“MT connectors are high density, for small, lightweight connectors but they also require high maintenance levels and have low durability,” explained Thomas Mittermeir, strategic business development manager, ODU. The company has introduced micro lenses to 3M’s sliding ferrule design in a cassette system which can be integrated in a circular, backplane and AMC connector. The EBO model which is smaller in size than typical MT expanded beam connectors, with less return loss and lower insertion loss and higher mating cycles, he added.
The company has introduced EBO technology based on a cassette system which consists of multiple ferrules arranged side-by-side. The stackable cassette can be integrated into AMC, circular and backplane connectors. Up to 96 optical fibres can be connector to one connector using 12 connected fibres per ferrule. The cassette is also field-repairable.
The Tactics circular model is certified to the upcoming VITA 95 standard and is the low maintenance alternative to VITA 87 and VITA 89 products. The backplane version is based on the upcoming VITA 96 standard (versions 96.1 96.4 and VITA 96.5) and fit the same apertures as used for VITA 66.1, 66.5 and 66.5. The AMC series T connector is qualified to MIL-DTL-38999.
Both single and multimode versions are available. The multimode option has an insertion loss of 0.15db (typical), compared with 0.5db for an MT expanded beam multimode connector. It also has 45dB (typical) return loss compared with >28dB, less sensitivity to dust, to reduce cleaning and maintenance requirements, and 50,000 mating cycles (minimum).
The EBO technology and products were announced at the Embedded Tech Trends conference.
