Capacitive touch sensing solution for large screen HMI systems
Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new automotive capacitive touch screen controller family that enables screen sizes up to 15″ with performance in harsh automotive environments.
The new Automotive TrueTouch CYAT8168X controller uses Cypress’s proprietary AutoArmor technology for robust immunity to the strong Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) emissions found in cars, busses and trucks.
The controller delivers a flawless user experience even with water droplets, condensation or sweat on the touchscreen.
Additionally, the controllers provide tracking of fingers in gloves, allowing drivers to operate the touchscreen without having to take off their gloves.
Cypress AutoArmor meets car manufacturers’ most challenging electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements for chip-level emissions (IEC 61967), conducted (IEC 62132) and radiated (ISO 11452) immunity, as well as for system-level (CISPR 25) specifications.
AutoArmor uses automatic frequency hopping to prevent false touches caused by EMI from other electronic systems, and it uses TX frequency spreading to reduce electromagnetic emissions by up to 30%.
The Automotive TrueTouch CYAT8168X controller includes up to 88 I/Os with a host processor interface through I2C or SPI, which help improve touchscreen responsiveness.
The controller family
“With the addition of our Automotive TrueTouch CYAT8168X touchscreen controller family, Cypress now offers our customers the most robust solution for harsh automotive environments, giving drivers the perfect user experience they expect,” said Dr. Jing Mu, Senior Director of Automotive HMI Marketing for Cypress.
“The robust EMI immunity, water tolerance and gloved finger tracking of our new automotive touchscreen controllers demonstrate Cypress’s commitment to expand our automotive portfolio with solutions that enable world-class performance and features in next-gen vehicles.”
The Automotive TrueTouch CYAT8168X controller family delivers accuracy and linearity for fingers of different sizes and gloves of various materials and thicknesses, including ski gloves, and automatically switches between glove and finger tracking without requiring the drivers to switch settings.
The technology
With Cypress’s patented DualSense technology to execute both self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance measurements in the same device.
The family offers water rejection and wet finger tracking for seamless performance in real-world conditions, including the presence of water droplets, condensation, or sweat.
The controllers are based on a 32-bit ARM Cortex M-Core processor that is known for high efficiency MIPS/mW.
The TrueTouch portfolio’s features are backed by a portfolio of more than 100 capacitive touch sensing patents.
Availability
The Automotive TrueTouch CYAT8168X controllers are currently sampling, with AEC-Q100 fully automotive-qualified products expected in the first quarter of 2016.
The controllers are available in automotive-friendly 128-pin and 100-pin TQFP packages.
