Touch Technology

TOUCH TECHNOLOGY
Touch technology has redefined the meaning of the term user-friendliness. This technology, once
considered to be a distant dream, has touched all aspects of our life today. From mobile phones to
personal computers to advanced applications in the field of scientific research, touch technology is
everywhere. This is my attempt to bring you up to date with the very basics and also the new
advancements in the field of touch technology, a technology that would forever change the way we
look at and interact with the various gizmos at our disposal.
Touch switches
A touch switch is a type of switch that only has to be touched by an object to operate. It is
used in many lamps and wall switches that have a metal exterior as well as on public
computer terminals.
There are basically two types of touch switches. They are:
• Capacitance touch switch
A capacitance switch needs only one electrode to function. The electrode can be placed
behind a non-conductive panel made of for example wood, glass or plastic.
• Resistance touch switch
A resistance switch needs two electrodes to be physically in contact with something

electrically conductive (for example a finger) to operate.
Capacitance touch switch

A capacitance touch switch works using body capacitance, a property of the human body that
gives it great electrical characteristics. The lamp keeps charging and discharging its metal
exterior to detect changes in capacitance. When a person touches it, it increases the
capacitance and triggers the switch.
Finger Capacitance
At the heart of any capacitive-sensing system is a set of conductors which interact with electric fields.
The tissue of the human body is filled with conductive electrolytes covered by a layer of skin, which
acts as a dielectric. It is the conductive property of fingers that makes capacitive touch sensing
possible.
A simple parallel plate capacitor has two conductors separated by a dielectric layer. Most of the
energy in this system is concentrated directly between the plates. Some of the energy spills over into
the area outside the plates, and the electric field lines associated with this effect are called fringing
fields. One of the requirements for making a practical capacitive sensor is to design a set of printed
circuit traces which direct fringing fields into an active sensing area accessible to a user.
Placing a finger near fringing electric fields adds conductive surface area to the capacitive system.
Resistance touch switch

A resistance touch switch works by lowering the resistance between two pieces of metal. It is
thus much simpler in construction compared to the capacitance switch. Placing one or two
fingers across the plates achieves a turn on or closed state. Removing the finger(s) from the
metal pieces turns the device off.
One implementation of a resistance touch switch would be two darlington-paired transistors

where the base of the first transistor is connected to one of the electrodes.
Also, an N-Channel, enhancement-mode, metal oxide field effect transistor can be used. Its
gate can be connected to one of the electrodes and the other electrode through a resistance to
a positive voltage.
Layout of the Sensor
The buttons on the top layer of a capacitance touch switch are spaced apart at an appropriate
distance so that the user does not accidentally press any other switch, which would be the
case if the switches are placed at distances smaller than the average size of an adult fingertip.
The ground plane is on the top layer, as shown in the figure. The sensor pad is isolated from the
ground plane by a uniform gap. The size of the gap is an important design parameter. If the gap is set
too small, too much field energy will go directly to ground. If set too large, control is lost over how
the energy is directed through the overlay.
The following diagram shows the cross-sectional view of a typical sensor.
A via in the PCB connects the sensor pad to the trace on the bottom side of the board, as shown in the
figure. The dielectric constant, εr, influences how tightly the electric field energy can pack into the
material as the field tries to find the shortest path to ground.
TouchScreen Technology
Touchscreens are the most widely used application of ouch technology. An application which
we encounter daily in our lives
How does a touchscreen work?

A basic touchscreen has three main components: a touch sensor, a controller, and a software driver.
The touchscreen is an input device, so it needs to be combined with a display and a PC or other device
to make a complete touch input system.
1. Touch Sensor
A touch screen sensor is a clear glass panel with a touch responsive surface. The
touch sensor is placed over a display screen so that the responsive area of the panel
covers the viewable area of the video screen. There are several different touch sensor
technologies on the market today, each using a different method to detect touch input.
The sensor generally has an electrical current or signal going through it and touching
the screen causes a voltage or signal change. This voltage change is used to determine
the location of the touch to the screen.
2. Controller
The controller is a small PC card that connects between the touch sensor and the PC.
It takes information from the touch sensor and translates it into information that PC
can understand. The controller is usually installed inside the monitor for integrated
monitors or it is housed in a plastic case for external touch overlays. The controller
determines what type of connection you will need on the PC.
3. Software Driver
The driver is a software update for the PC system that allows the touchscreen and
computer to work together. It tells the computer's operating system how to interpret
the touch event information that is sent from the controller. Most touch screen drivers
today are a mouse-emulation type driver. This makes touching the screen the same as
clicking your mouse at the same location on the screen. This allows the touchscreen
to work with existing software and allows new applications to be developed without
the need for touchscreen specific programming.
Recent developments in India

TouchMagix is a Pune-based startup with a product that can convert any wall of floor into an
interactive touch screen. Targeted towards “high footfall” areas like malls, conferences and lobbys, it
is a technology with a lot of potential, and frankly, something that we don’t expect to see out of
Indian companies. It is now turning out to be a great media for advertisement .TouchMagix
technology was first displayed during the Hi Tech Maharashtra 2009 conference in Pune.
Even though there are existing systems in developed countries like US, Israel, etc., which can perform
similar tasks, TouchMagix is a superior and cost effective technology than most of the competition
around.
As off now there are 2 products, MagixFloor and MagixWall which are like large multi-point touch-
screens. Both the technologies use same set of hardware and software. The hardware comprises of a
high-end PC, a projector and their proprietary TouchMagix sensor. The sensor feeds the signals to the
PC software, which recognizes human gestures and generates an XML feed on loopback interface.
This feed can be integrated with any designing software like Adobe Flash, Adobe Director, 3DS Max
etc. to build games and content.
Touch technology has come into our world in a big way and is here to stay. With exciting
developments in this field and the ever changing needs of the consumers, one can only be certain
about one thing- touch technology will increase its influence in even more fields in the years to come.
Rohiit Nayak
S.E.
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Touch Technology

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TOUCH TECHNOLOGY

There are basically two types of touch switches. They are:

• Capacitance touch switch

• Resistance touch switch

A resistance switch needs two electrodes to be physically in contact with something

Capacitance touch switch

Resistance touch switch

One implementation of a resistance touch switch would be two darlington-paired transistors

Layout of the Sensor

The following diagram shows the cross-sectional view of a typical sensor.

How does a touchscreen work?

Recent developments in India

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