2.4-GHz low-power wireless radio with capacitive touch
16 October 2012
Cypress introduced a single-chip solution that integrates a wireless radio with touch-sensing.
The PRoC-UI (Programmable Radio-on-a-Chip–User Interface) solution combines 2.4-GHz proprietary WirelessUSB™-NL Radio with Cypress’s CapSense and TrueTouch capacitive touch technologies. This combination enables user interface functionality in wireless devices, including gestures supported by the upcoming Windows 8 applications.
The one-chip solution also offers standard HID microcontroller functionality, effectively combining three chips into one to save BOM cost, board space, and power, while increasing reliability compared with multi-chip implementations.
Cypress’s CapSense technology has replaced over 4 billion mechanical buttons worldwide, making Cypress the industry’s leading capacitive touch supplier. CapSense offers stylish interfaces, and superior reliability compared to mechanical buttons. PRoC-UI is also available with Cypress’s leading TrueTouch touchscreen technology, enabling multiple new HID use cases with multi-finger gesture recognition, including new Windows 8 gestures. The TrueTouch variant also supports customised gestures. Both CapSense and TrueTouch variants include advanced features such as proximity sensing (which allows a device to “wake up” as a hand approaches) and haptics (to give tactile user feedback).
PRoC-UI boasts an -87 dBm receive sensitivity at 1 Mbps. This enhanced sensitivity enables longer range (up to 30 meters) operation and allows for lower-power transmit signals. The device features low active and standby currents, which enable longer battery life. It also offers superior performance in the presence of 2.4-GHz interference from common sources such as WiFi, Bluetooth, cordless phones, and microwaves.
PRoC-UI supports Cypress’s AgileHID protocol that allows existing WirelessUSB-NL customers to get started quickly on their designs without any additional effort. Customers who have existing designs with WirelessUSB-NL can reuse the same dongles for new PRoC-UI based touch products. PRoC-UI comes with free software to enable end-product customization.
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