Insulation displacement coaxial cable termination and method

A cable termination for mechanical and electrical attachment to the end of a cable assembly including (1) a plurality of co-planar, parallel, laterally spaced signal wires, each signal wire being enclosed in a first insulating sheath and having (a) an associated parallel ground wire in the plane of the signal wires outside the first insulating sheath and (b) a conductive sheath surrounding the ground wire and the first insulating sheath, and (2) a second insulating sheath surrounding all of the conductive sheaths to thereby define a plurality of parallel coaxial cables, the ends of the conductive sheaths being recessed from the ends of the signal wires, the termination comprising:

• a first housing member having an aperture for receiving the end of the cable assembly, said aperture be sized and shaped to guide each of the coaxial cables into a predetermined position in said first housing member;
• means for securing the cable assembly to the first housing member;
• a second housing member having a plurality of parallel, laterally spaced insulation displacement contacts extending from the second housing member in two parallel rows, the insulation displacement contacts in one row being signal wire contacts for respectively electrically contacting the signal wires, and the insulation displacement contacts in the other row being ground wire contacts for respectively electrically contacting the ground wires, the second housing member being connectable to the first housing member along a termination axis transverse to the plane of the signal wires and parallel to the insulation displacement contacts so that each signal wire contact displaces the insulation surrounding a respective one of the signal wires beyond the recessed end of the associated conductive sheath and makes electrical contact with that signal wire, and so that each ground wire contact displaces the insulation and conductive sheath surrounding a respective one of the ground wires and makes electrical contact with that ground wire;
• and
• means for holding the first and second housing members together.