23 Apr What is an Interactive Board?
Interactive board; is a technology that allows you to use your computer’s power, speed, and flexibility on a touch-sensitive board without the need of any special pen.
The interactive board is an electronic device that allows you to perform touch-sensitive operations by projecting your computer screen onto a whiteboard.
Interactive Board Types
1. Pen-based Models
2. Resistive Touch Systems
3. Capacitive Touch Systems
4. Infrared Systems
5. Optical Camera Systems
1.Pen-Based Models
These models, which are out-of-date, work with the help of ultrasonic sound waves. As you can see in the picture, there is a device placed on the corner of the board and it works with a digital pen that communicates with the cable through the sound waves. When the battery-working pen nib is applied to the surface with the pressure, the sound waves start to spread, and the device detects the sound waves and determines the position on the surface, thus enabling you to use the board by perceiving the movement.
On the Pen-based models the surface is not touchable. You can use the device on a flat wall or any other suitable surface. Although this is an advantageous over other models, there are also disadvantages.For example the pen works with a battery, that means you need to change the battery periodically or when the pen is broken or lost, the system becomes unusable and you need to pay an extra cost to get a new pen. The device can cause detection problems when students are in the lesson, it is fairly common for breaks or losses to occur. In such a case, the system will become unusable and a new pen must be ordered, which is produced by a company based abroad with the e-beam brand, in this case you will not be able to use the interactive board until the pen comes.
Click here to see our Emkotech Integral Interactive Board model.
2. Resistive Touch Systems
The most common type in touchscreen systems is resistive screens. Many of today’s modern devices are actually resistive. These systems, as the name implies, are resistant, means you have to apply pressure to react to the display, which brings an electrical signal to the layer on the screen.
Resistive screens have two thin layers separated by a thin space. Apart from these layers, there are separator points between the overlay, the support layer and the two layers we are talking about. These two coatings are facing each other. When the layers touch each other, that is, when the screen is pressurized, electricity is produced and the touch is processed as a signal. For this reason you can use any object that will create print on resistive screens.
Resistive screens do not support multi touch because they operate with pressure. Since the surface is electronic, you can not use it as a normal writing board. These systems, which are also called membrane surfaces on interactive boards, are quite susceptible to failure. Any damage to the surface causes the system to become completely inoperable and the whole board must change. Although these systems are still in use in the education sector, their use is gradually diminishing due to the problems we have mentioned.
3. Capacitive Touch Systems
Capacitive screens usually consist of an insulating layer (non-transparent surfaces that can be used on the glass and board surface). This layer contains a transparent conductive material. When touched on the screen, the finger causes the current to be pulled towards the touched position and the voltage to drop. So when you touch a capacitive touch surface, you change the electrical area of the screen. The position of the touched point in the x and y axes is calculated by the controller and sent to the computer. Different technologies are used for this, but all depends on your finger changing the voltage on the surface with a small touch. So you can use this screen with conductive objects.
Capacitive screens are getting thinner day by day and resistant protective surfaces can be placed on them. At the same time, these systems also allow multiple touches thus its use is increasing and getting cheaper. Especially in devices such as smartphones and tablets, usage is increasing.
Capacitive Touch boards have also started to be used in the education sector. Despite the increasing popularity of the system, capacitive touch boards are still expensive compared to other systems. This is why the production of this system technologically becomes difficult while the surface growing. Larger surface requires more and higher quality material.
Our Emkotech e-400 Capacitive Interactive Board model is produced with this technology. e-400 model is also supports 10 point touch.
4. Infrared Systems
Infrared Touch boards are the most widely using in technology today.
In fact, a system we are very familiar with has been reinterpreted. Every day we use the remote control for television in our homes, when we press a button on it, the lamps that send infrared light, which we refer to as the LED on the tip are transmitters, send a signal; the receiver LED on the TV takes this signal and the system works accordingly.
They work the same way on infrared touch boards. On the left and up sides of the board there are electronic cards which are called transmitters, which are lined up inside the whole frame along the length of the ledge. On the right and down sides of the board the receiver cards are located, which are the counterparts of the transmitter cards in the same sense.
So it goes from the transmittting cards to the receiving cards, from left to right and from top to bottom. Not all of the LEDs in the cards send a signal at the same time, the LEDs are individually lit and the LEDs that are in contact are checked to see if there is a signal. That is, after the signal is sent from the first LED of the first transmitter card, the receiver card of the opposite side is checked first and then the signal is processed. The LEDs on the whole board will flash in sequence and one turn will be completed and this process will continue in a certain logic frame and scan for an object touching the surface of the board. When an object touches the board by the white dot , the signal at the “X” and “Y” LEDs is cut off and it is understood that an object is touching.
These signals from the receiver cards are processed by the main card and this information is transferred to the computer via usb cable. The system also draws the power needed to operate while transmitting data to the computer via USB cable. This value is approximately 30mA.
The incineration of individual LEDs can cause the system to run slowly, but it is the fastest available system. The interactive board transfers so fast that the computer can not process this data in real time, which means it lags and loses data. Therefore, with the software on the board’s main card, this speed is slowed down to the extent that the computer can operate.
