What Is H-MTD®?

High-Speed Modular Twisted-Pair Data (H-MTD^®) is a connector system used in automotive networking applications that supports frequencies up to 20 GHz and data transmission rates up to 56G bit/sec.

Vehicles are adding high-resolution radars and cameras to support ever more sophisticated automated driving capabilities, and those devices create high-bandwidth streams of data to centralized computing platforms. To accommodate these emerging requirements, the industry is moving to networking technologies such as Automotive Ethernet and MIPI A-PHY, a new physical-layer interface for in-vehicle data transmission.

Ethernet has a long and successful history in IT, but the most common connectors used with Ethernet in the IT world—such as the RJ-45 jack found on many laptops and in data centers—are not nearly robust enough for automotive environments, which present unique challenges related to heat, vibration, electromagnetic interference, space constraints, dirt and dust. Keeping the connections clean and securely attached in that environment is critical to ensuring that the automated driving features operate as expected.

H-MTD^® addresses those challenges. It includes a miniaturized terminal system that can be enclosed within modular, compact housings and headers. The standard portfolio design has independent secondary locks that ensure that the terminals are securely retained and positioned in the housing, as well as an optional connector position assurance feature that prevents accidental disconnections. Aptiv’s H-MTD^® design is also optimized for the lowest possible insertion force so that the miniaturized components are protected during assembly.

To protect against electromagnetic interference, the connectors provide a fully shielded interface. The H-MTD^® cable assembly design supports the use of shielded twisted-pair cables today and will support shielded parallel-pair cables in the future for higher bandwidths.

Aptiv developed H-MTD^® in a technical partnership with Rosenberger. This agreement allows Aptiv to build H-MTD^® connectors to our exacting standards that are compatible with Rosenberger’s design specifications.

Aptiv produces H-MTD^® connectors and cable assemblies on automated assembly lines to ensure the highest quality. To deliver stable and consistent signal performance, terminal insertion is fully automated; this also controls skew and avoids cable damage. The system demonstrates repeatable performance at all frequencies when tested in various vibration and temperature conditions.

H-MTD^® is a registered trademark of Rosenberger Hochfrequenztechnik GmbH & Co*