LCD Controller for Display Assembly

Students: Ifedayo Omotayo, Eric Gallegos, Richard Newkirk, Nathan Onsare Advisers: Kevin Weber, Dr. Stanley Chien Date: May 2nd, 2014
Background Currently Raytheon is buying a fully packaged display. This includes LCD Display, LCD Controller, Backlight Controller, EM shield, and casing. In order to reduce the cost of this product, Raytheon proposed the task of designing the controller to be built in-house. Requirements Project will be complete when at least three of the following requirements are implemented: Video input support: DVI, VGA Backlight control: successfully adjust backlight brightness. Video scaling: successfully adjust image size. Picture-in-picture (PIP): successfully display two video inputs at once. Touch panel control: successfully detect user touch input. Bezel button input: successfully detect user button input. Heater control: successfully regulate product temperature within a certain range. Design Options Intersil TW8823 Eval Kit Supports VGA and DVI input formats. Prepackaged with bezel button input and touchscreen input hardware. Includes backlight control , PIP, and temperature sensing capabilities. Includes scaling and video conversion technologies. Microchip PIC32 Starter Kit Prepackaged with bezel button input and touchscreen input hardware. Includes backlight control and PIP capabilities. Includes picture scaling technologies. Does not include any video input hardware. Design The Intersil TW8823 Eval Kit was chosen because it covered more of the design requirements than any other reviewed board. The eval kit includes the display, connection cables, controller, and power adapter. The board came preloaded with the firmware used to configure the board.

Implementation Hardware Implementation VGA/DVI cables are used to connect the video sources to the board. A USB cable connected through the TW-Dongle piece allows for direct communication to the board through RS232. Software Implementation Two pieces of software are needed, the KeilC uVision 4 compiler and the TWTerminal. The first was recommended by the board manufacturer and the second is used as a debugger and programmer. Code Implementation The backbone of the firmware was provided by the board manufacturer (Intersil) and code was added in order to implement the required features. Tests Backlight Control: The brightness of the screen is changed with the left and right buttons when the menu is not active. Picture-in-Picture (PIP): A video signal will be connected to the VGA and DVI ports on the TW8823 board, the PIP will be selected via the menu, and we will observe that the PIP has occurred. Bezel Button Input: We will navigate the menu via touchscreen/bezel buttons only, and verify that the board reacts appropriately to the users selections.