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Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Crazy Engineering !!!!!!

Can we turn the standard LCD monitor into a touch screen with a bit of effort?????

                                              Source : extremetech.com

click to watch video   
The above line seems to be ridiculous because the LCD and touch screens work on two different principles. But nothing is impossible in the world where these  crazy engineers turn impossible tasks possible. Same is the case with the above line also. 
    Researchers at the University of Washington’s aptly named Ubiquitous Computing Lab can turn any LCD monitor in your house into a touchscreen, with nothing more than a $5 sensor that plugs into the wall and some intelligent software. They named the technology as UTOUCH  which works by the Electromagnetic interference(EMI) caused by your hand when it moves near or touches an LCD monitor.

What is Electromagnetic interference(EMI) ?? 
Electromagnetic interference (or EMI, also called radio-frequency interference or RFI when in high frequency or radio frequency) is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit .The electricity running through the wires in your house has a unique electromagnetic signature (EM signatures are the specific combination of emitted, reflected or absorbed electromagnetic radiation (EM) at varying wavelengths which can uniquely identify an object). There will be a carrier wave provided by the power distribution company or a nearby substation. Each and every disturbance created in the middle changes the electromagnetic signature. Similarly all the devices that are connected to the wall outlet alters the EM signature.
How to convert LCD to a touch screen based on EM signature??
Basically a touch screen senses the motion of our fingers by altering the conductivity, capactivity based on the type of the touch screen and the CPU then finds the area where the screen was touched. So, Similarly here we use the fluctuations in the EM signature in your house.. The fluctuations happening in the EM signature can be sensed by a sensor named EMI sensor. Simply the sensor must be plugged into wall outlet and then it traces the changes in the EM signature. The important fact here is that when you move your hand on the LCD screen it also changes the EM signature of the house and thus the change can be recorded using the EMI sensor.
      "As for how a finger moving towards or touching an LCD monitor creates additional EMI, the simple answer is: It’s very similar to how a normal touchscreen works. Basically, every LCD monitor has a massive matrix of wires connected to every single pixel. These pixels are updated row by row, at a speed that’s dictated by the monitor’s row rate. The row rate is generated by a row driver, which oscillates at a very specific frequency (say, 60KHz). If something touches the row wires, or even comes close to them, the capacitance (voltage) changes — just like the Galaxy S4′s Floating Touch feature. This capacitance causes the monitor’s row driver to work harder, which produces more EMI at that specific (60KHz) frequency."  (taken from extreme tech website)

   If this sensor can be connected to the PC or a laptop and by running an intelligent software which can take the EMI changes as input and make the screen do the programmed task on the screen we can achieve the touch screen action.
   So the final conclusion is that if you slide on the screen of an LCD the Em signature changes which is recorded by the EMI sensor and is given to the computer on which a dedicated software runs to alter the functionality of the LCD screen.

      This is how we can convert an LCD into a touch screen with the help of a 5$ EMI sensor.

2 comments:

  1. Hi,this blog is really awesome.Well,where can I find viva questions for internal and external workshop labs?


    K Teja,
    1st-EEE,
    karikattiteja@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Teja,
      Sorry for the late reply..
      It is difficult to get dedicated links for engineering workshop viva voice. So out of our personal experience we had sent some areas that the examiners usually test you to your mail.. We hope that will be more than enough for your Viva but being perfect in all aspects is always advisable. So you can stress the topics that we had mailed more..So check your mail buddy and share your feed back with us...

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