Product Bulletin – Integrate RF Surge and Lightning Protection Without Paying a Size or Weight Penalty!

The Neverending Quest For Size Reduction

As with most technologies, RF and Wireless system design is an ever-changing and shifting world.  As certain technologies or RF bands become popular, others fade away.

However, the one ever-present force on the industry is the steady, but relentless, push towards smaller size and better integration over time.

Lightning/Surge Protection at the PCB Level?

Here at NexTek we understand the desire to bring things into the box, or even all the way onto the Radio PCB… However, we also know that Lightning Transients contain too much energy to deal with safely at the PCB Level… Trace widths, ground place areas, and the components themselves all become limiting factors that will prevent complete and effective protection.

Given this reality, the last place where it is reasonable and safe to protect against Lightning or other Surge events is at the radio’s box or chassis level.  By replacing the normal I/O connector with a protected version, designer can ensure that they have high-performance protection without paying any significant size or weight penalty.  As long as the radio’s chassis is grounded well, the bulk of the Transient Energy will be drained safely to ground before entering the box and/or the PCB itself.

It may still be advisable to install some simple protection on the PCB, but only for final clean-up…Something like a small Protection Diode coupled with a DC Blocking Capacitor (if possible for your application) would provide plenty of protection against any residual energy that gets past the Protected I/O Connector.

Maximum Protection in the Minimum Amount of Space

Below, you can see an array of our Ultra-Compact protection options…  They all include high-performance lightning protection, and are available in a wide variety of connector configurations on both the Input and Output side.

Outside Connector Options – Type N, TNC, SMA

Inside Connector Options – SMA, MMCX, RG188, RG316, and more!

Threat Types – Lightning, Static (ESD), and EMP

Learn More

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