A Novel Single Layer 3D Touch Sensing System for Human/Mobile Device Interactions

Speaker: Li Du
Affiliation: Ph.D. Candidate - UCLA

Abstract:  Touch sensing is widely implemented as one of the main methodologies to bridge the human-machine interactions. Traditional touch sensing, which requires physical contacts to the touch screen for detecting the finger position, limits the user experience. Recently, significant progress has been made in developing contactless touch sensing in large television and monitor type display. However, this technology has not yet to be infused into space and battery-constrained mobile devices (i.e., tablets and smartphones). To infuse this technology into mobile devices, several challenges need to be overcome including a size-reduction of the electrodes compared to display, large coupling between channels, tight hardware space, and limited touch panel manufacturing cost.

In this talk, we propose a new touch sensing system called Airtouch to resolve aforementioned challenges and demonstrate the potential to implement the mobile 3D touch sensing. As a first step, we compare the difference between self-capacitive sensing and mutual-capacitive sensing methodologies. Then we propose the triangle-shaped-single-layer touch panel pattern design to achieve the manufacturing cost reduction. After that, we introduce the oscillator-based-bootstrapped-correlated-double-sampling hardware system used in the Airtouch system to eliminate electrode coupling effects and enable accurate finger capacitance detection. Based on the proposed touch panel and hardware design, a corresponding software algorithm is invented to demonstrate the concept. Finally, the synchronous video demonstration of Airtouch system will be presented.

Biography:  Li Du received the B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Southeast University, China, in 2011. He later joined in the High-Speed Electronics Lab at UCLA in charge of designing high-performance mixed-signal circuits for communication and touchscreen systems. From June 2012 to October 2012, he worked as an intern in the Broadcom Corporation FM radio team, in charge of designing a second order continuous-time delta-sigma ADC for directly sampling FM radios. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree at UCLA, and his research interest includes high performance 3D remote touch sensing systems and advanced mixed signal system for remote sensing.

For more information, contact Prof. M.-C. Frank Chang (mfchang@ee.ucla.edu)

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Jun 07, 2016
9:00 am - 11:00 am

Location:
E-IV Tesla Room #53-125
420 Westwood Plaza - 5th Flr., Los Angeles CA 90095