FTDI Chip recently announced the widespread availability of its originally crowdfunded CleO product (and accompanying accessories). FTDI Chip also offers access to software tools, step-by-step tutorials, and projects. CleO is a simple to program, intelligent TFT display solution that for building human machine interfaces (HMIs) with higher performance than typical Arduino display shields. The initial CleO includes an HVGA resolution, 3.5″ TFT display featuring a resistive touchscreen. An FTDI Chip FT810 high-resolution embedded video engine (EVE) graphic controller executes the HMI operation. An FTDI FT903 microcontroller handles all the additional processing tasks. The advanced display shield provides high-quality graphical animation, even at 60-fps frame rates. In addition, its antialiased graphics capabilities render images in finer detail.

When CleO is combined with FTDI Chip’s NerO—which is an energy-efficient Arduino design capable of operating up to 1 W—it offers a far more powerful solution than a normal Arduino UNO/display shield package.

CleO has an array of useful accessories:

• AT 57.15 mm × 54.35 mm, the CleO-RIO module provides a mechanism for stacking the CleO shield and an Arduino board together.
• The CleO-Speaker module (63 mm × 63 mm × 23.8 mm) facilitates the playback music/tones for HMIs where audio functionality has been incorporated. There is also an audio line for input of audio from external sources.
• The CleO-Camera module has an OV5640 0.25″ 5-megapixel CMOS image sensor plus flash LEDs and a 24-pin 0.5-mm pitch FFC cable.
• A 9-V power adaptor provides the NerO/CleO solution with up to 1 A of current.

The CleO costs $69. Refer to FTDI’s new forum, www.CleOstuff.com, for design tips, application ideas, and more.

Source: FTDI Chip