Touchscreen sensor assembly is for harsh environments
Based on the aXiom touchscreen controller, Chrominance standard touchscreens provide an easy-to-integrate, ready-made sensor assembly for displays sized up to 24 inches, says TouchNetix.
The Chrominance sensor assembly for touchscreen displays is designed for system installation in harsh or hazardous environments, such as those in industrial, medical, transportation and military applications.
The Chrominance sensor assemblies are based on the TouchNetix aXiom series touchscreen IC and feature a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of >80dB. The low noise floor and high sensitivity enable the recovery of capacitive touch signals even when high levels of EMI, from sources such as high-voltage cabling, electric motors or wireless communications, are coupled to the Chrominance sensor element via the user’s finger.
Unlike conventional capacitive touchscreen assemblies, the Chrominance assembly does not require site-specific touch-sensor tuning and configuration which can be complex and time consuming.
The Chrominance modules’ high immunity to conducted and radiated interference means they are qualified to Class A according to the EN61000 standard Parts 4-6, 4-4 and 4-3. They also maintain reliable performance in harsh operating conditions which often cause conventional displays to fail to recognise touches, or to report false touches.
The Chrominance assemblies are a range of standard touchscreen sensor modules for displays ranging in size from 4.3 to 24 inches (diagonal). Evaluation kits are available immediately for 12.1, 15.6 and 21.5 inch displays.
A Chrominance module is supplied as a 0.7mm glass/ITO sensor hot-bonded to an FPC tail and a TouchNetix aXiom controller board. TouchNetix can bond the module to a standard 3mm cover glass on request.
TouchNetix provides reference driver code for the Windows and Linux operating systems, and for real-time operating systems (RTOS) used in embedded computing environments.
The Chrominance touch sensor’s high sensitivity means that it supports operation through a thick lens, including glass up to 10mm thick. Gain settings which are programmable per node mean that it can offer uniform touch sensitivity through a 3D or curved lens which has variable thickness across the touch surface. It also recognises touch by a user wearing thick gloves. Its capacitive sensing technology also works very well in the presence of moisture and liquids, says the company, making it suitable for use in outdoor, medical or marine equipment.
It provides full 16-bit XY mapping of up to 10 concurrent touches. Without using additional electrodes. It also supports proximity functionality (e.g. to wake up a dark display when the user’s hand approaches the display), hover sensing (sensing the user’s finger at a distance up to 50mm from the screen), concurrent force sensing and low latency haptic feedback control.
