Electronics Research

Deforestation

In all the problems paper have caused, we know that the biggest problem is deforestation. The
cutting down of trees has influenced landscape and most importantly lead to the feared process of
climate change. Deforestation has left behind a scared landscape and slowed down plant and
animal diversity. It also reduces the oxygen level reaching our atmosphere and makes the level of
carbon dioxide rise. Carbon dioxide keeps in the warm radiation from the sun therefore less heat
escape our planet's surface. This process is known as Global Warming and leads to climate
change. Climate change is when temperature risen affects the climate and precipitation increases
or decreases. Deserts will receive basically no water per year. This could affect endangered
species and make them become extinct. Landslides and soil erosion happens more often, affecting
places for farming, growing crops and places to live.

A scared landscape, already we can see the effect of deforestation.

Paper Recycling

The service of recycling has become popular in the society but statistics show that the level of
recycling is reduced as time goes by. Recycling is tough and tiring job, considered by the public.
Not many people are keen to keep on a basis or recycling their used products. Recycling paper is
not necessarily going to help reduce paper as the recycled items are paper itself.

This graph shows how much of

things we actually recycle. Paper makes up a big chunk of the graph, but it is not enough for a
better environment and has reduced deforestation by a small amount.
Paper Trouble

Paper gives people many trouble. Paper can easily be lost or destroyed. Important documents
can easily be out of reach. Apart from making a photocopy, paper documents cannot be backed up.
Bank accounts details, flight details, financial document and other important documents are all
printed on paper. If these documents get lost or end up in hands of people who do not own them,
catastrophic results will follow. Companies can reject a staff if they fail to be in charge of important
documents. Although paper can be carried around easily and be portable, it has more
disadvantages than advantages. Therefore, we feel the need for inventing a method to solve this
tiresome problem.

Paper. What can we do to stop all its problems and effects?

The Future Of Paper

Some manufacturers, notably AMD, have started using a new, significantly more environmentally
friendly alternative to expanded plastic packaging made out of paper, known commercially as
paperfoam. The packaging has very similar mechanical properties to some expanded plastic
packaging, but is biodegradable and can also be recycled with ordinary paper.

With increasing environmental concerns about synthetic coatings (such as PFOA) and the higher
prices of hydrocarbon based petrochemicals, there is a focus on zein (corn protein) as a coating for
paper in high grease applications such as popcorn bags.

Besides paperfoam, paper made from rocks rather than trees is also emerging as a more
ecological alternative to regular paper made from trees or other alternatives as paperfoam. This
Rock paper is available from companies as ViaStone and John Su.

Invisible paper is being developed by Gaskell Industries Ltd., to be used as a substitute to more
visible alternatives.

Also, synthetics such as Tyvek and Teslin have been introduced as printing media as a more
durable material than paper.

(This information was obtained from Wikipedia)

Touchscreen technology
What is a touch screen?

Touchscreens are displays which also have the ability to detect the location of touches within
the display area. This allows the display to be used as an input device, removing the keyboard
and/or the mouse as the primary input device for interacting with the display's content. Such
displays can be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks. Touchscreens also have
assisted in recent changes in the design of personal digital assistant (PDA), satellite navigation and mobile
phone devices, making these devices more usable.

(This information was extracted from Wikipedia)

A touch screen allows a user to interact with a particular application!

Which applications need touch screen technology?

Touchscreens have become commonplace since the invention of the electronic touch interface in
1971 by Dr. Samuel C. Hurst. They have become familiar in retail settings, on point of sale systems,
on ATMs and on PDAs where a stylus is sometimes used to manipulate the GUI and to enter data.
The popularity of smart phones, PDAs, portable game consoles and many types of information
appliances is driving the demand for, and the acceptance of, touchscreens.

The HP-150 from 1983 was probably the world's earliest commercial touch screen computer. It
actually does not have a touch screen in the strict sense, but a 9" Sony CRT surrounded by infrared
transmitters and receivers which detect the position of any non-transparent object on the screen.

Touchscreens are popular in heavy industry and in other situations, such as museum displays or
room automation, where keyboards and mouse do not allow a satisfactory, intuitive, rapid, or accurate
interaction by the user with the display's content.

Historically, the touchscreen sensor and its accompanying controller-based firmware have been
made available by a wide array of after-market system integrators and not by display, chip or
motherboard manufacturers. With time, however, display manufacturers and System On Chip
(SOC) manufacturers worldwide have acknowledged the trend toward acceptance of touchscreens
as a highly desirable user interface component and have begun to integrate touchscreen
functionality into the fundamental design of their products.

The Nintendo DS has a touch screen which incorporates most of how the games are
played.
How do touch-screen monitors know where you're touching?

Touch-screen monitors have become more and more commonplace as their price has steadily
dropped over the past decade. There are three basic systems that are used to recognize a
person's touch:

• Resistive
• Capacitive
• Surface acoustic wave

The resistive system consists of a normal glass panel that is covered with a conductive and a
resistive metallic layer. These two layers are held apart by spacers, and a scratch-resistant layer is
placed on top of the whole setup. An electrical current runs through the two layers while the
monitor is operational. When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact in that exact
spot. The change in the electrical field is noted and the coordinates of the point of contact are
calculated by the computer. Once the coordinates are known, a special driver translates the touch
into something that the operating system can understand, much as a computer mouse driver
translates a mouse's movements into a click or a drag.

In the capacitive system, a layer that stores electrical charge is placed on the glass panel of the
monitor. When a user touches the monitor with his or her finger, some of the charge is transferred
to the user, so the charge on the capacitive layer decreases. This decrease is measured in circuits
located at each corner of the monitor. The computer calculates, from the relative differences in
charge at each corner, exactly where the touch event took place and then relays that information to
the touch-screen driver software. One advantage that the capacitive system has over the resistive
system is that it transmits almost 90 percent of the light from the monitor, whereas the resistive
system only transmits about 75 percent. This gives the capacitive system a much clearer picture
than the resistive system.

On the monitor of a surface acoustic wave system, two transducers (one receiving and one
sending) are placed along the x and y axes of the monitor's glass plate. Also placed on the glass
are reflectors -- they reflect an electrical signal sent from one transducer to the other. The
receiving transducer is able to tell if the wave has been disturbed by a touch event at any instant,
and can locate it accordingly. The wave setup has no metallic layers on the screen, allowing for
100-percent light throughput and perfect image clarity. This makes the surface acoustic wave
system best for displaying detailed graphics (both other systems have significant degradation in
clarity).

Another area in which the systems differ is in which stimuli will register as a touch event. A
resistive system registers a touch as long as the two layers make contact, which means that it
doesn't matter if you touch it with your finger or a rubber ball. A capacitive system, on the other
hand, must have a conductive input, usually your finger, in order to register a touch. The surface
acoustic wave system works much like the resistive system, allowing a touch with almost any
object -- except hard and small objects like a pen tip.

As far as price, the resistive system is the cheapest; its clarity is the lowest of the three, and its
layers can be damaged by sharp objects. The surface acoustic wave setup is usually the most
expensive.
(Above information extrated from Howstuffworks)

InDept Information (further research)

All information in this section has been extracted from Wikipedia.

[edit] Resistive

A resistive touch screen panel is composed of several layers. The most important are two thin metallic
electrically conductive and resistive layers separated by thin space. When some object touches
this kind of touch panel, the layers are connected at certain point; the panel then electrically acts
similar to two voltage dividers with connected outputs. This causes a change in the electrical current
which is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. When measuring
press force, it is useful to add resistor dependent on force in this model -- between the dividers.

A resistive touch panel output can consist of between four and eight wires. The positions of
the conductive contacts in resistive layers differ depending on how many wires are used.
When four wires are used, the contacts are placed on the left, right, top, and bottom sides.
When five wires are used, the contacts are placed in the corners and on one plate.
4 wire resistive panels can estimate the area (and hence the pressure) of a touch based on
calculations from the resistances.
Resistive touch screen panels are generally more affordable but offer only 75% clarity[citation
needed] (premium films and glass finishes allow transmissivity to approach 85%[citation needed])
and the layer can be damaged by sharp objects. Resistive touch screen panels are not
affected by outside elements such as dust or water and are the type most commonly used
today.

[edit] Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW)

Surface Acoustic Wavetechnology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel. When
the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves
registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the controller for processing.
Surface wave touch screen panels can be damaged by outside elements. Contaminants on the
surface can also interfere with the functionality of the touchscreen.

[edit] Capacitive

A capacitive touch screen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide that conducts a
continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled
field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes - it achieves capacitance. The
human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits
capacitance. When the sensor's 'normal' capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by another
capacitance field, i.e., someone's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel
measure the resultant 'distortion' in the sine wave characteristics of the reference field and send
the information about the event to the controller for mathematical processing. Capacitive sensors
can either be touched with a bare finger or with a conductive device being held by a bare hand.
Capacitive touch screens are not affected by outside elements and have high clarity, but their
complex signal processing electronics increase their cost.
[edit] Infrared

An infrared touch screen panel employs one of two very different methods. One method used
thermal induced changes of the surface resistance. This method was sometimes slow and required
warm hands. Another method is an array of vertical and horizontal IR sensors that detected the
interruption of a modulated light beam near the surface of the screen. IR touch screens have the
most durable surfaces and are used in many military applications that require a touch panel
display.

[edit] Strain Gauge

In a strain gauge configuration the screen is spring mounted on the four corners and strain gauges
are used to determine deflection when the screen is touched. This technology can also measure
the Z-axis. Typically used in exposed public systems such as ticket machines due to their
resistance to vandalism.

[edit] Optical Imaging

A relatively-modern development in touch screen technology, two or more image sensors are
placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared backlights are placed in the
camera's field of view on the other sides of the screen. A touch shows up as a shadow and each
pair of cameras can then be triangulated to locate the touch. This technology is growing in
popularity, due to its scalability, versatility, and affordability, especially for larger units.

[edit] Dispersive Signal Technology

Introduced in 2002, this system uses sensors to detect the mechanical energy in the glass that occur
due to a touch. Complex algorithms then interpret this information and provide the actual location
of the touch. The technology claims to be unaffected by dust and other outside elements, including
scratches. Since there is no need for additional elements on screen, it also claims to provide
excellent optical clarity. Also, since mechanical vibrations are used to detect a touch event, any
object can be used to generate these events, including fingers and styli. A downside is that after
the initial touch the system cannot detect a motionless finger.

[edit] Acoustic Pulse Recognition

This system uses more than two piezoelectric transducers located at some positions of the screen
to turn the mechanical energy of a touch (vibration) into an electronic signal. This signal is then
converted into an audio file, and then compared to preexisting audio profile for every position on
the screen. This system works without a grid of wires running through the screen, the touch screen
itself is actually pure glass, giving it the optics and durability of the glass out of which it is made. It
works with scratches and dust on the screen, and accuracy is very good. It does not need a
conductive object to activate it. It is a major advantage for larger displays. As with the Dispersive
Signal Technology system, after the initial touch this system cannot detect a motionless finger.

[edit] Frustrated Total Internal Reflection

This optical system works by using the principle of total internal reflection to fill a refractive medium
with light. When a finger or other soft object is pressed against the surface, the internal reflection
light path is interrupted, making the light reflect outside of the medium and thus visible to a camera
behind the medium.[1]
[edit] Graphics tablet/screen hybrid technique

This new technique is definitionally not really a touchscreen, but has the same properties, in
addition to having much more accuracy. It is a graphics tablet that incorporates an LCD into the tablet
itself, allowing the user to draw directly "on" the display surface. It should not be mixed up with
tablet pc hybrids.

[edit] Development

Virtually all of the significant touchscreen technology patents were filed during the 1970s and
1980s and have expired. Touchscreen component manufacturing and product design are no longer
encumbered by royalties or legalities with regard to patents and the manufacturing of touchscreen-
enabled displays on all kinds of devices is widespread.

The development of multipoint touchscreens facilitated the tracking of more than one finger on the
screen. Operations that are only possible with more than one finger are possible. These devices
also allow multiple users to interact with the touchscreen simultaneously.

With the growing acceptance of many kinds of products with an integral touchscreen interface the
marginal cost of touchscreen technology is routinely absorbed into the products that incorporate it
and is effectively eliminated. As typically occurs with any technology, touchscreen hardware and
software has sufficiently matured and been perfected over more than three decades to the point
where its reliability is unassailable. As such, touchscreen displays are found today in airplanes,
automobiles, gaming consoles, machine control systems, appliances and handheld display devices
of every kind.

The ability to accurately point on the screen itself is taking yet another step with the emerging
graphics tablet/screen hybrids.

[edit] Ergonomics and usage

An ergonomic problem of touchscreens is their stress on human fingers when used for more than a
few minutes at a time, since significant pressure can be required and the screen is non-flexible.
This can be alleviated with the use of a pen or other device to add leverage, but the introduction of
such items can sometimes be problematic depending on the desired use case (for example, public
kiosks such as ATMs). Also, fine motor control is better achieved with a stylus, a finger being a
rather broad and ambiguous point of contact with the screen.

Yet all of these ergonomic issues can be bypassed simply by using a different technique, provided
that the user's fingernails are either short or sufficiently long. Rather than pressing with the soft skin
of an outstretched fingertip, the finger is curled over, so that the top of the forward edge of a
fingernail can be used instead. (The thumb is optionally used to provide support for the finger or for
a long fingernail, from underneath.) The fingernail's hard, curved surface contacts the touchscreen
at a single very small point. Therefore, much less finger pressure is needed, much greater
precision is possible (approaching that of a stylus, with a little experience), much less skin oil is
smeared onto the screen, and the fingernail can be silently moved across the screen with very little
resistance, allowing for selecting text, moving windows, or drawing lines. (The human fingernail
consists of keratin which has a hardness and smoothness similar to the tip of a stylus, and so will not
typically scratch a touchscreen.) Alternately, very short stylus tips are available, which slip right
onto the end of a finger; this increases visibility of the contact point with the screen. Oddly, with
capacitive touch screens (such as the iPhone), the reverse problem applies in that individuals with
long nails have reported problems getting adequate skin contact with the screen to register
keystrokes (note that styluses do not work on capacitive touch screens nor do gloved fingers).