. SMB connectors are either SMB Jack Connectors or SMB Plug Connectors, where the plug connectors are pressed into the jack connectors until they make a flush connection with the back wall of the jack connector and activate the retention mechanism within the jack. The SMB connector uses the SMB plug as a female and the SMB jack as the male, unlike other coaxial connector and electrical connector standards.

SMB connectors are commonly available as SMB Jack Right Angle Connectors, SMB Jack Straight Connectors, SMB Plug Right Angle Connectors, SMB Plug Straight Connectors. The main advantage of SMB connectors is the ease in which they are mated, though this does sacrifice some rigidity, ruggedness, and performance compared to threaded coaxial connectors, SMB connectors also have relatively low power handling and operating voltage compared to threaded coaxial connectors. This is why SMB connectors are often used in non-critical applications that either require repeated mating, need to be installed by non-experienced technicians/laymen, or within systems where the interconnect is not critical and there are economic/process advantages to rapid and low-profile connector installation.

Though the lack of a threaded retention and mating nut with SMB connectors does sacrifice some mechanical and electrical advantages, the blind-mate ability of SMB results in no special tooling or technique required to successfully mate this connector. Hence, these connectors are readily mated using robotic systems or untrained personnel. Also, SMB connectors are considerably lower profile than threaded coaxial counterparts and don’t require clearance between the ports for a wrench tool that threaded coaxial interconnect require.

These connectors are often used in telecommunications applications for interconnect in base stations, antennas, RF boards, PC/LAN connections, GPS receivers, and other high frequency applications that are cost sensitive and require a smaller connector profile than SMA. Some industrial automation, medical device, instrumentation, controls, radar, broadcast, wireless, military/defense, and aerospace applications employ SMB connectors for various use cases.

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D-Sub Connector

D- Subminiature connectors, or D-Sub connectors, are a compact and versatile connector platform that can support power, analog, RF, or digital signal transmission. Depending on the type of D-Sub Connectors used, a D-Sub connector could support connections from every domain, which makes these an extremely common connector interface for a wide range of applications. These are combination D-Sub connectors and are often used as board-to-board or cable-to-board interconnect.

RF D-Sub Connectors, Contacts, & Cables

D-Sub Plug Straight Connectors
D-Sub Plug Right Angle Connectors
D-Sub Receptacle Straight Connectors
D-Sub Receptacle Right Angle Connectors
D-Sub to D-Sub Adapters Standard Polarity
D-Sub to SMA Adapters Standard Polarity
D-Sub To D-Sub Receptacle Cable Assembly Using RG Coax
D-Sub Receptacle to UHF Female Cable Assembly Using LMR-195-FR Coax

A benefit of D-Sub connector styles is that they can also be used in cable assemblies that adapt from D-Sub to other connector standards, such as low-frequency coaxial connectors like SMA, UHF, VHF, N-type, etc. Given the range of electrical domains and use cases of D-Sub, there are several types of D-Sub connectors available. For basic DC, low-power, and digital applications, D-Sub pins and sockets are commonly used. For RF, D-Sub coaxial connectors, plugs/jacks and receptacles, are used. With D-Sub connectors, the plugs/jacks are inserted into the receptacles and are designed to provide good mating contact based on insertion with a D-Sub housing.

D-Sub connectors have been commonly used in RS-232 serial communications, but are now more commonly used in space, military/defense, aerospace, naval/maritime, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other high-performance applications that require rugged, compact, and versatile interconnect solutions.

There are also a variety of D-Sub adapter types available. This may be used during prototype testing or troubleshooting testing of D-Sub systems, or when retrofitting a system and an adapter is required. There are also RF D-sub connectors that are designed for thru-hole installation directly into circuit board materials (laminates).

D-Sub receptacles and plugs/jacks are typically 50 Ohms, though there are likely 75 Ohm variations manufactured. These connectors are often gold plated and use PTFE dielectric with a brass/gold body material. The use of gold plating is made to enhance the corrosion resistance of the contact surfaces and ensure easy interconnect cycling. The use of high-performance materials is based on the typical use cases for D-Sub in harsh environmental conditions where interconnect failure can endanger the mission or even lives.

Though not typically labeled, the maximum frequency of a D-Sub connector is approximately 2 GHz, according to some sources. It is possible that this maximum frequency varies based on construction.

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Coaxial Cable Assembly

The number and type of RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave applications are growing at an explosive rate. Every year new product types, wireless protocols, end-uses, and equipment to help test and fabricate these new technologies emerge. Coaxial cables are one of the most commonly used interconnect types that pervades virtually every RF application. This is why there are a wide range of established RF Cable Assemblies, that number in the thousands. As there are also a diverse range of needs for RF interconnect, Pasternack developed the The Cable Creator, which allows users to customize their own connectors, cables, and accessories without needing to undergo the time-consuming and complex process of coating custom cables that is the norm in the industry.

After years of offering The Cable Creator it has become apparent that many users of the tool are selecting the same customizations for their cables; so much so, that it actually makes sense to offer these commonly selected customization options as standard product lines more easily available to customers. This is the background for the Custom-to-Standard (CTS) initiative.

Pasternack is beginning to regularly roll-out new standard coaxial cable assemblies based on the most common customizations from The Cable Creator. This means that customers no longer have to go through the effort of using the cable creator tool and can simply order or reorder the type of cable assemblies they need directly. Moreover, Pasternack will have these commonly configured cable assemblies ready in-stock. Just like with other standard coaxial cable assemblies, Pasternack will process these orders same-day and even ship the same-day if there is available inventory. This means the difference between getting highly sought out custom coaxial cable assemblies will now be just like any other ecommerce purchase instead of even the already convenient process through the cable creator tool.

The types of coaxial cables that will be available are several varieties of LMR, PE, RG, flexible FEP jacket, P047 flexible jacket, and many others. This includes LMR options rated for direct burial. As the list grows, there will eventually be hundreds of connector types available for these common cable configurations. The new additions to the CTS program will likely emerge from changes in interconnect trends as new technology or configuration types are implemented. This approach creates a highly responsive selection of standard coaxial cable assemblies that will evolve over time to meet customer needs.

 

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Gain Horn Antenna

A standard gain horn antenna is a type of waveguide antenna that is used in a variety of test/measurement, sensing, radar, and communications applications. Waveguide antennas, such as standard gain horns are used in these applications due to their high gain, efficiency, and precision performance. There are Standard Gain Horn Antennas With Waveguide Input and Standard Gain Horn Antennas With Coaxial Connector Input. A main consideration with standard gain horns is the ability to mount them with precision and to prevent degradation of the antenna via environmental ingress. This is why accessories such as, Standard Gain Horn Antenna Radome Covers, G-type (Round) Mounts For Standard Gain Horn Antennas, and Standard Gain Horn L-style Antenna Mount WR229/IEC R40 are so useful.

Standard gain horn antennas are commonly used as a “standard” or “calibration’ for antenna testing and for high-gain communications and sensing, such as long-range radar and satellite communications. This is why precision is key, as the high directivity of these antennas results in a very narrow antenna pattern that needs to be properly aimed to ensure a good communication link or that the measurements/sensing is performed at the desired target.

A common issue with outdoor, but even indoor, environments is debris, corrosive fog, and moisture entering the waveguide system through the gain horn antenna. This is why there are radome/covers for these antennas that help isolate the internal waveguide environment from contamination from the external environment. These covers/radomes can greatly extend the lifespan of a gain horn antenna, especially if that antenna is used in harsh environments. It is important for the radome/covers to be made of low-dielectric constant materials that are also low-loss to minimize the impact on the signs passing through the radome/cover.

Precision alignment and mounting of waveguide horn antennas is essential, which is why there are specialized brackets/mounts available to aid with this task. As the best method of alignment/mounting a waveguide is via the precision flange already machined into a standard gain horn, the best waveguide antenna mounts have hole patterns that match the waveguide flange patterns and sizes. This means that different mounts are needed for different waveguide sizes but having these mounts available prevents the need to fabricate custom mounts or rig temporary mounting solutions that aren’t necessarily or easily repeatable.

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LMR Low Loss Cable

When looking into coaxial cable for a variety of applications, from commercial wireless to audio/visual broadcast, it is not uncommon to come across coaxial cable types labeled as LMR-, CFD-, OFC-, etc. at several different indicators, such as 195, 200, 240, 400, or 600. An example of this is Low Loss Flexible LMR-400 Plenum Rated Coaxial Cable.

It may appear that LMR, CFD, OFC are some types of standards or other technical designation. However, these designations are merely product line designations from popular brands of coaxial cable that have performed well over several decades. Hence, these cable types and brands are well known throughout parts of the industry and are given designations without much explanation. LMR, RFC, and CFD simply refer to different manufacturers. Several other cable brands are often referred to as “LMR-equivalent” in recognition of the market success of LMR coaxial cables.

The numbers after the lettered designations, however, do indicate a technically critical specification. The following numbers are in milli-inches and describe the thickness of the shielding around the cable. The thickness of the shielding around these cables directly correlates with the loss per unit length of these cables as well as the RF shielding effectiveness. Typically, thicker shielding in a coaxial cable will result in lower loss and enhanced RF shielding. For instance, a LMR-200 grade coaxial cable will have a 0.200 inch thick shielding and will have more loss per unit length and less RF shielding than a LMR-400 grade coaxial cable with 0.400 inch thick shielding.

It is important to note that though there are many LMR cables and equivalents on the market, the manufacturing quality and specifications all differ. These designations are generally useful in quickly identifying low loss coaxial cable solutions that are common in the marketplace and not a replacement for properly specifying a cable for a given application. There are also sub-varieties of LMR cables and LMR equivalents. These application specific types of LMR cables include solutions rated for indoor, outdoor, riser, plenum, audio/video (A/V) use, among others. Generally, LMR and LMR equivalents are made to be high performance and flexible coaxial cabling with an understood standard of quality construction. Given the prevalence of LMR cable types, however, there are a dearth of counterfeit cables and copies that may demonstrate misleading levels of performance when compared with authentic LMR cables.

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BNC Cable Assembly

A common type of coaxial cable assembly used throughout the RF industry is a BNC cable, or BNC coaxial cable assembly. A BNC cable is used for signal routing below roughly 4 GHz (there are high precision BNC connectors that reach maximum frequencies to 12 GHz or beyond). BNC stands for Bayonet Neill–Concelman, and is a miniature quick connect/disconnect style RF coaxial connector. A BNC cable is a coaxial cable that has BNC connectors on either end. This type of cable is used to route signals from test equipment or devices that have BNC coaxial connector ports, where the ports are typically RF female connectors, and the BNC connectors are RF male connectors. Though, there are BNC connectors with reverse polarity, or reverse polarity BNC (RP-BNC).

These connector and cable styles are used as mating between a male and female connector is done by inserting the RF male connector into the female port  using the alignment guides (lugs) and applying a relatively small amount of force to turn the male connector bayonet structure a quarter turn. Given the wide use of BNC cables, these cables also often come with a single BNC connector side and the other coaxial side in a different connector type or interface, such as 10-32, alligator, banana, BNC, FME, GR874, hook, mini alligator, mini banana, MMCX, N, NMO Mount, SMA, SMB, SMC, Tip, TNC, UHF or unterminated leads used for direct soldering, clamping, etc. These cables are typically made in either 50-ohm varieties or 75-ohm varieties. The nominal impedance of these cables depends on the application, where broadcast, audio/visual, and low frequency communications may use 75 ohms, most RF applications use 50 ohms. BNC cable assemblies were also used widely in early computer and electronics networking equipment and also for a range of analog/digital interfacing and signal routing.

Both 75 ohm and 50 ohm BNC cables can mate non-destructively per the 2007 IEC standard, IEC 61169-8. This type of mating is only recommended for very low frequencies ( < 10 MHz) as the impact of the impedance mismatch at higher frequencies becomes more significant as a function of frequency. BNC cables are generally only used for signal applications and are generally note rated for high voltages or high-power use. However, there are high voltage BNC (HV-BNC) and high-power BNC connector variants available that can be installed on appropriate high voltage and high-power coaxial cable.

 

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2.4 GHz Antenna

There is a plethora of wireless communications antennas labeled as a 2.4 GHz antenna, this does not mean that these antennas only operate at exactly 2.4 GHz. It implies that they cover some area of the 2.4 GHz ISM band, which extends from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz. In most cases, for the 2.4 GHz antenna, the 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz ISM band is designated the 2.4 GHz ISM band, or 2.4 GHz band as opposed to the 2.45 GHz band, which would be the center frequency of the band.

The 2.4 GHz ISM band is designated for use for fixed communication, mobile communication, radiolocation, amateur, and amateur-satellite services. This band also covers the frequency that many microwave magnetrons are designed for, 2.45 GHz. There are also a variety of other electromagnetic (EM) radiation sources that also appear on this band. Hence, 2.4 GHz electronics, including 2.4 GHz antennas, are often required by regional electromagnetic compliance (EMC) organizations to accept interference in this band.

The 2.4 GHz ISM band is a commonly used band for many wireless networking technologies, proprietary and otherwise. Various Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth, and Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4) generations have used the 2.4 GHz band for some time. Thread is a more recent 2.4 GHz wireless networking standard that operates in the 2.4 GHz band. Z-wave is a common proprietary 2.4 GHz wireless standard. There are also a range of baby monitors, wireless audio devices, portable speakers/wireless speakers, video cast devices, and a wide range of other audio visual (A/V) devices that operate in the 2.4 GHz band. Other uses include radio control for remote controlled models/toys (aircraft, boats, cars, etc.), and radio-controlled unmanned vehicles, such as “drones”. Car alarms also often operate in the 2.4 GHz band, as well as some radar. Many electrical grid services employ smart power meters that operate at 2.4 GHz, and some wireless power transfer technologies also operate in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

A 2.4 GHz antenna could be designed for a small frequency range within the entire ISM band or cover the entire ISM band and be able to serve a variety of applications. Some 2.4 GHz ISM band antennas are designed for wideband, narrowband, or even ultra-wideband/-narrowband applications. An example of an ultra-narrowband application is resonant wireless power transfer.

 

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Simply, RF stands for Radio Frequency. This generally refers to all of the electromagnetic spectrum that is used for radio systems and wireless communication. However, RF can also mean a variety of different things depending on the context of use. On some occasions when discussing spectrum, RF refers to the frequency range below microwaves, which in turn is below millimeter waves. This can be particularly confusing, as there is no distinct definition of microwaves, as used in industry. It would stand to reason from a physical perspective that microwaves would refer to the electromagnetic spectrum where the wavelength of the signals are in the micrometer range. This, however, is not the case for the term microwaves, as the term’s origin was likely not a physical definition but used to establish that the wavelengths used for early “microwave” systems was much smaller than radio frequency, or radio wave, systems of the time.

This is often why many legacy publications and documentation include the terms RF and microwave when discussing the industry that deals with electromagnetic phenomena from kilohertz to sub-terahertz. An interesting note is that how millimeter-waves is commonly used actually does refer to the physical wavelength of the signals in this spectrum. This comes at odds with some definitions of microwaves, as the definition for millimeter-waves and microwaves overlap. In many cases, the frequency range described by RF also overlaps with microwaves. This is likely why many industry professionals discuss relevant frequencies in terms of waveguide frequency bands, radar frequency bands, or frequency bands used for specific applications, such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz for Wi-Fi wireless communications and networking.

The term RF is also used to apply a distinction between components, devices, sub-systems, and systems specifically used for electromagnetic communication and sensing from other electronics, electrical, and electromagnetic disciplines. For instance, there are multiple types of bandpass filters, mixers, amplifiers, etc. Without the RF distinction, it would be difficult to discern if these products were designed for audio, ultrasonic, RF, AC electrical systems, or other applications. This is another point of confusion, as the terms microwave and millimeter-wave are often used in the same way to describe electromagnetic communication and sensing products. Hence, there is a field of terms to describe these products and technology resources, which often makes searching for and finding applicable technologies difficult without the correct nomenclature.

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