Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1219491
April/May/June 2020 I 47 THE CONNECTOR AS A SOLUTION AND A REVOLUTION The Connector Innovations of Today Using decades-old connector technology to support today's challenges has often resulted in inefficient, unreli- able, and inoperable network infrastructures at extremely high costs. Therefore, the connected components industry is overdue for a refresh and revitalization. Some manufacturers are rising to the occasion to address today's challenges by designing new connector technologies that support high-density, low-loss connec- tivity, ease of installation, faster deployment, lower total cost of ownership, and greater flexibility for growth and scale. Listed are several of the latest connector technolo- gies revolutionizing the connected infrastructure: LC Connector Advancements: The updated LC connector helps resolve some of the original challenges of polarity, flexibility, and the push tab release. • Quick polarity switch and on-the-fly flips • Easy reach and push-pull tab connect • Mini/uniboot for increased flexibility • Shutter adapters for dust protection MPO Connector Advancements: The updated MPO connector has more strand capacity, dust protection, and easier polarity and gender transitions. • Increased capacity and strand counts (24+) • Higher performance and low dB loss • Quick polarity flips and field gender changes • Shutter adapters for dust protection • 10 Gb/s to 40 and 100Gb/s network migrations • High-density backplane applications • Shorter lengths and smaller footprint New Dual Density, Compact, Duplex Optical Fiber Connectors: These are a more compact, miniature version designed as a higher density replacement of the standard LC duplex connector; they have push-pull operation. They also can be coupled together for QSFP applications. • 40 percent size reduction over traditional LC • Grouped for easy QSFP (4x duplex) • Increased fiber density at the transceiver • Easy reach and push-pull tab connect • Support polarity changes in the field • Simple insertion and extraction • Some manufacturers offer a three-port adapter and proprietary patch cables for the transceiver interface (refer to the standards section herein) New Expanded Beam High-Density, Dust-Insensitive Optical Fiber Connectors: These fiber connectors have a small form factor interface with potentially high-capac- ity strand counts. Some expanded beam connectors claim up to 144-fiber capacity but at the time of this writing are only currently available on a limited basis provided only for market and technical evaluation. These high capacity connectors, however, are exhibiting relatively high inser- tion losses (<0.70 dB) for SMF. Others with lower capacity (32-fibers) provide much better insertion losses for SMF at 0.5 dB. There may be others with even better inser- tion losses. • Dust-insensitive connector • Highest-capacity strand count currently available (64-f) for MMF only; larger strand count in development • Gender agnostic (some versions) • Available in MMF and/or SMF depending on manufacturer • Decreased impact of debris due to larger beam cross section • Some exhibit very high SMF insertion loss while others exhibit lower losses. Newly Introduced Hyper-Capacity, Self-Cleaning and Protecting Universal Multi-Fiber Connector: This is a recently patented high-capacity and extreme performance fiber connector that can be easy to deploy. It was specifically designed to be an all-around connec- tor solution. In the MPO and LC high-capacity connector sector, it currently boasts the highest performance with the lowest maximum insertion loss of 0.35 dB at 1310 nm on SMF cables and random mating based on stringent third-party testing. The maximum 0.35 dB consistently performed for >97 percent of samples based on IEC 61300-3-34 and IEC 61753-1. Likewise, return loss (reflectance) performed