More advanced and costly input technologies such as touch screens and quadrant IR sensing will find themselves replaced as this technology makes its way through the industry. In addition, the industrial applications for the technology are wide and varied, from security, process monitoring, proximity, dielectric measurements, level, flow, pressure and instrumentation applications to name a few. Key to the deployment in these applications is speed of development, low cost, and multi-channel processing allowing the integration of many locations and/or functions. Early adopters of the technology will obtain significant competitive advantage as there are no comparable solutions on the market today.

EtherTouch™ engineers have refined capacitive sensing to track the movement of any object or material at substantial distances with unsurpassed accuracy. At the simplest level, a user’s finger or hand can be tracked as it passes through a sensing field. The sensors convert the three-dimensional position (X, Y and Z axis) into a digital signal, which in turn allows a processor chip of any computer or electronic device to interpret the inputs and direction. These inputs can be utilized in the more traditional forms of displayed cursor movements and object selection.

The three-dimensional aspect of the input signals can also provide user interactivity not yet available to most electronic devices or computers. In essence, a person’s motion in three dimensions (and notably, their velocity of movement) can be used in a manner that eliminates intermediate devices and makes the finger, hand, or body the means by which we interact directly with the virtual world.

Conversely, the technology can also be used for the detection of the absence of any part of the body, as for instance, in equipment safety applications. Intrusion detection is also simplified, as any capacitive presence in a defined field can be detected easily. As a matter of fact, arrays of the technology could potentially provide non-intrusive ‘imaging’ without the need for any type of lighting source.

By packaging the heart of this revolutionary technology into a low cost 12 channel semiconductor chip, EtherTouch™ customers will be able to incorporate this state-of-the-art interactivity into various consumer and industrial electronics. And while the technology itself is state of the art, the added appeal for both design and cost is the fact that previously expensive sensors are replaced with sensors that be made of any conductive material, from sprayed on conductors, wire, tape, filaments, etc. The impact is far reaching; for design engineers it means smaller physical designs, faster product development and quicker time-to-market. For the manufacturer it means cost savings with the elimination of mechanical and costly electronic components. For the consumer it means lower pricing, higher reliability, and interactivity with electronic devices not yet conceived.

The potential of this technology is only limited by the imagination. The number of possible product applications is enormous. EtherTouch™ has segmented the introduction of this technology into a product development approach. The primary product effort has culminated in the successful development with Analog Devices Inc. of a multi-channel ASIC that is currently being marketed to the consumer electronics industry. This ASIC will allow the industry to design out traditional input devices such as the cell phone, telephone, computer mouse, laptop touch pad or PDA stylus and additionally will allow the introduction of new products that take full advantage of the EtherTouch™ technology such as true 3D virtual reality controllers for gaming, medical and scientific research.

In addition to the replacement of pointing devices, the ASIC allows for modifications to other forms of input devices such as enhancements of function keys on a keyboard, touch screens, or multiple function game controllers, or the direct interaction with displays at a distance without any controllers.

The incorporation of the technology into a single ASIC allows for very quick delivery to the technology market and it allows for significant cost reductions over discrete components. Additionally, versions of the ASIC can be geared towards product development of low cost linear applications such as buttons, slide controls, multi-functional keys, multi-switch controls, and control panels. With these sorts of applications, the benefits include easier more accurate human interfaces, reduced hardware sizes, higher reliability and substantial costs savings in manufacturing.