What Is SAW Touchscreen Technology?
When researching the different types of touchscreen technologies, you'll probably comes across capacitive and resistive. These are, by far, the most common types of technologies used to power touchscreen devices. Capacitive devices sense touch commands by measuring capacitance, whereas resistive devices sense touch commands by contact between two or more layers. While capacitive and resistive remain the most popular types of touchscreen technologies, however, surface wave acoustics (SAW) is becoming a popular alternative. So, what is SAW touchscreen technology exactly?
Overview of SAW Touchscreen Technology
SAW touchscreen technology is unique in the sense that it uses ultrasonic waves to sense touch commands. Touchscreen devices powered by this technology are designed to produce sound waves that travel across the surface of the screen. The perimeter of the device is affixed with reflectors that bounce off these sound waves. When you touch the surface of the screen, you'll disturb the sound waves, which the device detects as a touch command.
The sound waves produced by SAW devices aren't loud. In fact, you won't be able to hear them at all. However, SAW devices are still capable of "hearing" these sound waves - and that's essentially how they work. SAW devices constantly emit sound waves while simultaneously looking for disruptions. If a disruption is detected, the device will register the location of the disruption as a touch command.
