Atmel – Automotive-qualified controller family for in-car control systems (mXT143E)

New automotive-qualified maXTouch controllers for in-car control systems have been announced y Amel. The devices will bring today’s smartphone experience into contemporary cars, even for drivers wearing gloves, says the company.

Expanding the Atmel portfolio of maXTouch automotive-qualified devices, the new mXT143E and mXT224E touch controllers are designed for small automotive touchscreens and touchpads up to seven inches in diameter such as center stack displays, navigation systems, radio human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and rear-seat entertainment systems.

By addressing smaller screen and touch-pad sizes, the mXT143E and mXT224E controllers complement the company’s growing family of automotive-qualified touchscreen controllers that support screens/pads from 2 to 12 inches in diameter.

With these new automotive-qualified maXTouch devices, Atmel strengthens its position as a market-leading touch innovator and supplier. The maXTouch family is known for its superior performance and rich feature set, including unlimited touches, fast response time, touch precision, robust operation and low power consumption.

The mXT143E and mXT224E are fully automotive-qualified according to AEC-Q100. The touchscreen controllers provide embedded functionalities that meet specific automotive design requirements, including high-temperature behaviour and reliable operation in harsh environments and with gloved fingers.

The high signal-to-noise ratio of 80:1 makes the devices ideal for very noisy environments. The devices provide full support for gloved hand operation on automotive touchscreens and pads.

The mXT143E and mXT224E embed X/Y position calculation as well as post-processing algorithms such as eliminating unintended touches. With touchscreens and pads based on these new maXTouch controllers, users can perform multi-touch gestures (pinch, stretch, etc.), while unintended touches, such as a resting hand on the screen, are rejected.

The devices feature true 12-bit touch functionality with independent X/Y tracking for up to 10 concurrent touches in real-time, allowing for the highest linearity and accuracy. Adaptation to high-resolution displays is easy and quick. The user-configurable ratio of X and Y lines supports a variety of aspect ratios from 4:3 to 16:9, says the company.

“Atmel brings the consumer touch experience into the automobile, even when drivers are wearing gloves,” said Stephan Thaler, marketing director for automotive touch products, Atmel. “With the new mXT143E and mXT224E devices, also smaller automotive touch applications, such as touchscreens and curved touchpads in the center stack, are made possible with just one single controller, reducing development time, system complexity and cost for the system designer.”

Additional maXTouch capabilities targeting automotive applications include frequency hopping during burst generation, self calibration, detect integration addressing EMI/EMC requirements and high reliability in harsh environments. With a scan speed of up to 280Hz, design engineers can provide character recognition for alpha-numeric inputs to the automotive HMI interfaces, another key feature for modern cars, says the company.