Intelliconnect supplies cable assemblies in two to three weeks
Low loss and semi-rigid RF and microwave cable assemblies from Intelliconnect (Europe) can be supplies with a two to three week turnaround time. The specialist manufacturer of RF, waterproof and cryogenic connectors has UK-based teams capable of specifying, designing and manufacturing RF and microwave cable assemblies.
Cable assemblies for high reliability, high frequency applications need to use high quality cable and termination (assembly). Intelliconnect cables can be waterproofed to IP68 and offer special features including phase matching and ruggedised assemblies for use in harsh environments.
Applications include medical, satellite comms, military, aerospace, space, general microwave communications, test and measurement, research, rail traction, oil and gas and marine.
“While a few applications still exist for high volume cable assemblies, the majority are now low volume, custom designs for specialised products or systems and require close cooperation with system design engineers. “Says Roy Phillips, managing director of Intelliconnect. The most common types of high reliability RF cable assemblies available from Intelliconnect include conformable or hand-formable cable assemblies which are used in applications that require the cable to be formed at the time of installation without the need for bending tools. These are comprised of a tin soaked copper braid to ensure the cable stays in place after bending. There is no major degradation of electrical performance when cables are formed into shape and standard semi-rigid cable connectors may be used, says Intelliconnect.
There are also low Loss phase stable flexible microwave cable assemblies, designed to meet some of the highest specifications required by industry. These are available in a variety of sizes and performance specifications. These cables can, in general use, operate up to 70GHz and can be armoured internally or externally for rugged applications.
Intelliconnect’s semi-rigid cables are made using a solid metal outer conductor (usually copper or aluminium) which can be bent into shape as required. Generally, overall performance figures are improved using a solid outer conductor and they are typically available in 0.047, 0.085, 0.141 and 0.250 inch diameters. Standard semi-rigid cable assemblies are generally of copper construction and characterised with low loss, low VSWR performance and are phase stable and can be phase matched. Phase matching of a cable assembly is essential when connecting to multi-channel receivers as individual channels are required to match and track each other over the frequency of operation.
The company also offers semi-flexible cables which are a lighter, more flexible alternative to semi-rigid types and enable the cable to be flexed. Although there is a slightly reduced performance compared with semi-rigid, it benefits from being able to use standard semi-rigid cable connectors and is typically available in 0.085 and 0.141 inch diameters.
Triaxial cables are primarily used where there is a requirement to reduce noise levels in systems and provide an isolated ground. Used extensively in medical applications such as radiation detection and dosimetry as well as broadcast applications, they provide greater bandwidth and interference protection than coaxial cable.
Other cable harness types include high-performance broadband, flexible, low loss LMR cable used in applications where conventional RG cables are unsuitable. And cryogenic cables from Intelliconnect’s specialist division, CryoCoax.
