Announcement Coaxial Cable Assemblies

SHF PHASE MATCHED CABLE ASSEMBLIES

Best combination of cable and connectors

RADIALL has been manufacturing its own range of SHF cables and high frequency coaxial connectors for many years. The combination of precise cable design and connector interface with a robust attachment method offers a very reliable and stable product that you can use with confidence in your phase sensitive applications.

Phase matching

For applications requiring phase matched cable assemblies, ideally each cable in a set must have the same phase characteristics as every other cable in the set. Due to the inherent variations in cable and connectors manufacturing and assembly, manufacturers offer a phase matching tolerance in electrical length or degrees at the frequency of operation (± º/GHz). The phase matching tolerance depends on:

RADIALL can manufacture cable assemblies matched as a set (relative phase match) or cable assemblies matched to a standard (absolute phase match).

Phase tracking

Phase tracking is the ability of multiple phase matched cable assemblies to closely reproduce their phase characteristics relative to each other over a range of temperature, flexure, or both. Phase tracking is essentially a measure of the assemblies’ mechanical consistency, once installed. Phase tracking is primarily influenced by 3 parameters:

The best phase tracking is achieved when extra care is taken during installation of the cable assemblies and when all cables  installed in a similar manner, are exposed to the same thermal environment.

Product characteristics

The most popular RADIALL SHF cables used for phase matching are listed in the table below. A “ProJack” armor option is also available on demand for SHF5 and SHF8, as well as space grade versions for several but not all SHF types.

(*) SHF 5MAF-2 and SHF 8MAF-2 are airborne cables. They are dedicated to harsh environment airborne applications and feature outstanding resistance against abrasion and fluid corrosion. In addition, cable assemblies made with MAF-2 cable types are hermetically sealed.

Connectors are optimized for our SHF cable and are available in straight or right angle. Most popular connector interfaces used for phase matched cable assemblies are SMA, SMA 2.9 (K), TNC 18 and N18. Other connector types are BMA, SMP and coaxial contacts for multipin rectangular or circular connectors.

RADIALL also manufactures semi-rigid phase matched cable assemblies.

Applications

Specific microwave systems may require phase matched, phase stable cable assemblies to operate. Each cable assembly is trimmed to a specific electrical length set by the system designer. Such applications can be High Power Amplifiers/Multi-Channel Amplifiers, Multi-Beam Antenna systems, RF Combiners and Filters and Phased Array Radars.

Space qualified phase matched cable assemblies are also available for space payloads, using space grade SHF cable and connectors.

For Test and Measurement applications, phase stability with bending is a key characteristic. RADIALL offers TestPro, a range of high reliability, high repeatability cable assemblies. TestPro are phase stable bench test cable assemblies with typical phase stability with bending of 2° max at 26.5 GHz and 5° max at 40 GHz. TestPro cable assemblies can be delivered in phase matched pairs.

In addition, RADIALL proposes a range of phase shifter microwave components (DC-18GHz), available with SMA and N connector interfaces.

SHF and TestPro Phase Matched cable assemblies combine performance with affordability to make them the best choice for your systems.

• To download our SHF cable assemblies catalog click here
• To download our TestPro cable assemblies catalog click here
• Click here to access our phase shifters technical datasheets