Extension board supports low power e-paper displays
To support Pervasive Displays’ range of iTC, low power, e-paper displays, the company has introduced the third generation extension board, EXT3.
The company also provides an extensive, free software library to help reduce engineering effort for customers to produce displays for industrial, commercial and retail applications.
The EXT3 helps engineering teams evaluate e-paper technology before making system-level decisions, such as which host microcontroller to use, what screen size and colour to select, and the amount or type of memory needed. This support is expected to be welcomed as display manufacturers look to move away from TN/STN displays to low power e-paper displays, where the image on screen can be maintained without consuming any power.
The EXT3 provides a convenient way to interface a host microcontroller and optional touch-sensitive panel to any of Pervasive Displays’ E-Ink displays that use the company’s internal timing controller (iTC) technology. Included in this scope are black/white and black/white/red displays which are available in multiple screen sizes and dimensions, from the 1.54inch Aurora to the 12.2inch Spectra displays.
The EXT3 also has open source software resources, for design teams to evaluate all of Pervasive Displays’ iTC-based displays. Developers can connect the display to the EXT3 which includes a 1Mbyte / 8Mbit flash memory and an expansion pad for adding additional memory (flash or RAM) if required. Engineers can accelerate their design cycle, using the EXT3, says Pervasive Displays.
“Engineers can use the extension board to connect their preferred microcontroller to any of our iTC-based displays with hardly any additional engineering effort,” said Charming Su, senior vice president at Pervasive Displays. It can be used to evaluate electronic paper displays’ features and benefits, such as fast and partial update, added Su.
For additional support, the EXT3 is supplied with a complementary expansion kit that provides open-source, license-free EPD driver firmware and a library of basic graphic elements for developing graphical interfaces. The EXT3 Plus kit includes an advanced version of the graphic library and the EXT3 Touch board. This allows developers to add touch panel integration to a design.
All EXT3 kits support the evaluation of fast and partial update modes of operation.
