LED (Light Emitting Diode) backlight design provides advantages that can be highly beneficial in a variety of applications and industries. LEDs offer longevity (50,000 hours minimum), far greater resistance against shock and vibration, reduced power consumption and heat emissions, brighter intensity and more precise control of that intensity. Light from the LEDs in an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen is diffused to illuminate the viewing area evenly.

Two different configurations exist for LED backlighting: array and edge-lit. Array lighting–in which LEDs are mounted uniformly behind the LCD screen to distribute light evenly–offers the advantage of increased contrast, resulting in greater depth of color. Edge lighting places the LEDs on the sides of the screen (usually the top and bottom) rather than behind the screen, which allows for a thinner package and reduces power consumption; this comes at a cost of a slight deficit in uniformity.

Although most commercial LED rails for LCD displays are designed to be driven serially, General Digital employs a serial-parallel design philosophy, whereby we drive the LEDs in groupings of three or four. The advantage to this method is that instead of rendering the entire rail inoperable, a single LED failure will only affect its immediate grouping (soft failure). This means that singular or multiple LED failures will not render the monitor inoperable, and in most cases will still provide a very uniform backlight–essential for mission critical applications.

Also of interest to military and heavy industrial needs is the fact that LEDs are ideally suited to sunlight readable and NVIS (Night Vision Imaging System) applications. Their longevity, superior brightness control, and resistance to shock, vibration and weather extremes makes them an almost obvious pick for use in harsh environments. Other LED backlit display benefits include reduced EMI emissions, operation at low temperatures (-40° C), and virtually instantaneous full brightness for those mission critical situations. Other applications can benefit from LED backlighting, such as digital signage, construction, and aviation, to name a few examples.

The 2012 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Maryland, beckoned and Tenell Rhodes and yours truly, Brian Martin, were there to answer its call. From April 15th through 18th, we set up shop and dazzled the crowds with a booth that continues to grow in appeal.

Our 37-inch Titan was the perfect large format monitor on which to play Sports Champions, a suite of games available for the Playstation 3 with Move system. Its high definition capability was the talk of the trade show as it served double duty playing both games and blockbuster movies like Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2, among others.

The 8.4-inch Barracuda continues to amaze; completely environmentally sealed (IP67) against water, dust, sand, and oil, it sat totally submerged in a fully decorated fish tank showing movies such as Finding Nemo, Shark Tale, and Spongebob Squarepants.

Also along for the show were our 24-inch Saber Standalone; the 19-inch rack mount TwoView (dual LCD with keyboard and trackball); the 15-inch rack mount TwoView Micro (dual flip-down LCDs); and the 15.4-inch Saber PanelMount Combat Display Kit.

We again conducted “business at the beach” on the second and third day of the Exposition. Who can miss a booth festooned with beach balls, a beach towel, and the requisite suntan oil? Or a candy machine filled with Mike & Ike candies and gumballs? And our “Recharge at No Charge” charging station helped exhibitors and attendees with mobile devices running low on battery power. And though it was just another day at the beach, we enjoyed fruitful dialogue and made new contacts with those expressing interest in our ruggedized, specialized, and customized LCD monitors.

An added bonus was a fly-by of the Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to Dulles International Airport and, ultimately, its final resting place at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. As crowds formed and anticipation built, all were thrilled to watch as the shuttle rode piggyback on a modified 747 aircraft along the Potomoc River.

Of course, when have you known us to do a trade show and just go home after that? Although the Exposition ended on Wednesday, we stayed in the area for the rest of the week. We met with DRS in Maryland on Thursday, reviewing current programs and discussing future programs that may be enriched by our services. On Friday, we visited Microbase in Virginia. We enjoyed a gracious lunch with them and explored various avenues of collaboration and provided training for successful reselling of our products and services.

Tenell and Brian agree: another great trip in the bag!

One of our electrical engineers, Louis, and his wife travel to West Virginia to see some abandoned mines. (Do they know a good time, or what?) Midway through the 17th mine, Louis notices that the timbers used to shore up the walls look familiar. In fact, they’re exactly like the ones in the first 16 mines. The guide tells him all the wood is poplar.

“Gee,” said Louis, “I would think they’d use something like oak or ash, which are very strong.”

Why did the miners use poplar?

Any arborists out there? Or botanists? Or even some tree huggers? Post your answers (or guesses) right here. If no one figures it out, we’ll post the answer in the last week of May.

For millenia, most of man’s activities were confined to daylight hours. With the advent of night vision technology, man can now accomplish many daylight-only tasks in the dark.

Night vision goggles (NVG) work by taking low level incoming visible light and non-visible infrared (IR) light and converting them both into electrical energy (electrons). Through a rather complex process, these electrons are then multiplied and converted back into light, which allows an NVG wearer to see in pitch black conditions. Standard CRT and LCD monitors using CCFL (Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamps) backlights interrupt the view of a person equipped with NVG because these monitors emit high levels of IR radiation, specifically the kind that’s amplified by night vision goggles. What results is a phenomenon known as “blooming” (washed out screen), as well as oversaturation, which renders the user effectively blind. This is true even if the monitor is in the proximity of the user but not in their direct field of view.

NVIS (Night Vision Imaging System) compatible displays are not born, they’re made. At General Digital, we re-engineer existing display hardware to virtually eliminate the emission of high levels of IR radiation. To accomplish this, entirely new backlighting systems are sometimes installed (CCFL or LED). We can configure an LCD monitor to be NVG compatible in two distinct ways. One method allows an NVG user to easily view information on a display screen, as well as their surroundings, while using the night vision goggles. Another way completely blocks all light from being visible to the goggles, while still visible to the naked eye.

Read more about NVIS compatibility with LCDS and how night vision goggles work.

General Digital offers many sizes of ruggedized monitors with NVIS capability that meet MIL-STD-3009. A sampling is listed on our NVIS for LCD Monitors page.

a.k.a. Florida Road Trip and 2012 AUSA Trade Show Highlights

As we have done every year for the past five years, General Digital exhibited at the AUSA Winter Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Wednesday, February 22nd to Friday, February 24th.

What made this trip different, though, is that Tenell and Brian flew down to Melbourne, Florida, on the Monday before the show to visit customers and do some last-minute shopping for the trade show setup. Serendipity paid us handsomely in that, on the way to Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services, we made a wrong turn and ended up at Electro-Optical Imaging. This resulted in enjoyable and productive meetings with both Lockheed Martin and Electro-Optical Imaging. The “road trip” aspect of the journey allowed us to display some of our flat panel LCD monitors and to discuss offerings from our Optical Bonding Laboratories and Software Services Group. We brought with us the 24″ Saber Standalone™, the 19″ dual flip-up display with keyboard TwoView™, the 15.4″ Saber PanelMount™, and the 8.4″ waterproof and sealed Barracuda™, our road trip regulars. Bringing the monitors along has allowed us to demonstrate convincingly that General Digital can accommodate a whole host of form factors and capabilities. An added benefit is that our variety of LCD monitors often sparks ideas in the engineers’ minds of other programs where our products and services can be of use.

After the meetings, we made the two-and-a-half hour drive down to Fort Lauderdale to set up our booth for AUSA’s ILW (Institute of Land Warfare) Winter Symposium and Exposition. In addition to the monitors that we showed in Melbourne, we added the 37″ Titan PanelMount™ and the 15″ ceiling-mounted, dual display TwoView Micro™. Oh, and did we mention that the Barracuda™ was at home in its fully decorated fish tank showing the underwater adventures of the SpongeBob SquarePants movie, Finding Nemo, and Shark Tale? On day one of the trade show, we dressed in our business attire; but on days two and three we came beach ready. The booth was decorated on days two and three with beach balls, a beach towel, and the requisite Frisbee disc and bottle of suntan lotion.

It’s no wonder why our booth was hailed by many as the best of the show. We boasted a free charging station where attendees and exhibitors alike could charge their mobile phones and other devices. Our tagline? “Recharge at no charge”. Pretty catchy, huh? Then there was the classic gumball machine which hit people of all ages with a welcome wave of nostalgia. Also, we provided a laptop inviting anyone to check their e-mail or social media and possibly “Like” us on Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites. With so many stopping by, and the promising contacts that were made, we may very well have had one of our best trade shows to date. But stay tuned, we’ve got more road trips and trade shows to come!

If our visit to Kollmorgen in Massachusetts on February 9th is any indication, this is going to be a great year! The enthusiastic engineers at Kollmorgen are looking for 24″ bulkhead mount and 19″ rack mount monitors. However, because most of our customers are never satisfied with the status quo (neither are we), the 24″ bulkhead mount will be a splash-proof version with HD-SDI, SD-SDI and composite video inputs and full military ruggedization. The 19″ rack mount will include dual composite video inputs, VGA, and–get this–a compact flash card reader. This, my friends, is pushing the envelope.

And as if that’s not enough, we’re on our way to Fort Lauderdale next week! Though we’ll be going down to exhibit at a trade show, we’re going to stop in and visit customers in the area, as well. The AUSA 2011 Winter Symposium will take place February 22nd-24th. We’ll be setting up shop in booth 1007; so, if you’re in the area, come and join the party!

One of our mechanical designers, Frank, tells the following story:

“In college, I had a VW Beetle. I was amazed how many things I could fix. One summer, I did a simple repair: I loosened three bolts, replaced something, and tightened the bolts. The car ran great for six weeks. I returned to school, and some buddies and I decided to go find some babes.”

The four of them took off in the VW–and it burst into flames. What had Frank done?

If no one figures this out, we’ll post the answer during the last week of February. So c’mon all you backyard mechanics! Make your best educated guess–or even a wild one!

February 28, 2012

ANSWER:

Looks like no one got this one. It’s tricky if you don’t know your old VW’s.

What happened was that Frank installed a battery, which was located under the back seat. When his roommate, who we’ll call Lardbutt, sat in the back, he compressed the seat springs, which were covered with a straw-like material.

Frank used the wrong battery: The terminals were too tall. When the springs touched the battery terminals, the seat caught fire! Fortunately, nobody was hurt—but with burn holes on their butts and  a smoldering VW Bug, the guys weren’t exactly babe magnets (unless the fire department had a woman on their crew).

There are few things more heartrending than buying liquid crystal displays, ensuring their safe transport, and handling them with extreme care, only to damage them irreparably during the mounting process. Because a liquid crystal display (LCD) is extremely sensitive to mechanical stress and susceptible to electrostatic discharge (ESD), careful considerations must be given to it when mounting. This is especially true when the display is optically bonded from the outside of the display frame. Failure to take proper precautions can result in panel failures, including permanent damage of circuits due to electrostatic discharges, brightness hot spots, delamination of the bond in ambient or elevated environments, cracking of the cover glass, and cracking of the LCD, among other catastrophes.

Though LCDs are rather fragile, simple yet effective practices exist that will enable you to complete the mounting project with little complication. First, the optically-bonded products must be handled with both hands from opposite edges of the display frame. Long before ever mounting the optically-bonded LCD, damage can occur through improper handling. It is also very important to note that, as with all electronic devices and components, proper ESD protection practices must be followed accordingly. An electric shock can easily sound the death knell for your optically-bonded LCD.

The mechanically stress-sensitive nature of liquid crystal displays requires customers to take special precautions when designing the mounting details for any given applications. As a general rule, the panel should be mounted evenly and reliably using the panel manufacturer’s mounting points. Absolutely no excessive stress should be applied to the optical surface and other parts of the the frame. When mounting the panel, ensure that it is in the correct position first, tightening the screws gently and evenly. It is highly recommended that a torque wrench be used to avoid over/under tightness.

Following these simple instructions will go a long way toward helping you complete your project without costly and time-consuming repairs.

“If you ask for a lot at most places, you’re asking for too much.”

Here at General Digital, customization is our specialty. Whether its optimizing your limited rack space with one of our monitor/keyboard/trackball units, or upgrading your panel mount units to full HD, we give you what you want affordably, promptly, and even at low quantity.

Watch our video to see a humorous take on what happens when you ask for too much at some places.

Published January 6, 2012

Completely submerged in a fully-decorated fish tank while showing fan favorites such as Finding Nemo and Spongebob SquarePants, as well as the requisite fish tank screen saver, the Barracuda is often hailed as the center of attention when displayed in our booth at trade shows. Owing to the cynicism of the times, many express doubt that the Barracuda is really submerged at all, thinking instead that the setup is some sort of elaborate trick. But this is no hoax; the Barracuda™ is engineered for the harshest environments.

Designed to meet IP67 and NEMA4X standards, the Barracuda holds up against the assaults of complete immersion in liquids as well as exposure to humidity, dust, blowing sand and the like. These qualifications make it ideal for use in military and mining applications.

In this brief video, we demonstrate the Barracuda’s ability to function while completely submerged. The fish tank, decorated as it would be at any of the trade shows at which we exhibit, is filled with water and the Barracuda is powered on and displaying simulated fish. For the purpose of the video, the Barracuda is left in the water for a short period. At the trade shows, the Barracuda remains submerged for up to eight or nine hours at a time.

Mentioned in the video, though not demonstrated, is the fact that the connectors on the monitor are also fully sealed regardless of connection. It is this attention to detail and functionality that you’ve come to expect from the innovators of flat panel technology.