Touch Technology and Visual Performance

When utilizing touch technology in your display project, do you struggle with achieving optimum visual performance? Regardless of which touch sensor you use with your transparent window of either glass or plastic mounted above the display face, unwanted light reflections are introduced and can impact the visual performance of your content.

For indoor use, Infrared (IR) matrix and IR camera based systems do not require a transparent window and don't degrade the display luminance and contrast. This solution is acceptable for indoor environments for single users, but not public venues where high use and potential vandalism can occur or for outdoor environments.

Methods of optically coupling the touch window to the display or special films and coatings can be effective solutions when sunlight readable viewing is required. Typically optical bonding is reserved for those applications where high value hardware can absorbe any additional cost.

Visit Planar to learn more about touch display technology in our eBook, Touch Display Sensors and visit us for a quote for your touchscreen application. Look for information about touchscreen drivers in an upcoming post.

Planar Provides Display Component for Ultrasonic Rail-Flaw Detectors

Components utilized in ultrasonic rail-flaw detectors for rail inspections must be rugged and work in extreme environments. Planar's thin film electroluminescent display (TFEL) component is being used by the China Ministry of Railroad in an ultrasonic rail-flaw detector, developed by Xingtai Xianfeng, to inspect their entire railway network.

When your project requirements demand a display that operates in wide temperature ranges, provides unlimited viewing angle, is very rugged and provides an extremely long life with no maintenance costs, the electroluminescent display (EL) technology should be taken into consideration. The EL display works well in a variety of applications, including transportation, military and electronic devices.

To determine what electroluminescent display would work best for your project, request a summary version of Planar's EL Design Guide.

What is the Best Touch Technology for Rugged or Outdoor Environments?

Are you engaged in a touch display to be used in a rugged or outdoor environment? Have you been wondering which touch technology is the best for your display?


Planar's Director of Engineering believes any of the all glass sensors, such as Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW), projected and surface capacitive can work in rugged, outdoor applications, but no single touch can do it all. High ambient sunlight conditions pose interference problems with IR matrix and IR camera scan systems.


SAW and surface capacitive have varying resistance to rain, dust, snow and flying insects. Glass-on-glass resistive has good immunity to the outdoor environment, but requires additional optical enhancements to compensate for unwanted ambient, outdoor, light reflections, which detract from the display's contrast.


Regardless of your project, the option to choose from multiple touch technologies will make the touch decision much easier. Visit Planar's how-to-buy website for information about purchsaing a customized touch display and look for how touch technology impacts the visual performance of a display in an upcoming post.

Electroluminescent Displays Used at NASA

If your display project requires high brightness and contrast, a wide temperature range, along with reliability and long operating life, you might want to take a look at Planar's electroluminescent (EL) displays. Over the years significant improvements have been made to brightness and contrast, reduction of power consumption, development of proprietary gray-scale algorithms and packaging improvements to reduce size and enhance shock and vibration resistance for these extremely rugged and durable displays.

Among applications used by EL displays, NASA depends on electroluminescent displays in their mission control center. When viewing critical data during space missions, NASA managers depend on the unparralleled image quality offered in the EL display. Information gathered by technicians during missions provide opportunities for the scientific community to conduct experiments during space exploration and upon return to earth.

For more information about El displays, check out Planar's electroluminescent technology overview or the FAQ.

Get The Right Display Touch

With all of the different options of touch technology available on the market today, it's sometimes challenging to determine what type of touch sensor will work best for your display application. Fortunately, Planar has just released an easy-to-read eBook, Touch Display Sensors, that outlines five different touch sensors and explains how their specifications work for different applications.

Choosing the appropriate touch sensor can make the user experience for kiosks, outdoor digital signage and point of sale applications a breeze. The eBook will guide you through information about resistive, surface capacitive, projective capacitive, infrared and surface acoustic wave touch sensors. You'll discover that many enhancements, including optical bonding, can be added to the display surface to improve the view. Check out Planar's other eBooks to help with additional display questions.

Flexible Glass: Alternative to Plastic

Most display screens used in televisions, computers and portable electronics are liquid crystal displays (LCDs), controlled by thin-film silicon transistor arrays built on rigid glass backplanes. With today's emerging technology, the dominance of LCDs may be challenged for custom display projects.

Today, glass manufacturer Corning, is testing a flexible glass substrate for printed electronics that will offer the performance of glass with the flexibility of plastic. The emergence of new display technology is pushing the need to meet consumer requirements of lighter, more durable and energy efficient devices.

Corning's flexibile display glass is just 75 micrometers thick and samples have been distributed to manufacturing partners to test on roll-to-roll manufacturing lines. While glass is the optimum component used in building your electronic device, there are some skeptics who are concerned with the susceptibility of scratches, which can lead to cracks and catastrophic failures with the roll-to-roll manufacturing. Corning is addressing these concerns with packaging developed to protect the glass during transport and manufacturing.

If your display requirements still need the LCD glass component, Planar has created an interactive tour to guide you through key considerations in creating your display. Today, Planar's see-through display technology available in a standard EL160.80.50 (electroluminescent) is easy to customize into curved or unusual shapes to help bring innovative, easily manufacturable products to life.

What display projects do you have that would benefit from flexible glass?