Grand Prize

Smart-E-Touch

The Smart-E-Touch is an intelligent, touchscreen-based user interface. A Motorola Nitron MC68HC908QY4T microcontroller is used to monitor and control a pair of MC33794 e-field sensors. The e-field sensors, in turn, monitor an XY grid on a PCB for the capacitive sensing of the touchscreen. After the Nitron microcontroller has translated a “touch” from the e-field sensor data, it outputs an XY coordinate to its RS-232 serial port. A main system controller (PC or equivalent) then receives the XY coordinate and can act upon it. The touchscreen is built right into the actual circuit board where the controller circuitry is located. Therefore, rather than integrating a separate touchscreen assembly into a design, the touchscreen is part of the system controller board. The result is a cost-effective, reliable, and adaptable user interface.

Bruce Pride
New Hampshire
BrucePride@PridEEmbedded.com

Abstract (PDF)
Entry (ZIP)

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