EMBEDDED DISPLAY

INTERFACES

BUILD OR BUY?
Factors to consider when integrating a
full colour touch Interface

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03 | INTEGRATING A FULL COLOUR TOUCH INTERFACE

One consistent design trend in recent years When deciding whether to buy an off-the-shelf To create an engaging, graphically rich
has been the increased use of Full Colour module or design a discrete solution in-house, experience, the designer will need to add a
Touch Interfaces. These colourful, easy-to-use the designer must evaluate development cost, significant amount of embedded software
products combine input/output technologies bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, design flexibility, into the application, such as libraries and
such as traditional screen technologies, scalability, development time and available image files. Alone, the development effort of
buttons and rotary switches into a single design expertise. having the LCD as an output device is already
unit. Everybody is familiar with smartphones significant, but it gets even more complex
and tablets, but touchscreen applications Each solution has benefits and drawbacks. when touch functionality is added, and the LCD
also include other consumer devices such as For example, when looking purely at BOM cost, is used as an input device.
coffee machines and kitchen appliances as a discrete design may seem like the more
well as commercial and industrial machines attractive option compared to the cost of a Considerable effort is required for hardware
including drink dispensers, medical diagnostic ready-made module. However, factoring in the and software development when using this
equipment, machine tools and more. development time and resources required by a approach. Once the application development
discrete design versus a ready-to-run module is complete and production begins, the
Figure 1: Buttons replaced by a full colour GUI
A touchscreen interface, with its graphical solution, the short- and long-term cost benefits manufacturer is then responsible for quality
with touch on a drink dispenser. Source: 4D
user interface (GUI) and touch control, adds may be offset by the ease of use and speed of control of the display and all its components.
SYSTEMS
an aesthetically pleasing look and intuitive development of an off-the-shelf module. Any issues can cause line-down problems
interaction to a variety of commercial and and require redevelopment or tweaking of
industrial products. This explosive adoption is Comparison of a modular solution vs the display drivers and a dedicated team of Modular design implementation
reflected in recent revenue forecasts expected a discrete design engineers may be required to fulfill this task. The alternative approach uses an off-the-shelf
to exceed US$100 billion by 2027. IDM such as the gen4 series from 4D SYSTEMS.
Consider an example where an existing
Although developing a custom discrete Typically, modules of this type feature an
application or device is upgraded to replace
As a result, designers and manufacturers are design gives control over the BOM costs, the industry-standard interface such as I2C, SPI
the existing buttons and simple display by a
looking to include a Full Colour Touch Interface trade-off is an increase in the development or UART for communications to the host MCU.
touchscreen with a GUI. Figure 1 shows the
in their new devices or to upgrade existing budget. It is also important to consider the Some modules also include an embedded MCU
original and upgraded versions of a drink
products. Often, this task is easier said than development time. It may take six months or that handles all the graphics elements and
dispenser. In the next section we will explore
done, particularly for smaller organisations that longer to complete a lower-level design before may also include I/O and other peripherals to
the various factors to consider when deciding
may lack the engineering resources needed. development of the GUI can begin. potentially allow the module to run the entire
between a discrete design or a purchased
Even larger manufacturers with the necessary target application.
module.
expertise may be hard-pressed to develop a The added BOM complexity can also influence
display solution to accommodate shortening the long-term availability of the selected Many modules are supported by a library of
production and development cycles.
Discrete design implementation components. If one of the key components is functions allowing relatively easy control from
The discrete design begins with an evaluation discontinued, redevelopment of the GUI may be the host MCU. Some come with an integrated
Considerations in the make vs buy of the existing hardware. Many simple necessary and can cause extended and costly development environment (IDE) that integrates
applications are designed around a low-cost
decision line-down delays. This in turn can extend the the design and construction of the GUI as part
8 bit microcontroller (MCU) that must now be delivery lead time of the end-user application, of the overall embedded design process. Some
Choosing the right LCD solution for a product
upgraded to control a full-colour graphics causing customer dissatisfaction. IDEs feature drag-and-drop ‘WYSIWYG’ style
can be difficult. For the embedded designer,
display with a touch interface. Most MCUs
incorporating an LCD can be as demanding as
can interface to an LCD through a driver
the rest of the design. There are many things to
integrated in either the MCU or the display
consider when making the initial decisions.
or by adding a discrete driver. In either case,
the MCU’s available resources affect the size
The two most important considerations:
and resolution of the display. For example, an
design in a discrete LCM and develop all
8 bit MCU may be able to drive a two-line dot-
required libraries and software to drive the
matrix display but may not have the processing
display (discrete design), or use an off-the-shelf
resources to drive a larger screen.
intelligent display module (IDM) that is virtually
ready to run out of the box (modular solution).

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05 | INTEGRATING A FULL COLOUR TOUCH INTERFACE

development workflows, enabling extremely the developer can focus on developing the Example cost analysis: Discrete vs. volumes below 6,000 units. If all variables except
fast prototyping and application development actual GUI and the core application. This allows modular design the volume remained the same, and the volume
without the need to write any code. prototypes to be ready in a few days and the requirement was 10,000 units, the discrete
In this simplified calculation we compare
final application in a couple of weeks, radically design would be more cost-effective. However,
the costs of the two approaches for a typical
A benefit of using the module approach is reducing time to market. the per-unit price of the module is also likely to
application: adding a 4.3 in LCD with capacitive
that the drivers, primitives and GUI functions decrease at higher volumes, reducing the cost
touch to an existing design.
have already been developed and tested. The Additionally, the module supplier assumes advantage of a discrete design.
host MCU can offload all the display tasks to responsibility for maintaining quality control and
The design specifications are as follows:
the module so that the host can dedicate its ensuring a continued supply of components, Naturally, there are many other factors to
• Annual requirement: 3,000 pieces of end
resources to the main application and engineers drastically reducing the risk of an unplanned, consider when evaluating the most cost
user application
can focus on the actual GUI design without costly redesign. In display modules that effective approach. Such as total BOM cost,
• Project lifetime: Two years
having to worry about low-level development. integrate a dedicated graphics processor, this sourcing costs, minimum order quantities,
• Total volume required: 6,000 pieces
risk is eliminated altogether as the developed production costs, other labour costs and
• Delivery volume: 250 pieces per month
Integrating an IDM into an application is far GUI will ‘travel’ with the processor and will not shipment costs etc. This over-simplified
• Assume the annual cost of a development
simpler and straightforward when compared to be affected by the display technology. example illustrates that it is worth examining
engineer is $140,000 for illustrative
a discrete design. The display module removes the costs further than just initial BOM costs
purposes.
all the lower-level design requirements and when evaluating the total cost of a design
approach. Oftentimes selecting a ready-made
The table below compares the costs of the
solution can result in significant cost savings
discrete and modular designs.
although at initial glance it may not seem so.

In this case, the modular design is slightly

cheaper. Figure 2 plots cost versus time for
Introduction to 4D gen4 HMI
each approach. The development cost for the 4D SYSTEMS offers a variety of IDMs with a
modular design is significantly lower than the choice of sizes and touch options. The gen4
development cost of the discrete design. The Series HMI modules have been designed to
total cost per unit for the first batch of 250 work with almost any form of host MCU or
pieces is also significantly lower with the processor, including low-pin-count devices.
modular approach: $152.84 versus $599.00. This is possible as all the interaction between
the display module and the host takes place
As the development cost of the discrete design over a simple serial link supported by most
is amortised over time, the total cost per unit MCUs.
drops rapidly. In the example application, the
two total cost lines meet at the top right-hand Hardware features
side of the chart after 23 months, or total The 4.3 in Diablo16 gen4 IDM features a 4.3 in
volume of 5,750 delivered units. colour TFT LCD with 480 x 272 resolution and
RGB 65K true to life colours. The module is
In this example, the modular solution is more capable of touch detection with resistive touch
cost-effective than the discrete design for or capacitive touch options, microSD memory

Parameter Discrete design Modular design

# of development engineers 2 1
Development time (months) 6 1
Development cost (USD) $140,000 $11,666
Estimate unit cost (USD) $39.00 $59.50
Figure 2: Cost comparison between discrete and modular display designs. Source: 4D SYSTEMS Total cost (6,000 units) $374,000 $368,666

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Examples of successful
applications
Customers in numerous fields have benefited
from adding IDMs to their applications.

Drink dispensing machine Stiegl, a leading

Austrian brewery, selected a 4.3 in IDM with
capacitive touch and integrated bezel to
upgrade their “Drink Module” modular drink
dispensing system. The company developed
the GUI software using the Workshop4 IDE.
The result was a short development cycle and
swift time to market. Over 400 systems have
now been installed in Austria, Germany and
elsewhere.
Figure 3: A gen4 series display module with capacitive touch. Source: 4D SYSTEMS
Building automation
The Sinclair Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, offers
storage, GPIO and communications, along with objects; or completely lay out a desired display smart interfaces throughout its luxurious
multiple millisecond resolution timers and using pre-written code modules. rooms, allowing guests to select HVAC, lighting,
audio generation. It is powered by the 4D LABS window shades and even the shower to personal
Diablo16 graphics processor, which offers an The Workshop4 IDE uses a simple design flow preference. Front-and-center is the 4Discovery
array of functionality and options for a designer, to create the gen4 GUI. Once the designer has smart display from 4D SYSTEMS, which was
system integrator or user. 4D LABS is part of created a new project, they can choose the 4D customised to work with project partners like
the 4D SYSTEMS family. environment appropriate to the level of detailed Intel, Cisco, NuLEDs and Igor Tech. Best of
coding desired. The display module being used all, the displays bolstered the hotel’s energy Figure 5: The Stiegl Drink Module with the 4D
Hardware bundles with Raspberry Pi or Arduino can be selected from a drop-down list. The efficiency. SYSTEMS 4.3”. Source: Stiegl
interfaces are available and are recommended Workshop4 User Guide discusses these steps
for first-time users. in detail.

Overview of IDE and GUI

All user application code is developed within the
4D Workshop4 IDE, a comprehensive software
IDE for Microsoft Windows that provides an
integrated software development platform for
all of the 4D family of processors and modules.
The IDE combines the editor, compiler, linker
and downloader to develop complete 4DGL
application code.

Workshop4 includes four development

environments to choose from based on
application requirements or degree of software
expertise. Users can write their own 4DGL Figure 4: The Workshop4 Smart Widgets editor
code from scratch; use a visual programming allows for codeless GUI development. Source:
IDE that allows drag-and-drop placement of 4D SYSTEMS Figure 6. The Sinclair Hotel media control interface in the bathroom. Source: 4D SYSTEMS

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About 4D SYSTEMS While our heritage is in providing power for

commercially-destined embedded systems,
We are committed to effectively empowering
the engineers, designers, and makers of the an area we remain committed to, the maker
world with state-of-the-art intelligent display movement has also created new interest and
solutions. requirements for rich displays. Our suite of
Arduino and Raspberry Pi compatible display
Whether they’re developing embedded systems hardware provides market-leading capabilities,
for the market or tinkering with intelligent without prohibitive cost or development
hardware on the weekend - the world partners challenges even for novice users. Native display
with us to access the most innovative hardware, capabilities for Arduino compatible hardware
software, and meticulously customized and in particular are quite limited. Our integrated
cost-effective solutions. solutions take care of the processing, so a
rich user experience is possible with standard
We don’t just sell display solutions, we create Arduino hardware.
and design solutions for our customers. Since
1990, 4D Systems has forged its place as a global It goes without saying that quality matters every
leader for intelligent displays and graphics step of the way. Our hardware and software
processors. Our growing range of embedded engineering teams are well seasoned, and work
displays leverage oLED and LCD technology, with ISO9001 certified production factories
while our range of dedicated graphics using our own quality assurance procedures
processors provide the horsepower to bring for impeccable outcomes. Hardware is
superior yet affordable graphics systems to available directly or via one of many distribution
Figure 7: A CEiiA ventilator and its 7 inch display. Source: 4D SYSTEMS
any application. These powerful, rich graphics partners across the globe. Our hardware is
displays are also complemented by resistive directly supported by our engineering team
or capacitive touch in many instances, for a for impeccable problem solving, so you’re not
Medical ventilator of a ventilator from 40 minutes down to 15
comprehensive user interface solution. alone.
minutes.
As part of the worldwide fight against COVID-19,
Portuguese company CEiiA set out to design Perpetual research and development drives We’re constantly evolving and adapting to the
a new invasive medical ventilator called the Conclusion evolutions in our hardware solutions. Our needs of our customers, to rapidly improve and
Atena without prior experience in developing An integrated touchscreen interface is a proprietary WS4 software has been uniquely forge new technologies.
such devices. popular upgrade to a wide range of consumer, developed to provide engineers with a powerful
commercial and industrial products. When utility for rapid prototype, development, and
The development team was working under a considering such an upgrade, designers must deployment of solutions into whatever scenario
tight deadline and the design had to be low- balance many factors, including development you have planned.
cost and easy to assemble. Based on past time and cost, unit cost, available expertise and
experience with 4D SYSTEMS, the CEiiA team many others.
selected the 7.0 in gen4-uLCD-70DT as the
display and the gen4-BEZEL-70B. It took them 4D SYSTEMS has forged its place as a global
just 45 days to design and produce their first leader in the design and development of
Contact 4D SYSTEMS
complete ventilator. intelligent graphic solutions. To access the
most innovative hardware, software, and
Get in touch to discuss your latest projects, display experience, our products or to request any
To date, CEiiA has produced around 1,000 units meticulously customised and cost-effective
information. We’d love to chat.
of the first version of the ventilator for use solutions, visit the 4D SYSTEMS website.
locally and are currently gearing up to export
units to countries that need them the most.
As the manufacturing team gained experience,
they managed to reduce the production time

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