BARCO Introduces 18” Rugged Flat Panel Display
EURONAVAL, LE BOURGET, FRANCE, 26 October 1998 -- BARCO Display Systems introduces an 18’’ Rugged LCD Display at this year’s Euronaval Exhibition at Le Bourget. With the introduction of the (R)FD 246, BARCO now extends its rugged flat panel display range, to provide the defense industry with an intermediate display size solution of 18”. BARCO’s (R)FD 246 is designed to meet a variety of environmental specifications for airborne, shipboard, and land-based applications.
BARCO’s 18” FD 246 flat panel is a light-weight AM color LCD that is based on the proven rugged concept of the 20’’ FD 251 rugged flat panel displays. It is protected by a solid mechanical structure, while the integration of the LCD components and the display electronics make the unit “rugged by design”, and therefore ideally suited for utilization in harsh environments.BARCO’s MIL-tailored rugged version, the 18” RFD 246 - with improved ruggedization (bonded optical stack, LCD and backlight heating) - easily withstands harsh environmental conditions, such as temperature, shock, vibration and humidity. The Automatic Phase Adjust (APA) function automatically locks the LCD sampling clock to a (drifting) graphics generator pixel frequency, thus avoiding image artefacts like blinking of lines and pixels. The RFD 246 is direct 19” rack-mountable, has a shop-replaceable backlight tray and can be remotely controlled via a serial link.
BARCO’s LCD Flicker Compensation solution has also been successfully integrated into the (R)FD 246 flat panel display, by means of a unique set of electronic firmware algorithms, that reside in the hardware interface of the display (between the graphics generator and the LCD), and compensate for this annoying LCD flicker, without affecting the displayed data. This unique capability enables naval operators to view acoustic sonar grams without the constant change in luminance (flicker) that normally is characteristic of LCD’s in these types of applications.
Resolution of this new flat panel product is 1280 x 1024. The dot pitch is 0.28, which ensures an outstanding visual integration level. Moreover, special attention has been paid to low weight and power consumption, and commonality of spares with the (R)FD 251 has been taken into account. The (R)FD 246 supports different resolutions from VGA to SXGA through upscaling.
About BarcoView:
BarcoView with operation facilities in Kortrijk (Belgium), Toulouse (France), Atlanta, Georgia and Portland, Oregon (USA) designs and manufactures high-resolution display systems, displays, graphics controllers and display subsystems for highly demanding niche markets such as C4I, avionics, vessel and air traffic control, vehicle electronics, and medical imaging applications.
Alongside Barco Projection Systems and BarcoVision, BarcoView is one of the three strategic activities of the BARCO Group, which are all active in Image Processing. Barco Projection is in various markets of large screen visualization, whereas BarcoVision develops systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2000, the entire BARCO group delivered a turnover of euro 751 million. BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries throughout the world. BARCO has been quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
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