Design of a High-Speed Ethernet Connector for Harsh Environments

Abstract

This article focuses on the electrical performance of a new Ethernet contact with four differential pairs called “Octomax.” The eight pins of the contact are inserted in a section of 17 mm2. Such a high-speed interconnect solution is specially developed to operate at 10 Gbits/s in harsh environments for military and aerospace applications. The theoretical study up to 1 GHz enables quantifying the crosstalk between two differential pairs [near-end crosstalk (NEXT)], the return loss (RL), and the insertion loss (IL). An optimization using a combined 2-D–3-D electromagnetic approach, which is simultaneously validated by measurement in frequency and time domains, leads to a final prototype that meets the category 6A Ethernet standard for a predictable data rate of 10 Gbits/s.