As an emerging standard for user interfaces, resistive touch sensing facilitates integration and reduces total system cost, while also supporting input from fingers, gloves, or styluses in applications such as medical devices, industrial controls, handwriting or signature capture, and other touch input mechanisms. Furthermore, USB is the market standard for computer-connected peripherals. The AR1100 touchscreen controller is easily integrated and combines these two standards into a single-chip, high-performance, low-cost resistive touch sensing solution with USB plug-and-play functionality. The controller also incorporates advanced calibration options for alignment and linearization, enabling superior accuracy for 4-, 5-, and 8-wire touchscreens, as well as high-precision pushbuttons in space-constrained, critical applications.
Thanks to free drivers for major operating systems, the AR1100 allows designers to quickly create touch interface solutions with minimal risk.
Along with the AR1100 controller, Microchip is also announcing improvements to its AR1000 resistive analog touch controllers: new pricing for the high-volume market, a comprehensive driver suite including Windows CE, Linux, and Android operating systems, and a new minimum operating voltage of 2.0 V. The AR1000 is a resistive analog touch controller targeted at low-cost embedded applications using I2C™, SPI, or UART communications.
The AR1100 controller is available immediately in 20-pin SOIC, SSOP, and QFN packages, as well as in a board format. The mTouch AR1100 Development Kit (DV102012) includes a production-ready AR1100 board equipped with a USB cable and a 5-wire resistive analog touchscreen, enabling designers to quickly make connections and perform tests with this advanced touchscreen controller.
