What’s a SIM?

SIMs are intelligent Human Machine Interface (HMI) platforms embeddable in Original Equipment Manufacturers’ (OEMs’) products. The modules are capable of delivering modern, responsive, and elegant user experiences. Think of them like an out-of-the-box HMI peripheral to your system.

The latest “Generation 5” SIMs, including the cost-effective SIMx52 and high-performance SIMx62 series, have numerous family members spanning 3.5″ to 10.1″ LCDs. More than just a non-intelligent LCD, these SIMs integrate the LCD with a high-performance Renesas RZ-family MPU, graphical controller, LCD interface technology, touch sensing, and all the storage and processing necessary to deliver a rich user experience.  The off-the-shelf Serious Human Interface™ Platform (SHIP) firmware engine, SHIPEngine, is preloaded to execute user interfaces developed in the SHIPTide GUI development tool.

SIMs can be used stand-alone in a system, connected either directly inside the system chassis to an OEM control subsystem or remotely (for example) over USB, UART or RS422/485.  While primarily designed to deliver the Human Machine Interface (HMI), a SIM is capable of some measure of system control through its powerful built-in scripting language and operating environment. Two protocols are native in the modules: Modbus (Master/Slave, ASCII/RTU) and the more powerful SHIPBridge protocol for bidirectional data movement and firmware management.