SUPPLEMEN


SUPPLEMENT


ININTERCONNE


ONNECTIONIO N


INTERCONNECT DE VELOP MEN T IN THE ERA OF T HE INTERNET OF THINGS


INTERCONNECT DEVELOPMENT


Much like any oth r majorm rket paradigm, theInte rf


technicalm nage


performing technologies,, and this is as true of interconnect as it is for processing power. Here Martin Keenan, AvnetAbacus ex


rfo


chlike fo


keanyothermajjor marketpara tech


ke lo technical manager atAv a this isa tru of interco


radig , tm he Internet of rc


ct


of Things (IoTgs (IoT)demands fa cta it is forproce sin


fo ow rt rtin ger at Avnet Abacus exploreexplores the path of evol res thepathof evof evouti nthat i enablingtheconnect Another technology


ternetofThi gs oT) dem nds faster, smal r and higher- co


volution that is enablng the connector to keep apace


faster, smaller andhigher- wer.H re co


ctor t keokeepapace ce gy being used to delive r


board space savings in interconnect is the combining or stacking of differe


rent kinds of


ajor interconnectmakers such asMolex and TE Connectivity already offer these kinds of products, enablingmanufacturers to develop systems based on smaller boards or to use the extra space to achieve increase d processing density.


connectors that are used in the same types of system.One example is combining SIM card and SDmemory card reader connectors, which are both relatively thin, into a single housingwithout adding a significant amount to the height dimension. This can result in board space gains that are equivalent to the footprint of the smaller device - in this particular case, the SIMcard connector . Maj


key element in themakeup of the IoT model is the cloud: sensor node and IoT edge deviceswill connect directly or via gateways up to serv


A rvers and other IT


equipment running sophisticated software in the cloud. Significant data and


rvices. Thiswillmean substantial growth in processing power and networking capability in data centres, for example, but also the development of newinterconnect solutions. Chip-to-chip communication is a key technology in this area. For example,where appropriate, the use of high- coax copper cables ormultim


ode optical fibre speedmicro-


can deliver a fast and direct link between semiconductor devices, thereby bypassing the speed bottleneck inherently offered by copper tracks on PCBs Specialist hig h-en d perf


.


rformance and compact connectors are now being developed to connect cables directly to devices - potentially even requiring their own integrated heat sinks - and fly critical data over densely populated boards at up to 28Gbps, as offered by the Samtec FireFly micro flyover solution, for example.


S1 MARCH 201 S10 MARCH 2017 | ELEC RO ELECTRONICS CS


telecommunications infrastructure expansion will be required to handlemassively increasing demand fromconnected consumer devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones. But added to this, in the coming years, the IoT future promises tens of billions of new connected devices communicating via the Internetwith each other and/orwith clou d serv


AT HE EDGE AT THE EDGE


Another area isminiaturisation,which has always been a cornerstone in the


development of newelectronics. Certainly this is important for space saving on boards deployed in data centre more so critical in


end devices at the edge of res, but perhaps even


the IoT network.Many consumermobile devices for example are becomingwearable, andwill therefore require even smaller form factors. A critical element for these types of deviceswill bewireless connectivity and therefore amaj


ajor challenge is the


development of ever-smaller RF connectors . But this is not the only area: newmaterials need to be developed for use in size-reduced power connectors to allowhigher curre flowthrough smaller contacts andmeet the increased circuit density challenge


rent to ge.


Industrial automation and process control is just one IoTmarket sector that offers significant opportunities for connector


miniaturisation.More andmore connectivity, increasingly founded on Internet-based infrastructure, is grow


owing fast in this area


withmanufacturing companies looking t o reap the benefits of autonomous data serv


rvices running in the cloud. Typical


example connector devices that offer size advantages are TE Connectivity’smini I/O connectors for industrialmachines,which are a quarter of the size of a classic RJ45 connector.


RJ Figure 1: Figure 1:


Samtec Firefly interconnect


Samtec Firefly interconnect


GROWT OPPOR UN IES IN CONTACTLESS


GROWTH OPPORTUNIITIES IN CON


ESS TECHNOLOG . ECHNOLOGY


Another growing area is ‘contactless’ and especially so in the area of inductive coupled power transfer The IoTwill be an enabler of newapplications, potentially entering into challenging or harsh environments. This contactless alternative to using traditional power connectors can enable power to be transferred tomoving partswithout the use of hardwires, opening up flexibility in terms of both design and end system.


in underw


As an example, devices in sealed enclosures rwater environments can be


wirelessly connected. In somemedical applications, for example, the absence o f power socketsmeans that they are easier to sterilise for use inmedical or clean room environments, or conversely are better suited to ‘dirty’ environments filledwith oils or nmean there are no reak, thereby incre


mechanical parts to bre mud. In addition, it ca


reliability. TEConnectivity offers itsAriso inductive coupled power connector technology in this area,whichintegrates pow


re gy ower coils and


anNFC(Near FieldCommunication) antenna into a very


ry small device.


As the IoT fast beco mes a reality advance s in interconnect technologies continue apace, offering ever smaller formfactors, increased robustness and enhanced performance for a multitude of IoT-driven applications.


, Avnet Abacus www.abacus.avnet.com www.abacus.avnet.com / ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS re reasing


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