Benefits Of Custom Coaxial Cable Assemblies
Key Takeaways
- Tailored Performance Meets Specific Requirements: Custom coaxial cable assemblies allow engineers to select precise cable types and connectors to match system needs, minimizing performance trade-offs and avoiding off-the-shelf limitations.
- Enhanced Signal Integrity: By optimizing conductor geometry, dielectric materials, and shielding, custom assemblies deliver low-loss performance and consistent impedance, supporting high-frequency RF and broadband applications.
- Fewer Adapters Improve System Efficiency: Custom assemblies with defined connector types reduce or eliminate the need for adapters, enhancing VSWR performance and reducing insertion loss.
- Easy Installation and Reduced Complexity: Pre-terminated custom cables simplify installation, reduce labor time, and minimize the risk of on-site termination errors
- Environmental and Mechanical Durability: Custom options support ruggedized jackets, environmental shielding, and precision engineering suited for harsh or specialized installations.
- Cost-Effective Over Lifecycle: Although initial costs may be higher than standard cables, custom assemblies lower the total cost of ownership through improved performance, fewer maintenance needs, and reduced downtime.
What Are Custom Coaxial Cable Assemblies?
Custom coaxial cable assemblies are engineered with interconnect solutions designed to meet specific electrical, mechanical, and environmental requirements of a particular application. Unlike standard, off-the-shelf cables, custom assemblies allow precise selection of cable type, connector style, length, shielding, and termination method. This tailored approach ensures consistent impedance, low insertion loss, and reliable signal transmission across RF and microwave frequencies. Custom assemblies are commonly used in applications where performance, durability, and exact fit are critical, such as aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and test & measurement systems.
Why Choose Custom Over Standard Coaxial Cable Assemblies?
Custom coaxial cable assemblies offer significant advantages over standard cables by eliminating design compromises. Standard cables often require adapters or excess cable length, which can introduce signal loss, impedance mismatch, and increased reflections. Custom assemblies are built to exact specifications, reducing connection points and improving overall signal integrity. They also simplify installation, minimize field termination errors, and enhance system reliability. Over time, these benefits translate into reduced downtime, lower maintenance costs, and improved system performance, making custom solutions more cost-effective across the product lifecycle.
Application-Specific Customization
One of the key strengths of custom coaxial cable assemblies is their ability to optimize specific applications. Engineers can tailor assemblies for high-frequency performance, low-loss transmission, tight bending requirements, or harsh environmental conditions. Customization options include specialized cable jackets for extreme temperatures, enhanced shielding for EMI-sensitive environments, and ruggedized connectors for vibration-prone installations. Whether used in military systems, medical devices, industrial automation, or laboratory testing, application-specific customization ensures the cable assembly performs reliably under real-world operating conditions.
Though there is an ongoing push in many areas of RF electronics and system design to enhance integration and leverage high volume manufacturing techniques with planar technologies, there is still a growing demand for custom coaxial cable assemblies. Coaxial assemblies are the most common type of inter-system and intermodule interconnect for RF systems. Though waveguides do have their place in high performance and high-power applications at higher frequency and planar transmission lines/waveguides are commonly employed on planar substrates, coaxial cable assemblies are the primary interconnect for most short to medium length interconnect applications.
Coaxial cable assemblies are composed of two coaxial connectors with a coaxial cable in between. There are various types of coaxial connectors and cables, as well as a variety of ways to attach these cables and connectors. It is relatively straightforward to pair coaxial connectors and a cable to meet the needs of virtually every application. There are coaxial cables and connectors that are designed for high power, low-loss, low-PIM, high temperatures, high voltage, Plenum, high ruggedness, environmental resistance, low-pressure, high precision test, and many other specialty applications. There are also options for coaxial connector and cable types that are rated for extreme industrial and government/defense applications, such as oil/gas, aerospace, land-mobile, naval/marine, etc.
This is one of the major advantages of custom coax cables, as they can be selected and assembled to meet the needs of very specific interconnect use cases. Moreover, using custom coax assemblies means that a user can define the end connector types to avoid using adapters, which can result in better low-loss, low-PIM, and low VSWR performance alongside a more streamlined bill of materials. Using custom cables also opens up the opportunity for manufacturers to differentiate their product from competitors by providing unique custom cable types with products or ensuring the best possible performance of a product with high performance coaxial cable assemblies.
Historically, most providers of custom coaxial cable would require several weeks of preparation time and usually included a non-recurring engineering charge to produce any volume of custom coaxial cables. With tools like The RF Cable Designer™, it is now possible for users to readily order custom coaxial cables with incredibly fast shipping times. Moreover, services tied to this tool exist to allow for the easy recorder of common custom cable assemblies to avoid the hassle of having to reconfigure a custom cable type every time such a cable is needed.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q1. What exactly is a custom coaxial cable assembly?
A: A custom coaxial cable assembly is a tailored interconnect solution consisting of coaxial cable and connectors selected and built to meet specific electrical, mechanical, and environmental requirements for a given application.
Q2. How does custom coax improve signal quality compared to standard cables?
A: Custom assemblies are engineered for precise impedance matching and shielding, which reduces reflections, insertion loss, and electromagnetic interference — resulting in cleaner, more stable signal transmission.
Q3. Are custom coaxial assemblies compatible with all RF systems?
A: Yes custom designs can be built with a wide range of connector types (SMA, N-type, BNC, MMCX, etc.) and cable types to match virtually any RF, microwave, or high-frequency system
Q4. Why not just use standard cables and adapters?
A: Standard cables often require adapters to interface between components, which can degrade performance and increase insertion loss. Custom assemblies avoid this by providing exact connector interfaces.
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Peter McNeil | Aug 24, 2022 | Custom Cable Configurator
The Fairview The RF Cable Designer™ is an extremely useful tool for ordering custom coaxial cable assemblies. Instead of having to email or call a technical sales representative to order a specific custom cable assembly, a user can now simply input their desired custom cable parameters and order their cable online. The custom coaxial cables ordered this way usually ship the same day as ordered. Moreover, all of Fairview’s custom cables ordered this way have single heat shrink installed by default at no additional cost.
Using The RF Cable Designer™ is quick and straightforward. Just follow these steps:
- Select your desired Connector 1, Connector 2 & Coax Cable parameters in any preferred sequence.
- The checkboxes next to the parameters change their status dynamically based on your selections:
- Click on the parameter checkbox to lock the value from changing.
- Ensure there is no checkbox unselected (white color) next to each Connector and Cable parameter.
- Select any additional “Assembly Options”.
- Click “Create My Cable Assembly” to proceed to your custom cable’s product page.
- On the product page, enter your desired cable length, review pricing & details, then place your order.
The Fairview RF Cable Designer™ interface
Once an option field is selected and the “lock-in” button is selected, then the remaining customization options that are not compatible with the already locked-in parameters will no longer be selectable. If there is only a single result for a given option, the parameter selection drop-down menu will be grayed and unselectable as will the “lock-in” button.
An important Assembly Option to note is clocking. If multiple right-angle connectors are selected then the clocking becomes essential. A right-angle connector can be clocked at either 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees as indicated in the following image. This is especially significant for semi-rigid or rigid coaxial cable, as the clocking won’t be adjustable after ordering.
Right angle coaxial cable assembly clocking diagram.
Once all of the parameters are selected and locked-in, the large “Create My Cable Assembly” button on the bottom will become functional. If all of the parameters are not selected and the button is clicked, a popup indicating that all the parameters have not been selected will appear.
After successful custom coaxial cable selection occurs a web page will be created for the supplied configuration with a distinct product ID. Now the length and quantity of the custom coaxial cable assemblies can be chosen. Once the “calculate” button is clicked then the pricing for various quantities will appear and an input field denoting the quantity desired will appear along with the “Add to Cart” button.
Custom coaxial cable assembly web page
