SuRG
SUNLIGHT-READABLE GUI FAMILY
Sunlight-Readable Embedded Display
A low-power, high-contrast touchscreen LCD interface.
SuRG is an off-the-shelf touchscreen and graphic user interface (GUI) designed to consume minimal power while providing a crystal-clear and highly readable display. This family of products display an image while drawing 95% less power than a back lit TFT Display. FDI have incorporated the Light and Versatile Embedded Graphics Library (LVGL) into our FreeRTOS based demos providing our customers with an excellent starting point for any application.
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SuRG is available off-the-shelf from any of our franchised distributors:
SuRG Products
Capacitive Touch
4.2″
Understanding Display Performance: Why Ambient Contrast Ratio Matters
Traditional contrast ratio measures the difference between a display’s brightest white and deepest black under controlled, dark-room conditions. While this standard works well for indoor applications like TV or computer displays, it fails to represent real-world performance for devices used in variable lighting environments, such as mobile or industrial HMI devices.
Ambient contrast ratio addresses this by measuring display performance under actual lighting conditions where devices will be used. This accounts for how environmental light affects screen visibility. Rather than simply indicating how a display performs in isolation, ambient contrast ratio reveals how readable content remains in real-world lighting conditions.
The evolution toward ambient-aware display technology represents a shift in design philosophy. Instead of relying on brute-force screen brightness to overpower ambient light—which drains battery life and creates other challenges—newer display technologies, such as reflective LCD with front lighting, can leverage surrounding light to enhance readability while extending battery life, making them particularly valuable for outdoor applications.
SuRG Support
Each SuRG unit is available in two convenient forms. To get your project started quickly we offer a full development kit complete with JTAG debugger, power supply, cables, a microSD card and full documentation. Development kits part numbers end in “-DK”, for example “SuRG42-CP-DK” is the development kit for SuRG42-CP.
SuRG is available off-the-shelf from any of our franchised distributors.
Part numbers that don’t end in “-DK” are board assembly part numbers that are intended for customers to use in volume production. The board assemblies are a complete touchscreen GUI solutions, but unlike our full Development Kits (-DK) they do not include any of the development items such as the JTAG debugger, power supply, cables, documentation, etc.
For additional questions that relate more specifically to the manufacturer’s products, FDI provides full service design and development support.
SuRG Application Notes
SuRG products are cutting edge benefiting from Application Notes
Over the next few months FDI will develop Application Notes to help our customers overcome the common hurdles encountered during development of low power industrial applications. Keep an eye on this page as this is where they will show up.
Engineers typically have issues achieving the chip manufacturers published power consumption, it is not trivial. Getting every I/O pin into the correct state, shutting off every peripheral and setting up a power down/up strategy takes planning and effort. We will be back with an application note that tackles this subject head on.
If you have questions or suggestions for topics that could be addressed please contact a member of our technical team by email at [email protected]