Advanced Connectivity in Extreme Environments

When deploying connectors engineered to perform in extreme temperatures and harsh environments, it’s important to understand customer needs to deliver tailored solutions.
March 24, 2026

What you'll learn:

  • Thoughts on the current state of the electronics industry.
  • How Cinch is tackling next-generation electronic connectivity in applications such as mil/aero.
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For more than six decades, Cinch Connectivity Solutions has addressed the demanding requirements of applications such as space exploration. The company delivers reliable, cost-effective solutions by leveraging its global team of expert engineers, manufacturing, and sales support. 

Along those lines, Cinch developed CIN::APSE, which provides high-reliability, high-performance solderless, high-density interconnects for board-to-board, flex-to-board, and component-to-board applications. It’s a crimpless and solderless, high-speed interconnect offering a wide range of profiles from 0.020 in. (0.5 mm) to 1.0 in. (25 mm).

CIN::APSE’s contacts are available in 0.020 in. (0.5 mm) and 0.039 in. (1.0 mm) diameters, with a standard pitch of 0.039 in. (1.0 mm) or greater. The number of contacts isn't limited, and the largest connector implemented to date contained 7,396 I/Os. Solderless termination is achieved through compression, and a contact design assures multiple points of contact per I/O. 

Cinch Connectivity Solutions, a Bel group company, has a portfolio that includes connectors, cable assemblies, and custom solutions for industries ranging from space and defense to commercial aerospace, 5G/IoT, and industrial.

About the Author

Alix Paultre

Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces

Jerry Metcalf

Business Development Manager, Cinch Connectivity Solutions, a Bel Fuse company

Jerry Metcalf is Business Development Manager at Cinch Connectivity Solutions, a Bel Fuse company. He brings technical and commercial experience from 30 years in the Harsh Environment Interconnect Industry, holds a Master's degree in Engineering and has specialized over his career in Product Management and Development, Strategic Program Management, and Engineering and delivering appropriate solutions for customer applications.

Jerry specializes in high-reliability interconnect architectures and is a leading advocate for CIN::APSE, Cinch's solderless compression interconnect system

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