Impact of receptacle degradation and loose connection on signal integrity and electrical performance repeatability

Radio frequency (RF) coaxial connectors are important constituents of modern communication systems. The degraded electrical contacts may adversely affect the signal transmission efficiency particularly in the case of loose connections. In this study, a distributed equivalent model of a coaxial connector with degraded receptacle and the loose connection was developed. The scattering parameters were analysed from the perspectives of both experimental testing and model simulation. The equivalent model and experimental results show good agreement. The impact of the degraded receptacle and loose connection on signal integrity was studied along with its electrical performance repeatability for different cases with respect to a degraded and loose connector. In addition, for the same degradation and loose level, the variation of contact resistance and contact capacitance was also investigated. These results are helpful for a better understanding of the intermittent failure of RF connectors. Moreover, these conclusions are also useful for diagnosing circuit faults caused by deteriorated repeatability of degraded and loose connectors.