Atmel’s maXTouch S series heads outdoors with Ocular

Atmel’s maXTouch S is heading to the great outdoors with Ocular LCD’s PCAP touch panels. Designed specifically for outdoor and marine applications, these Crystal Touch panels are non-birefringent and immune to false touches caused by water spray and droplets.

Water droplets, especially saltwater, can cause false touches on projected capacitive touch panels, which may be dangerous in certain situations. However, Ocular’s rugged PCAP design, powered by Atmel’s maXTouch S technology, enables touch panels to identify and disregard unintended touches caused by water droplets and spray, all while maintaining accurate touch functionality.

It should probably be noted that birefringence is also an issue when it comes to using devices outdoors. Known as the “rainbow effect,” birefringence occurs most often with polarized sunglasses. As such, Ocular designs projected capacitive touch panels that are non-birefringent, enabling optimized optical qualities with polarized sunglasses or cover glass.

“Atmel’s maXTouch S series controllers deliver better linearity, increased signal-to-noise ratio and excellent noise immunity for Ocular’s PCAP line of touch panels,” said Jon Kiachian, vice president of touch marketing, Atmel Corporation. “Users experience better touch performance and responsiveness for Ocular’s large touchscreen displays for outdoor and marine applications.”

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s maXTouch S lineup features intelligent touch processing algorithms, noise suppression, high responsiveness, pinpoint precision and sensor hub technology that fuses together input from motion-processing sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers.

The technology can also be used to build a highly responsive, high-fidelity touch experience in mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and Windows 8 Ultrabooks – even in the most punishing noise environments.