Every Barracuda enclosure offers protection against contamination from blowing dust, falling dirt or debris, rain, sleet, snow, splashing fluids, hose-directed liquids, external formation of ice on the enclosure and submersion in water (up to 1 meter depth) for up to 30 minutes.
Thus, the Barracuda is ideally suited to dusty or wet conditions typically found in industrial, military or marine environments, such as food handling, outdoor kiosks, ships, docks or anywhere a monitor is exposed to changing weather conditions.
Enclosures
The all-metal enclosures are made from Iridite®-coated aluminum (conductive anodized) or stainless steel in panel mount, console mount and standalone/VESA mount configurations.
Gaskets
The LCD overlay is sealed to the front bezel of the enclosure to prevent liquids from entering through the display cutout. In addition, watertight gaskets/seals are provided between the two halves of the enclosure.
Additionally, General Digital offers many optional gaskets, such as:
- EMI/RFI gaskets, to reduce radiated and conducted emissions of the monitor.
- Desiccating gaskets, to prevent moisture/condensation from forming between the LCD and the overlay. These are especially useful for displays that are exposed to high humidity environments, such as those found in marine/maritime applications. Alternatively, the display and overlay can be optically bonded to remove the air gap between the two surfaces altogether.
Connections
Every monitor is equipped with standard industrial or military circular waterproof connectors that are fully sealed, regardless of the type of connection. Connections include video inputs, power, touch screen and programming ports, as well as customer-specified interfaces.
Power
By default, the Barracuda is configured to operate from +12 Vdc for low power (e.g., standard luminance) configurations, and +24 Vdc for high power (e.g., sunlight readable) configurations. In these cases a variety of external desktop power supply options can be purchased from General Digital (or supplied by customer).
Optionally, General Digital can integrate a DC-DC converter which will allow the monitor to operate from a wider range of DC input, such as from a vehicle battery or other power source. Typically, it is impractical to integrate an AC/DC power supply inside of the Barracuda since it is difficult to dissipate heat out of the enclosure.
Video and Controls
General Digital offers a wide range of video controllers, allowing you to fine tune the display features and support to your specific video requirements.
We can reprogram the video controller firmware/BIOS to support a variety of video timings and specialty needs, such as STANAG 3350 A, B and C, RS-343 and RS-170. Most of our video controllers will also support interlaced and non-interlaced analog video (separate, composite and Sync-On-Green), and live video signals such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM.
Other input signals we support include ARGB (VGA) to DVI, HDMI, HD-SDI, SD-SDI, DisplayPort, 4K UHD and more.
Please consult a Sales Engineer to optimize your video controller selection.
OSD Controls
The Barracuda monitor can be configured with a variety of standard or custom user controls, most often in the form of membrane or silicone keypads. Choices of LED and NVIS backlighting are available, as well as configuration with electronics that allow backlight dimming.
Much like your home TV, the On-Screen Display controls allow the user to adjust important display parameters, such as input signal, brightness, contrast, color temperature, sharpness, phase, scaling (aspect ratio), language and dozens of others.
Display Brightness and Night Vision Enhancements
General Digital can integrate virtually any LCD display size/resolution, from almost any panel manufacturer (OEM), into our enclosures. To assist in selecting the right panel for your application requirements, we have provided a list of commonly used or recommended panels for standard/low luminance, high brightness, sunlight readable and NVIS-compatible needs.
New display models are constantly being introduced to the market by the LCD manufacturers, making it extremely difficult for us to maintain a comprehensive list. For this reason, we encourage you to speak with a Sales Engineer to share your price and performance objectives, so we can assist you in making the best display selection.
Standard Displays
General Digital has provided a sample listing of some common transmissive displays that are not sunlight readable. Typically, these displays are suitable for applications that are not going to require specialty functionality, such as sunlight readability or NVIS compatibility, and for customers with cost-sensitive budgets.
LCD backlight produces sufficient luminance for use in office, shaded and low ambient/darkness light levels. However, luminance is insufficient to overcome reflected light for use in direct sunlight.
Transmissive Enhanced Displays
This type of technology boosts the efficiency of the backlight’s light utilization and minimizes surface reflection of ambient light. It is a transmissive LCD module that produces high contrast images, even in bright outdoor light and direct sunlight. These displays feature a wider color reproduction range than reflective LCDs. Featuring an LED backlight, these displays consume very little power and produce very little heat, making them ideal for integration into fully sealed enclosures, which are devoid of ventilation holes and cooling fans to dissipate heat. They also provide the additional benefit of a wide operating/storage temperature (as great as -30°–85° C), so that they can endure exposure to greater internal ambient temperatures.
As a design note, we have found that these panels work best when coupled with an overlay that has an antireflective (AR) coating. Overlays that inhibit transmissivity (e.g., resistive touch screen) or have antiglare (AG) coatings will significantly reduce the panel’s performance in high ambient lighting conditions. Since transmissive displays produce greater brightness from their LED backlights than traditional transflective displays, they are regarded as a better outdoor solution, as they can generate high contrast in total darkness, in direct sunlight or on a cloudy/hazy afternoon.
T-EVT technology uses the high brightness/efficiency LED backlight as a light source while minimizing the surface reflection of ambient light. The result is an LCD that produces high contrast images even in bright outdoor light or direct sunlight.
GenFlective™/Transflective Displays
This type of panel incorporates a highly reflective backlight that reflects the ambient lighting back out of the display to enhance its native brightness produced by its active backlight. Like the Transmissive-Enhanced View Displays, GenFlective™ panels work best when coupled with an AR-coated overlay. They are least effective with overlays that retard the light transmission (e.g., resistive touch sensors) or have a matte finish.
T-EVT technology uses the high brightness/efficiency LED backlight as a light source while minimizing the surface reflection of ambient light. The result is an LCD that produces high contrast images even in bright outdoor light or direct sunlight.
Sunlight Readable/NVIS Compatible Displays
These displays feature a value-add backlight, typically made from high efficiency LEDs. These displays produce significant active luminance. Often, the peak luminance is limited by internal ambient temperature constraints or must be connected to an intelligent backlight controller and thermal sensor that will automatically reduce brightness/power to avoid over-temperature conditions or thermal shutdown. The high luminance output makes them ideal for use with a wide variety of overlays such as touch sensitive, EMI filters, heaters, etc.
Sunlight readable displays use a General Digital-enhanced, highly efficient, super bright/sunlight readable LED backlight to provide maximum functional brightness. The addition of surface treatments such as antireflective coatings and optical bonding reduce surface reflections and increase contrast so displays can be used in direct sunlight.
If our stock offering does not suit your needs in terms of size, fit or function, please contact a Sales Engineer and we will work with you to configure a system to your specifications. Customers can also request that we integrate one of our many LED-based sunlight readable, NVIS or sunlight readable/NVIS enhanced displays into their product. These solutions provide many advantages, such as increased longevity, improved durability, higher brightness, lower power consumption and/or NVIS compatibility.
Since its release in 2008, General Digital’s Barracuda marine display was designed in-house to endure harsh conditions by meeting IP67 and NEMA 4/6 environmental sealing standards.
