Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Target Condition: Flex and Rigid-flex Solutions in A&D Display Electronics

Displays and illuminated human-machine interfaces have become essential components of modern electronic systems. From aircraft cockpits and mission-control displays to medical equipment, industrial controls, and consumer devices, we depend on these visual interfaces to interact with technology.

As display systems become thinner, lighter, brighter, and more integrated, we need flexible and rigid-flex circuit technologies as critical enablers. I recently spoke with Pioneer Circuits' Applications Engineer Dan Hansler, and Sales and Marketing Director Ruben Lugo about how decades of aerospace and defense (A&D) experience are influencing today's lighting and display designs.

Kelly Dack: Dan and Ruben, why are flexible and rigid-flex circuits so important in high-tech lighting and display applications?

Dan Hansler: Modern displays are much more than screens. Behind every display is a network of supporting electronics that may include LED backlighting, display drivers, touch sensors, processors, communications interfaces, and power management circuitry. In many applications, these elements cannot occupy the same physical space.

Flexible and rigid-flex circuits provide an efficient way to connect these sub-systems while reducing weight, minimizing assembly complexity, and eliminating many of the connectors and cable assemblies that can become reliability concerns over time.

This is especially important in A&D systems, where displays are often integrated into highly constrained mechanical environments such as cockpit instrument panels, heads-up displays, mission computers, control consoles, and operator interfaces. The same technologies are now being applied to automotive displays, medical equipment, industrial controls, and next-generation consumer electronics.

Ruben Lugo: Lighting systems benefit as well. Whether we're talking about LED backlighting, illuminated controls, status indicators, or advanced display assemblies, rigid-flex circuits allow designers to package electronics in ways that would be difficult or impossible using conventional rigid boards.

By eliminating unnecessary interconnects and utilizing 3D packaging space, designers can create systems that are lighter, more compact, and often more reliable. That's a major reason why flex and rigid-flex technologies have become such valuable tools for modern display and lighting applications.

Dack: A&D platforms have relied on sophisticated displays and illuminated controls for decades. How has that experience influenced today's flex and rigid-flex design practices?

Hansler: Like so many other technologies, display technology is changing as well, with many of the industry's most demanding reliability requirements originating in A&D applications. For decades, Pioneer Circuits has manufactured flexible and rigid-flex circuits supporting mission-control interfaces, radar systems, navigation equipment, secure communications, electronic warfare platforms, and other mission-critical systems.

In these environments, display failures can impact mission effectiveness and operator performance. As a result, designers have learned that long-term reliability depends on much more than electrical functionality. Material selection, bend-radius management, conductor geometry, strain relief, thermal performance, and manufacturing consistency all play critical roles.

I’ve seen that many of those same considerations are now important in commercial display applications as products become more compact and mechanically complex.

Lugo: A&D programs have effectively served as real-world laboratories for flex-circuit reliability. These systems operate in environments characterized by vibration, shock, thermal cycling, altitude extremes, and long service lives. Those conditions quickly expose weaknesses in both design and manufacturing.

The lessons learned from those applications have shaped many of today's best practices. As Dan mentioned, the design of a proper bend radius is critical. Also, dynamic-flex considerations, rolled-annealed copper selection, strain-relief techniques, and advanced inspection methods should not be overlooked.

What's interesting is that modern display technologies are experiencing similar challenges. Foldable consumer devices, automotive digital dashboards, wearable electronics, and advanced medical displays all require reliable interconnections within increasingly compact mechanical structures. The reliability knowledge developed for A&D applications is directly applicable to these emerging products.

Dack: Yes, agreed. What final advice would you offer engineers developing lighting and display systems that incorporate flexible and rigid-flex circuits?

Hansler: The most important message I can emphasize is that reliability starts early. The flex and rigid-flex performance attributes of power, signal integrity, mechanical, and potential thermal management of heat are largely determined during the phases of development, material selection, mechanical packaging, and interconnect planning, not during fabrication alone.

Early collaboration between electrical designers, mechanical engineers, and manufacturing specialists can prevent many issues before they become costly production or field failures.

Lugo: Whether the application is an aircraft display, an industrial control panel, a medical imaging system, or a consumer device, the objective remains the same: delivering reliable visual information to the user.

The most successful designs recognize that displays, lighting systems, mechanical packaging, and interconnect technology are all part of a single system. When electrical, mechanical, materials, and manufacturing considerations are addressed together, engineers can maximize both performance and long-term reliability.

That's a lesson A&D programs have taught for decades, and it's one that remains highly relevant to modern display and lighting designers today.

Dack: Thank you, Dan and Ruben, for sharing your insights.

Conclusion
If there's a single point to sum up this discussion, it's that reliable display systems don't happen by accident. Whether the application is a fighter aircraft, a medical imaging platform, or the dashboard in your next car, successful flex and rigid-flex designs result from thoughtful collaboration between design, materials, manufacturing, and mechanical engineering teams.

The A&D industries have spent decades teaching us that interconnect reliability matters just as much as the electronics it connects. As displays become thinner, brighter, lighter, and more complex, those lessons remain highly relevant.

From a Target Condition perspective, the goal is simple: Create interconnect solutions that perform long after everyone has forgotten who designed them. After all, the best flex circuit is the one nobody ever has to think about again.

This column originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of I-Connect007 Magazine.