Zytronic develops new multi-touch controllers with ultra-narrow bezels

Zytronic's ZXY500 multi-touch controllers enable contactless integration of technologies alongside the touchscreen.

In response to the growing demand for narrow screen borders, especially on video walls, The new touch controllers Zytronic ZXY500 allows you to design touch sensors with non-active edges, significantly lower.

For example, a touch sensor of 55 diagonal inches can now be designed with edges less than 10 Mm. An additional advantage of the ZXY500 controller is its compatibility with contactless technologies, that are increasingly being integrated into screens to facilitate payment technologies, Customer Tracking and Battery Charging.

Zytronic has introduced the ZXY500 family of controllers, Optimized for different touch interface sizes, composed of three models: ZXY500-U-OFF-64, of 64 channels and is recommended for 5 20" diagonal; ZXY500-U-OFF-128 128 Channels for 20 to 55", and ZXY500-U-OFF-256 256 canals, for sizes over 55".

RFID technologies, NFC and iQ phone charging all generate wireless signals that can interfere with the operation of conventional touch screens, however, and according to Zytronic, the ZXY500" controller offers the best signal-to-noise ratios in the industry, as well as sophisticated algorithms that dynamically change to reject electromagnetic interference in the operating environment".

This manufacturer of large-format touch sensors with projected capacitive technology (PCT and MPCT) tested all these technologies with the ZXY500 controller and demonstrated that they can be integrated very close to the touch hotspot, without affecting touchscreen performance.

Ian Crosby, Director of Sales and Marketing at Zytronic, He pointed out in this regard that "we have set a new standard in touch performance, opening the door to a whole new set of functionalities in video walls and interactive touch tables. The smallest width idle edge we can offer today fully accommodates the trend of thinner screens, with a larger viewing area".

Another feature highlighted by this executive is the possibility of adding new functionalities in the touch interface, such as contactless payment and loyalty card recognition. "The new generation of ZXY500 touch controllers is easier to integrate into a system than any previous one," he said, and enables a faster, more interactive user experience, Even in demanding outdoor environments, where many users operate with gloves".

The ZXY500 controller family supports up to eighty simultaneous touch contacts, facilitating true multi-user interactivity and implementation of enhanced palm rejection functionality. Also offers higher speed, When updating touch coordinates in Solo 1 ms in controller reaction, reducing touch latency by a third, compared to the previous generation of controllers.

Each channel of the device can be configured via firmware to operate in transmit or receive mode. This feature further improves performance in applications where touch screens with unusual aspect ratios are used.

Designed for use specifically with Zytronic touch sensors, The ZXY500 family achieves optimal performance and noise immunity on displays of between 5 and 86 diagonal inches, thanks to its integrated voltage signal of 40 V, Benchmark in the sector, along with new proprietary touch sensing algorithms.

Thanks to this excellent noise immunity (even when the controller is powered via 5V USB, eliminating the need for a separate power supply), the ZXY500 family reduces physical isolation between the display and the sensor and, turn, Optical parallax. Can reliably detect contacts through overlapping glass of more than 8 Mm, even if the user is wearing gloves, and is not affected by rain, dirt, Oil or ice on the surface of the touch sensor, Especially advantageous for outdoors and unattended facilities.

The ZXY500 family of controllers is available with USB output as standard, but you also have other options to add, as RS232 interfaces, I2C and SPI, to simplify system integration in industrial and medical applications.

In addition, system size reduced (61×64 Mm) for the version of 64 canals; just like flexible printed circuits (FPC) that connect touch sensors to new controllers (120 mm length). This range of controllers are HID compatible (Human Interface Device) and offer plug and play operation with current Windows operating systems, as well as with the latest versions of Linux and Android designed for multi-touch operations.

All Setup, including calibration data, can be stored in the controller's built-in non-volatile memory, so that once an initial touchscreen has been set up, These settings can be copied directly to the firmware and used to configure additional interfaces in production, No need to repeat the process.

The performance and functionality of the ZXY500 are derived from the unique ASIC (Application-specific integrated circuit); a custom chip created specifically by Zytronic for this range of controllers, in which the company has invested more than one million US dollars in its development, as reported, which has allowed costs and size to be reduced, as well as "a large part of the risk of obsolescence associated with the use of third-party components for essential parts of the design".

New ASICs are also available, along with a Cortex ARM STM microprocessor from 32 bits loaded with Zytronic's touch detection algorithms as a chipset. Customers who sign a special license agreement can receive it, along with controller schematics and bill of materials. Zytronic engineers will work with the customer to design the ZXY500 controller directly on a motherboard within their device or system.

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