High performance PCT™ touch controller now supplied as chipset

Zytronic is the developer and manufacturer of Projected Capacitive Technology (PCT™) touchscreen products.The ZXY100 has been favourably received across multiple industry sectors, offering stronger through-glass performance, native Windows 7 support (including dual touch, to cover core gesture recognition functions) as well as faster touch detection, and with this additional product offering its scope is further enlarged. The chipset, which is available by special agreement, is provided as two compact ICs, a 32-bit microprocessor with an ARM® core preloaded with the proprietary PCT firmware and a Zytronic designed ASIC-based analogue front end. This will furnish OEMs building higher volume industrial and public use touchscreen devices with the ability to integrate the high precision touch control function afforded by the ZXY100 on to their own motherboard, rather than having to attach a separate controller module - thus optimising available space and potentially reducing cost. It also increases design versatility in terms of component positioning, which may assist important considerations such as efficient thermal management. Furthermore, the ZXY100 firmware contains a boot loader function enabling users to upload software updates as they become available. With the controller firmware readily accessed and tuned via Zytronic's driver software, this means that engineers involved in designs ranging from telematics systems, vending machines, consumer appliances, point of sale units, etc, will be able to optimise the touch control operation themselves, according to their specific requirements - encouraging the development of more innovative end products. "Since introduction of the ZXY100 high performance touch controller board, just over eighteen months ago, Zytronic has received a lot of interest from its customer base to offer this functionality in a simple chipset form," states Ian Crosby, Sales & Marketing Director at Zytronic. "With this new controller option, the company is now in a position to help engineering teams add state of the art user interface features, such as dual touch and gesture recognition, to their high volume industrial product designs, and assist them in managing valuable space, in increasingly compact touch system designs. As the PCT controller utilises an ASIC, firmware and software driver, all developed and managed by Zytronic, we are able to provide customers interested in using our touch technology with higher levels of end-to-end support."