Touchscreens use a variety of technologies to detect, as well as respond to, touch commands. Some of them use capacitive technology, whereas others use resistive technology. There are also lesser-known touchscreen technologies, such as near-field imaging (NFI). NFI touchscreens can still detect touch commands just like their capacitive and resistive counterparts. However, they use an entirely different method that distinguishes them from all other touchscreens.
What Is an NFI Touchscreen?
An NFI touchscreen is a type of touchscreen device that uses an electromagnetic field to detect touch commands. There are NFI tablets, point-of-sale (POS) systems, human machine interfaces (HMIs) and more.
When turned on, they produce an electromagnetic field across the display interface. Touching the display interface with a finger will create a distortion in this electromagnetic field. The NFI touchscreen will then register this distortion as a touch event, in which case it will respond with the appropriate action. Capacitive touchscreens are somewhat similar except they use an electrostatic field. NFI touchscreens, on the other hand, use an electromagnetic field.
Benefits of NFI Touchscreens
NFI touchscreens offer several benefits, one of which is durability. They are considered more durable than many other types of touchscreens. This is why NFI touchscreens are commonly used as POS systems. You can find NFI-powered POS systems in restaurants, retail stores and other harsh environments. They can withstand harsh environments such as these without succumbing to damage or degradation. The same can’t be said for many other types of touchscreens.
NFI touchscreens are also accurate. They are able to pinpoint the exact location of your touch commands. When you perform a touch command, the NFI touchscreen will pinpoint it by looking for the electromagnetic distortion. Touch commands create a distortion in the device’s electromagnetic field. The location of this distortion will reflect the area where the touch command was performed.
You can rest assured knowing that NFI touchscreens will detect touch commands performed with any object. In other words, you don’t have to control them with a bare finger. While NFI touchscreens support bare finger touch commands, you can use any object to control them. Maybe you want to use a bare finger, or perhaps you want to use a stylus. Regardless, NFI touchscreen will detect and respond to all touch commands, including those performed with a conductive object and those performed with a nonconductive object.
