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What is this technology?
The IntelliTouch surface wave is the optical standard of touch. Its pure glass construction provides superior optical performance and makes it the most scratch-resistant technology available. It's nearly impossible to physically "wear out" this touchscreen. IntelliTouch is widely used in kiosk, and office automation applications and is available for both flat panel and CRT solutions.

Both IntelliTouch and SecureTouch are surface-wave touch technologies. Both have a glass overlay with transmitting and receiving piezoelectric transducers for both the X and Y axes. The touchscreen controller sends a five-megahertz electrical signal to the transmitting transducer, which converts the signal into ultrasonic waves within the glass. These waves are directed across the front surface of the touchscreen by an array of reflectors. Reflectors on the opposite side gather and direct the waves to the receiving transducer, which reconverts them into an electrical signal—a digital map of the touchscreen surface.

When you touch the screen, you absorb a portion of the wave traveling across it. The received signal is then compared to the stored digital map, the change recognized, and a coordinate calculated. This process happens independently for both the X and Y axes. By measuring the amount of the signal that is absorbed, a Z-axis is also determined. The digitized coordinates are transmitted to the computer for processing.

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