FEAT RE FEA ATURE
DISPLAYS &
YS & UIS DISPLAY ve
Paul Hooper, display group manager and Rhett Evans, embedded sales manager at andersDX investigate the pitfalls for display and board i tegrat n and owhowto avoid them
N
o one supplier offers botha board display thatmeets your re
rent suppliers?How ration process? Low rd and a requirements. Is
it an issue to source these components from two differe integra Ra
owdifficult is the owcost boards like Raspberry Pi orArd rduino seemto offermost of
the features you need–can’t you just use one of these?Can yo
you run up a quick
going throughthewhole integration pro These are explore
re questions thatwe re these issues.
THE N EGRARATION PROCESS swer is that yo
you do. Let’s fleshthat out a bit. The integra feare
bothcomponents fromone integra yo
ration tends to be easie
HE I INTEGRATIONPROCESS The answ
you don’t have to source
r and quicker if supplier–but
ration process isn’t something to be red. There is normally a solution to be
found. Equally, it shouldn’t be underestimated. It usually take board
kes at least twoweeks to get a
you specify two components fromthe same supplier, theymaywell alre integra
ro rated these for another
theymaywell haveworke proj
oject. Theywill be aware
potential issues and challenges, and can prov
or anomalies, they can recre ovide a fast paththrough.
If there rd, or
ked on a similar re of some of the ge
re are bugs reate the pairing in
the lab andwork on a solution. If the supplier has never seen the board before
re, they’re starting fro m paper.Often, they are
a blank sheet of the display
re dependent on the co-
operation of the other supplier to resolve any issues thatmay arise. The emerge
Pi,Ard rt rduinoandBeaglebone s
heartof engineers everywvery outstandingelectro startby tinke
–andtheseboard rt
genceofplatform keRaspberry Be
s like Ra
keringinschool anduniversity labs rds allow
ronics engineersgot their ve
yw
rehere.Countless go
continue.They are cheap, flexible andallow endlessopportunities for cre feature
reativity.The res, capabilities andperf Ra ryPi, andyo re
by theseplatforms at theprice are exceptional andit isn’t surprisingthat the cry “Jry “Justuse a Raspberry
rformanceofferefere d re
heard.Thedev there re
above 10 10 evil is inthatwordalmost,because
you’re almostdone” isoften rd
re arenoendofpotentialhiddencosts. All of the issueswithintegration discussed ve apply in this case too–thoughthey
JUNE 201 JUNE 2016 | ELEC RO ELECTRONICS CS
owthat fine traditionto ow
ra
houldgladdenthe ry
rd up and runningwitha display unless someone has prepared the ground. If yo
customer. If not, readyhave
can be hard left to re
supplier for support on the
board.AlthoughPi andArd
rder to address as essentially you’reyo re rely on the community ra rt
ow
easy itwill be to in rface the platformto the targe
voltage
extra ow There are
concern is longe iswell know
re other issues too
though.Amajajor gevity of supply and support
own that Pi is based o
Broadcomprocessor that isn’t commercially ava
rced. Themanufacturers can amend or discontinue their product at any time to address shifts in their bread and buttermarke youhighand dry.
these platforms are sole- sourc
re kets, leaving Afurther point to bear in
mind is that your competitors can buy aRaspberry Pi or Ard
rduino as easily as you can. Unless yo re
genuinely innova you are copy yo
rov ov
you’re adding somethi vative andhard
rd re pro iding an easy pat
vailable, and all re
si “Some “Som custo
cost proof of concept prototypes etc – but even here the invisible ften greater than fits
types
costs are of en greater than the benefits ...”
the b ...”
hfor others to n
your solution. If time tomarket and ke
Raspberry Pi Ardui o and similar boards to produce low cost proof of concept prototy etc – but even here the i visible costs are oft
Raspberry
customers usemers use i
ry Pi,, Arduino and r boards t produce l Figure 1: rather than the
rduino comewithstandard interfaces, as withany platform, it is essential to checkhow terf
get
display.Does the board run at the same ge as other systemcomponents orwill an ra power supply be needed?
rt. It
Figure 1: he integ
The integration of aration of a board and a display is a process to be espected but not feared
board and a display is a process to be rrespected but not feared
demonstration of an idea on themwithout go
hear a lot, so let’s rocess?
pre redictable longt gtermava
DISPLAY AND BOARD INTEGRATION: avoiding the pitfalls Ev
AY AND BOARD INTEGRATION:
PaulHooper, display groupmanager andRhett Evans, embedded salesmanager at andersD X investigate the pitfalls for display an board integratiion and how to avoid them
vailability are a concern
to you, leave these platforms tohobbyists and students, and develop using platforms that long termwill cost yo
Some customers useRaspberry Pi,Arduino and similar board
you a great deal less. Ra
rds to pro
of concept prototypes etc.–but ev the invisible costs are often gre
witha display, and are thro
roughit aga
roduce lowcost pro evenhere
ow
roof re
reater than the
benefits. Youwill still need to go througha lot of the integra
rd in earnest using differe
gainwhen you start rent hard
ve rdware.
If you need to build a proof-of-concept, look for platforms ava
designed for this purpose.Apre-integrated display and board AndersDXwork toge
vailable specifically re
you need to do is load your
software.Usually, you can select a platformwitha processor, operating systemand display close to the components that you envisage design. Platforms like themost popular opera
ro ge for the finished
ke theDXfamily comewith rating systems inimage
ge s
Having gained accepta for displays from4.3” to
fromstakeholders like ry, take
nce for the pro 15.6”.
kemanage rdworking gement,
marketing, customers and/or investors, you can, if necessary a specific board for the pro
roduction pro roduction ke the time needed to ge
witha specific display get
find customers are able to adapt the prototype platformto create the finished pro design to ge time and cost.
roduct.Often, though,we ro
get tomarketke withtheminimumo f
Do you need to sourc board
s e T
rce boththe display and rd or SOMfromone
he answer is that if youhave art
rt set on a part splay. To ke
a h
rticular board,
uppliers shouldworkwithyou ntegra
rate that board keep deve
rdwiththat velopment
d t
me and cost to aminimum oughit is better to specify a ir of components that your uppliers knowcan easily be ade towork together–o r er still, a pair that theyhave y integrated and supply out of the box.
www.andersdx.com
www.andersdx.com 0203 627 1970
/ ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS roj oject
rd pair kelike theDXfamily from gether out of the box–all re
ro
ration process to pair the board up re then facedwithgoing rt development
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
