Annual Signal/Power Integrity Symposium at Penn State Harrisburg

Samtec recently attended the 16th annual Penn State Harrisburg Signal/Power Integrity Symposium. The central Pennsylvania region is known as the “Connector Capital of the World,” with more than 25 electrical connector companies in the Harrisburg metropolitan area.

The yearly symposium focuses on the development of new signal integrity applications and continual education services (STEM program). Speakers are invited from local electronic companies to discuss SI market trends by remaining globally competitive.

Samtec is a leading contributor and Bronze Sponsor to the Center for Signal Integrity and the heart of Samtec’s Signal Integrity Group is located in the Harrisburg area.

Cliff’s Notes of the Symposium

The symposium offered industry leaders insights on the latest developments in SI/PI simulation, testing, analysis, and design techniques. As data rate requirements approach and surpass 56 and 112 Gbps PAM4, developers are challenged with balancing increasing throughput, scalability, and density demands. They also need to remain concerned with material, R&D costs, and time-to-market.

A variety of workshops discussed SI/PI troubleshooting measures like crosstalk, de-embedding S-parameters, and optimizing assemblies using ANSYS-encrypted 3D model components. For systems design and hardware engineers, Signal Integrity fundamentals are key pieces to understanding how to improve your channel’s metrics and performance.

Rohde & Schwarz and Samtec Presented on PCIe^® 5.0/6.0

Matt Burns, Technical Marketing Manager at Samtec, presented with Jason Ellison from Rohde & Schwarz on PCIe 5.0 & 6.0 over connectors and cable assemblies. Matt explained that defining the PCI SIG specifications poses challenges when defining excursions like more crosstalk or added return loss. Applications are no longer just PC-based and data rates are continually increasing for higher speeds. Sending faster signals over longer distances has led to an increase in demand for cable product solutions.

A live demonstration of Samtec’s cable solution, AcceleRate® HP SI Evaluation Kit showcased frequency domain measurements like insertion loss (IL) and return loss (RL) out to 67 GHz. Both measurements pass the profiles as defined in the PCIe 6.0 specification. The Connector and Cable Assembly Challenges for PCle 5.0 and 6.0 presentation and full recordings from the SI symposium can be found here.