BUSINESS FOCUS SPECIAL FEATURE NOT ALL


ABOUT LOOKS RDS and the ins and outs of displays


Christian Lynn: RDS has come a long way since it was established in 1982, building on trends such as IoT and AI. How does RDS position itself in the wider market?


Russell Gilbert: You have to be able to respond to IoT, AI and other new technologies, in a technically competent way. We acted five years ago, by adding a design and development division, specific to relevant areas, to expand on RDS’ displays and embedded divisions. It has become more commonplace now, so we’ve taken our expertise in our displays and embedded technology to contribute further, keeping us established as a key player in pertinent markets: manufacturing IoT edge devices for high- end markets, predominantly industrial but medical also. We have evolved from a distributor to a total system service, with value added services depending on the sector: no sub-contractor required, making life easier for the customer. That being said, RDS has recently


partnered with IQRF, based in Czechoslovakia, whose wireless mesh technology compliments the company’s embedded and display offerings, enabling us to participate in advanced industrial and medical projects involving IoT, such as an electrical central heating system, monitoring temperature, power and the stability of the system. Our established history with display systems opens the door for us to develop a product that is robust, efficient and suitable for harsh environments such as those involving intense heat.


CL: Building on this last comment, how does RDS go about designing and constructing a display, particularly within an environment as demanding as an industrial one?


RG: A big part is working with the client to understand what they’re trying to achieve with the HMI, or the system itself,


/ ELECTRONICS


Our business focus of the month goes to an overlooked area of electronics: displays, particularly within harsh environments. Russell Gilbert, managing director at RDS, sat down to talk with Electronics’ Editor, Christian Lynn, about the company’s current state of affairs, as it continues to keep itself relevant and attractive to customers in an already competitive sector


in terms of functionality: the limits of the setting, its facets and how these’ll affect the display.


There are aesthetic concerns as well, a front panel, formed purely of glass, looks smart and can be shaped accordingly. We’ve recently developed an option to print a photo around the bezel of our display panels that gives it a cosmetic edge over the standard black bezel templates of the past. However, there has to be professional considerations, such as its robustness, its


resistance to scratches and the


way it handles glare, if its location is light-dependent. Phone technology has influenced this progression, with features such as a strong body, embedded with smart display attributes such as a virtual keyboard and touch swiping mechanisms. Ultimately, the display has to fit in


the wider picture; what’s driving it, is it for test driving, control operations? Evaluating the desires of the customer against the display’s practicality is essential. IoT and AI come in here, high- level applications, with GPUs operating at high temperatures, demand a rugged enclosure. Our displays must meet the specifications of these roles, risk


assessing each component to meet the initial design: with experience in this area, we understand how we can achieve this efficiently.


CL: As these designs have become a


“We have evolved from a distributor to a total system service, with value added services depending on the sector: no sub- contractor required”


as you’ve m


: As these designs have becom lot more complex in this regard, with the AI and IoT applications as you’ve mentioned, how is RDS broadening its scope through developments within these trending sectors?


A 3D model of a deconstructed display


RG: Currently, we’re focused on sensor technology within these areas. AI and machine learning is being looked at in this regard: sensors for evaluating time of flight, for example, and monitoring movement within a space for an analytic platform. Fundamentally, we’re using sensor technology as a bridge between us and the edge, evaluating the information that is transmitted in-between: applications, such as the central heating system mentioned earlier, offer a platform on which to work with edge devices, test them and evaluate their effectiveness within the areas that we work in. A couple of examples include our wireless offering, IQRF, a low- power, low-speed and low-data volume connectivity platform, designed to be simple but effective. It fits right into the areas we’ve already discussed as being our focus: industrial, autonomous buildings and cities. Against this, there’s also our ‘Sensconnect’ IoT delivery platform as well, which covers edge devices’ design and manufacture, acting as a gateway solution for monitoring local points of concern and reporting to a remote host for data analysis and response. These projects are founded on RDS’ specialism within the display, sensor and embedded markets: we understand what goes into the nuts and bolts, so the wider structure, as it were, can be better understood.


RDS www.review-displays.co.uk ELECTRONICS | SEPTEMBER 2019 13


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