Touch sensor will measure force too

Zytronic, the supplier of rugged projected capacitive touch sensor technology, has added force sensing to its sensor range which will allow systems to differentiate between a soft and hard touch.

Force or pressure sensing is becoming available on smartphones and UK-based Zytronic is bringing it to retail and industrial applications.

Its approach is based on a measurement of the surface area of an applied touch, which changes the measured capacitive signal levels at the relative touch location on the sensor.

This eliminates the need for a piezo-electric or other layers on the glass to measure applied force or pressure.

The Zytronic force sensing feature is offered in a custom firmware release for its ZXY150, ZXY200 and ZXY300 controllers.

The capability can be added without hardware modification.