Shielding structure for a connector assembly

A header assembly comprising:

• a header housing having a header cavity between a mating end of the header housing and a base wall of the header housing, the mating end configured to be mated with a receptacle assembly, the base wall including signal contact channels and ground contact channels;
• header signal contacts received in corresponding signal contact channels, the header signal contacts having mating ends arranged in the header cavity for mating with the receptacle assembly;
• header ground contacts received in corresponding ground contact channels, each header ground contact including an end wall extending between a first side wall and a second side wall forming a shield cavity, the shield cavity receiving at least one of the header signal contacts to provide electrical shielding for the at least one header signal contacts, each header ground contact includes a first mating beam extending from the first side wall and a second mating beam extending from the second side wall, the first and second mating beams being deflectable, the first and second mating beams extending outward relative to the shield cavity, the first and second mating beams configured to be received in a common shielded chamber of a conductive insert of the receptacle assembly, the first and second mating beams configured to be compressed against the conductive insert to electrically common each of the header ground contacts.

An electrical connector system comprising:

• a receptacle assembly comprising a receptacle housing holding receptacle signal contacts and receptacle ground contacts, the receptacle housing including a dielectric front housing and a conductive insert coupled to a rear of the front housing, the conductive insert including chamber walls forming shielded chambers, each shielded chamber receiving a pair of the receptacle signal contacts and the corresponding receptacle ground contacts;
• and
• a header assembly comprising a header housing holding header signal contacts and header ground contacts, the header housing having a header cavity receiving the receptacle housing, the header housing having a base wall including signal contact channels receiving corresponding header signal contacts and ground contact channels receiving corresponding header ground contacts, the header signal contacts extending into the header cavity for mating with corresponding receptacle signal contacts, the header ground contacts extending into the header cavity for mating with corresponding receptacle ground contacts, each header ground contact including an end wall extending between a first side wall and a second side wall forming a shield cavity, the shield cavity receiving a pair of the header signal contacts to provide electrical shielding for the header signal contacts, each header ground contact includes a mating protrusion extending outward relative to the shield cavity, the mating protrusion engaging the corresponding chamber wall of the conductive insert of the receptacle assembly to electrically connect the header ground contact to the conductive insert, wherein the conductive insert electrically commons each of the header ground contacts.