How IFP Interactive Flat Panel boards works

Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs), also known as “smart boards,” take two already effective tools and combine them to make a uniquely useful device that can enhance your teaching or presentation. While physical whiteboards have strengths and weaknesses, and while digital access has its own unique possibilities for content presentation, an interactive flat panel strikes a great balance between these two options.

An interactive flat panel or “smart board” uses infrared or capacitive touch sensors while adding a screen and connection to the digital environment to provide unique and useful options for teaching and presenting.

It’s worth understanding a bit more about the narrative surrounding the software and the various capabilities of the Smart Board and how they work in order to make the right decision when considering an IFP. Let’s cover the technology behind interactive flat panels before we dive into the unique benefits they offer.

How do IFPs work?

To understand how an interactive flat panel works, you need to understand how the board physically works. After this, you might want to check out another one of our articles on how to use a Smart Board as a TV, but for now let’s dive into the basics.

How IFPs detect touch

There are two ways to identify a smart board input. Most interactive flat panels use an input detection method called infrared touch. It consists of small infrared lights and cameras built into the frame. If you can picture a rectangular IFP surface in your mind, imagine emitting a layer of lights on the surface of the screen.

These invisible light planes are invisible to us, but cameras built into the frame can see them. Cameras, usually placed at the four corners of the board, see a plane of infrared light. They detect when that layer of light is broken by a stylus or finger. That way, the board can also detect when and where it has been touched.

This infrared tech built into the frame is the most common way to detect IFP touch, but there are some boards that use a technology called capacitive touch. It’s the same technology your smartphone uses to sense touch. It works by using an electrical current to sense when the screen is touched. Capacitive touchscreens are typically too expensive to manufacture in IFP sizes, which is why infrared technology is so common. Capacitive touch is sometimes favored because it can produce a cleaner look than an infrared system and requires less physical hardware, but infrared technology has come a long way at a much lower cost. A good example of this advancement is the Recordex Generation 4 Simplicity Touch, which has the thinnest infrared sensor frame on the market.

Advantages of interactive flat panels

Now that you understand how interactive flat panels work, you might ask, what are the main benefits of an IFP device? How does the Smart Board’s unique design allow you to outperform a “normal” computer setup?

First, an interactive flat panel is optimized for presenting and teaching, allowing full room viewing of the large size main feature screen. While this functionality can also be achieved with a projector, the Smart Board adds to this large-screen format by allowing easy and fluid touch input. Allows the user to write and present information in a more intuitive and personal way.

Projectors typically require calibration, maintenance such as bulb-changeouts, and other moving-part hardware failure over time (such as fans and lens focusing gears). Not to mention routine cleaning. Compared to this, using IFP is really seamless. Some models have no-touch calibration and are ready to go right out of the box. A quick wipe-down to remove dust every time is all you need for maintenance!

In the past, a smart board paired with the right programs allows for a communication experience that combines the best of digital and physical large screen options. Software like Recordex’s XPress annotation program takes all the guesswork out of using an interactive flat panel, with easy-to-use controls customized to classroom needs. In fact, XPress Recordex’s Simplicity Touch is coupled with IFPs, as it is the most important tool for getting the most out of the board.

That’s why, at Recordex, we’ve taken the time to optimize both the hardware and software of our interactive flat panels. With a unit like the Simplicity Touch IFP paired with XPress annotation, all the guesswork is taken out of using and maintaining an interactive flat panel.