Industry Examples of Test and Measurement with Nitrowave RF Cable

In this video from IMS 2026, Samtec’s Jim Alexander gives us a quick tour of customers, displays, and demonstrations featuring Samtec Nitrowave^® high-performance RF microwave cable assemblies.

Nitrowave is Samtec’s phase- and amplitude-stable, high-performance microwave cable assembly. You’ll recognize it by its distinctive orange jacket. 

A Dynamic Performance Layer (DPL) improves cable durability and stability by reducing internal friction between shielding layers while reinforcing structural strength. As a result, the cable maintains precise and reliable performance over its entire lifespan, even under repeated motion and flexing.

Here’s a quick overview of test and measurement demonstrations that incorporated Samtec Nitrowave cable assemblies.

Menlo Micro featured a demonstration of its 70-GHz single-pole, double-throw switch. They market this to the aerospace, defense, and test and measurement markets. They used Samtec’s LL071 Nitrowave cable.

Menlo Micro also showcased a new product, an 80 Gbps loopback relay used for asymmetric SerDes buses. In this demo, they used a lower-frequency cable, the LL043 Nitrowave.

Qorvo demonstrated a configurable multiplex filter bank with 64 channels using our LL071 cable.

CML Micro demonstrated a high-power amplifier with excellent linear performance across 4.9 to roughly 5.9 GHz.

At the W5 Engineering booth, we saw a demonstration of a Rohde & Schwarz ZNB analyzer, DC to 26.5 GHz, using Samtec Nitrowave cable. They’re measuring input-output from a custom-designed W5 Engineering fixture.

RCL Microwave featured two demos using Nitrowave cables. One was a low-frequency measure for dielectric material properties using Nitrowave LL043 cable, and another was LL071 cable for higher frequency measurements and dielectric material performance.

At the Anritsu booth, we saw their new Tensor network analyzer and a switch matrix. The DUT is a Samtec ExaMAX^® backplane cable evaluation kit. The Tensor network analyzer was introduced at IMS. Here’s a link to a more thorough explanation of this demo by Samtec and Anritsu (from DesignCon 2026).

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