Video connectors survive round-the-world epic: News from Deutsch

Note: Readers of the free Electronicstalk email newsletter will have read this news when it was announced. Find out how to register for your free copy now.

As the world watched footage of Ellen MacArthur's round the world triumph, staff at Deutsch, the electrical connector specialist, had a particular reason to be proud. Deutsch connectors enabled the boat's media system to control the onboard digital video recorders, and capture historic footage of MacArthur's EPIC journey. Steve Selfe, from Extreme Tec, who spent three months designing and building the media system, explains: 'There were 12 cameras on the boat'.

'I designed a camera switcher system that was used to interface the digital video recorders that were remotely mounted for easy access by Ellen'.

The Deutsch connectors took the signals from the video matrix to the digital video recorders.

'It was a critical application', says Selfe.

'The connectors needed to be small, high density and light'.

'I chose Deutsch connectors because they had to work well in a very high salt environment, and withstand temperature fluctuations, and they had a very positive snap action'.

'They survived all the sea trials last year, the 71-day journey, and they are still working perfectly'.

The footage taken by the digital video recorders will be invaluable in making television programmes about the challenge.

'Live footage is highly compressed and the quality is not up to normal broadcast standard', explains Selfe.

'If the Deutsch connectors had failed we would have been left with virtually no useable footage about the voyage'.

'But it was a mission-critical environment, and the connectors worked faultlessly'.

• Deutsch: contact details and other news
• Email this news to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page