Basics of Design Engineering: Thinking Cables

Cables with embedded electronics make linking two devices as simple as plugging in a lamp. True plug-n-play is the holy grail manufacturers strive to attain when systems must work with each other. The ideal scenario lets users take a device out of the box, plug it in, and start using it. But in the real world it’s more like “plug-n-pray” that users don’t experience too many difficulties getting a device connected and operational. Just because two units have the same communication hardware, like a USB port, doesn’t mean they’ll be able to talk over that connection. Hardware is only half the equation. The other half is making sure each device understands what the other is saying. A telephone isn’t much good for talking if the person at one end only knows English while the other speaks only French. Fortunately for the sake of international diplomacy and system integration, the wire, cable, and cable-assembly community has embarked on a revolutionary plan to help OEM-equipment designers change the way they deal with interconnectivity via the cables that connect devices. Through the use of thinking cables, system designers can literally think outside the box — data translation services can reside within connecting cables. Listen to Joe Iamartino and Bob Repas discuss thinking cables in a podcast at: Like most communication technologies, there are many forerunners that claim rights and precedence for thinking cables. One inventive thinker rushed to aid a struggling progenitor in the early 1990s. A designer of handheld bar-code scanners had to communicate with electronic cash registers from and others, each with different communications needs. One answer: Embed active components on a PCB directly into the cable assembly. Users merely bought the right cable for their register. The