03-12-2021 | Microchip Technology | Semiconductors
Microchip Technology announces a new maXTouch touchscreen controller that enables automotive designers to provide various and individual aspect ratios for touch displays in cars. This new offering comprises further functional safety support requested by OEMs.
The MXT1296M1T can reconfigure its driving and receiving touch channels to equal the exact screen format, from 1:1 to 5:1 aspect ratio, including the popular 8:3 automotive aspect ratio. This feature allows the client to efficiently utilise the number of touch channels available with no need to choose a larger, more expensive touch controller. Moreover, clients can save further development and validation time and resources by reusing a common PCB design to support various touch sensor aspect ratios. The device is an industry first to allow the sensor channel reconfiguration by parameters. These settings do not need firmware modification, leading to lower design risk and quicker time to market.
“As touch displays have become more popular in automotive user interfaces, car manufacturers are using various display formats and shapes to accommodate their interior design and emphasise their brand identity,” said Clayton Pillion, director of the human-machine interface business unit at Microchip Technology. “As the number one automotive touchscreen controller supplier, we know that products with enhanced diagnostic features are a significant advantage to customers who are designing with unique features and increasing ISO 26262 functional safety requirements in mind.”
The new touchscreen controller allows two communication interfaces to operate simultaneously, enabling a bridgeless connection to the backchannel of the LVDS video link for touch information and a connection to a local MCU. The bridgeless topology lessens touch latency to enhance the user experience. It also ensures full compatibility with the maXTouch software driver, offered for all major automotive operating systems, including Linux, Android and QNX.
