“Capacitive touch has become mainstream, and we’re continuing to see growth in the number of applications that require low-power, gesture-enabled touch surfaces,” says Fanie Duvenhage, vice president of Microchip Technology’s touch and gesture business unit. “The 2D Touch Surface library makes the realization of small touch pads and screens easier and more affordable.”
Microchip’s new 2D Touch Surface library enables designers to easily implement touch pads using the company’s 8-bit PIC® and AVR® microcontrollers (MCUs) and 32-bit SAM MCUs, and is available free of charge with the purchase of any compatible MCU.
Designed for implementing small touch pads and screens, the 2D Touch Surface library eliminates costs by running on a device’s existing MCU. This removes the need for a dedicated touch controller, giving product designers the flexibility to add finger position tracking and gesture detection, such as swipes, pinch and zoom, to products.
The touch library is provided through Microchip’s code configurators: MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC) for PIC MCUs and Atmel START for AVR and SAM MCUs. Both software tools enable simplified graphical configuration and accelerate development with lean C code tailored for individual project needs. The 2D Touch Surface library is currently available on Atmel START and will soon be available on MCC.
Intuitive, attractive user interfaces are central to the success of products, and the 2D Touch Surface library eliminates the need to integrate a costly operating system to fulfill consumers’ smartphone-like interface expectations. The library is well suited for adding touch to a variety of applications across consumer electronics, automotive and industrial industries, such as smart speakers, steering wheels or thermostats.
