SLAA843A August   2018  – March 2019 MSP430FR2512 , MSP430FR2512 , MSP430FR2522 , MSP430FR2522 , MSP430FR2532 , MSP430FR2532 , MSP430FR2533 , MSP430FR2533 , MSP430FR2632 , MSP430FR2632 , MSP430FR2633 , MSP430FR2633

 

  1.   Sensitivity, SNR, and design margin in capacitive touch applications
    1.     Trademarks
    2. 1 Overview
      1. 1.1 Design Objectives
        1. 1.1.1 Reliability
        2. 1.1.2 Robustness
      2. 1.2 The Designer's Dilemma
    3. 2 Recommended Actions for Developers
      1. 2.1 Run SNR and Design Margin Tests
    4. 3 Terminology
      1. 3.1 Signal (S)
      2. 3.2 Noise (N)
      3. 3.3 Threshold (Sensitivity) (Th)
      4. 3.4 Design Margin
        1. 3.4.1 False Detection Margin (Min)
        2. 3.4.2 Detection Margin (Mout)
      5. 3.5 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
      6. 3.6 Advice
    5. 4 CapTIvate Device Performance
      1. 4.1 Minimum Recommended Values
      2. 4.2 CapTIvate Device SNR
    6. 5 Interpreting the Results
      1. 5.1 Interpreting the Advice
      2. 5.2 Check Other Results
    7. 6 Application of Terms
      1. 6.1 Count and Percent Change Analysis With 7.5-mm Overlay, Advice = POOR
      2. 6.2 Count and Percent Change Analysis With 1.5-mm Overlay, Advice = GOOD
      3. 6.3 Count and Percent Change Analysis (1.5-mm Overlay vs 7.5-mm Overlay)
      4. 6.4 Effect of Post-Processing and Sampling Rate
    8. 7 Summary
  2.   Revision History

Interpreting the Advice

The CapTIvate Design Center provides advice as to whether the measured design margins are good, poor.

Advice: GOOD

If the advice is GOOD, the application that was tested has a safe threshold setting and sufficient false detection margin (Min).

Advice: POOR

If the advice is 'poor', than the application has a very low design margin in or a very low threshold setting.

  1. Check the "Noise" result. If it is higher than typical (0.02% to 0.12%), analyze the system to determine if a noise aggressor is present.
  2. Increase the "Touch/Proximity Threshold" setting in the "Tuning" tab while still being able to detect a touch event. Perform the SNR measurement test again or on multiple units.
  3. Repeat Step 2. If the advice is still POOR and the "Touch/Proximity Threshold" is too high for the system to detect a touch or proximity event, then the hardware and or mechanical design must be modified to increase the signal.