A D Metro is a leading supplier of touch screen solutions to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), systems integrators and value added resellers. Our touch screen solutions are designed to address the requirements of commercial, industrial and military applications.

3. Written by Robert Hoshowsky
“Even if we wanted to change the simplest little component on
the touch screen we make for them, they’d have to go through
a re-qualification process, and that holds everything up,” David
explains. “Once the design is set in stone, they start producing
high volumes, but nothing can change on it. So the key to our
success is delivering a reliable, quality product, with great service,
to ensure that this captive audience in both medical and defense
applications is not motivated to try and change developers.”
An industry veteran, David was active in technology long before
foundingADMetro30yearsago,andwasworkingforaJapanese
company distributing computer componentry. There was plenty
of competition in the market, and the company—which rebrand-
ed product and sold it under its logo—began to lose market
share. David’s assessment was that there was a market out there,
but for an expanded product line, if he could acquire more sup-
pliers. He soon found a partner in Montreal and launched ‘Prime
Peripheral,’ which focused on PC point-of-sale peripherals.
About three years later, David bought out his partner, moved
the head office to Ottawa, and changed the name to A D Metro.
“It stands for ‘Alpha Delta Metro,’ not ‘Albert David,’ he laughs.
“The reason for that was to get us to the top of lists in trade
shows and publications with a name that started with an ‘A.’”
The company’s early years focused on point-of-sale and PC
peripheral products like cash drawers, receipt printers and
displays—essentially everything that would be connected to
a PC to make it a point-of-sale system. The reason, he says, was
that Canada introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in
1991. “When GST came in, you had to be able to track input
credits and apply them against what you had to pay at the end
of the reporting period,” he explains.
T
ouch screen technology has come a very long way since A
D Metro was founded in 1993, with some of that advance-
ment thanks to innovations from this livewire company.
Today, it’s hard to imagine a time without this timesaving
technology, appearing on everything from smartphones and
self-serve kiosks in fast-food restaurants to handheld game
consoles, all-in-one computers, ATMs, and more. And then
there are the specialist applications, such as military and aero-
space, transportation, industrial, medical, and marine.
Providing touch screen solutions to leading original equip-
ment manufacturers (OEMs), system integrators, and value-
added resellers, A D Metro’s range of control panels, kiosks, and
mobile computing solutions continues to advance the tech-
nology and broaden the market, bringing the company repeat
business and a respected place in the field.
A D Metro’s touch screen technology is also found in products
delivered by Fortune 100 companies for applications in defense,
aerospace, industrial automation and medical equipment.
Much of A D Metro’s success comes from the company’s well-
earned reputation for service, quality, and stability, says Albert
David, President, CEO, and Chief Technical Officer. The company
creates the raw sensor technology which fits into monitors, ter-
minals, and other applications.
Once products are qualified, they cannot be changed unless
they’re re-qualified. One instance is a small medical patient
monitor, which the company has supplied to a client for
about eight years.
“Much of A D Metro’s success comes from
the company’s well-earned reputation
for service, quality, and stability.”

4. “Dedicated cash registers weren’t able to do that at the begin-
ning, so a lot of software vendors started developing software
to make intelligent point-of-sale systems. Once that became
successful, restaurant management systems began to flourish
and use some of the same basic peripherals, like touch screens.”
Thanks to touch screen technology, businesses like restau-
rants were able to track orders and receipts. Servers couldn’t
invite friends to have a ‘free’ meal, because nothing could
be ordered through the kitchen unless it went through the
point-of-sale system.
Along with deterring theft, point-of-sale systems unified orders
and sped up how quickly they could be inputted. Touch
screens became a natural evolution of point-of-sale and restau-
rant management systems, making ordering easier, incorporat-
ing barcode scanners, and being able to pick an item from a
menu on a screen without navigating via mouse and keyboard.
“Touch screens were a natural evolution,” says David, adding
that since these screens were also smaller than a keyboard and
mouse, they helped to save table space.
At the time A D Metro started, all touch screens were convex-
shaped bent touch screens, designed to sit in a cathode-ray
tube (CRT), back when all monitors were CRT. The challenge
was to find vendors who could ‘slump’ the glass to match
the curvature of a 14-inch CRT monitor, form the polyester

5. membrane with a conductive coating on it to fit the shape,
and put everything together to make a membrane-type
touch screen.
“You couldn’t just put an ad in the paper and hire an engineer
who had touch screen technology and knew how to do this,
and there were also trade secrets.” Using his engineering
knowledge, David cobbled a system together and found a
supplier who could make bent glass.
A D Metro then began making the first bent touch screens,
selling them under their own brand. As technology evolved,
the industry moved away from bent CRTs to flat-screen LEDs.
Around the same time, peripherals sold by the company, such
as receipt printers, cash drawers, pole displays, and barcode
scanners, went from branded status items to commodities.
As competitive pressure from Asia grew, David realized there
were servicing gaps relating to defence, military, medical,
and industrial requirements. While offshore producers were
putting out cheaper, consumer-type products, these were
not suitable.
“Higher-end applications—industrial, medical, and military—
can’t use and don’t want to use products like that,” he says.
“We started looking for technology that would differentiate our
offerings from cheap suppliers because there was a need, and
people started coming to us.”
This led to his finding a way to put very thin micro glass on
a resistive sensor, which resulted in the creation of the com-
pany’s flagship product, ULTRA. Described by David as “a game
changer for medical, military, and defence applications,” ULTRA
Resistive Touch Screens can go where capacitive and regular
resistive technology cannot.
Working the same way as resistive touch screen sensors,
ULTRA’s Glass-Film-Glass (GFG) construction features a boro-
silicate glass membrane (essentially tempered Pyrex), which
reduces fracturing, prolongs lifespan, and has an extended
operational temperature range.
Available in display sizes ranging from 3” to 24”, the ULTRA
5-Wire resistive armoured touch sensors are ideal for applica-
tions such as airports, railways, and rapid transit systems. “It’s
still being sold, and is our number one product, with many
patents on it,” says David.
“Described as ‘a game changer for
medical, military, and defence
applications,’ ULTRA Resistive Touch
Screens can go where capacitive and
regular resistive technology cannot.”

6. Unlike capacitive touch screen technologies, ULTRA’s resistive
touch technology does not emit any radiofrequency, so it is
ideal for the stealth requirements of defense applications. It
is able to operate in any weather, and the company’s demon-
stration video shows it taking a beating, still functioning after
being burnt, frozen, and having ice scraped off it. Also able to
operate underwater and in any environmental conditions, it is
well-suited for outdoor applications, such as car washes.
David recalls a large Canadian Oil and Gas customer using
ULTRA touch screen terminals outside car washes until recently,
when the company making kiosks was replaced by another
manufacturer and used touch screens from another maker.
The new business didn’t use ULTRA, but some sort of projected
capacity touch screen which was rife with problems, especially
touch screens turning dark and discolouring from sunlight.
Recently, A D Metro received a call that the kiosk manufacturer
wanted them back supplying ULTRA touch screen solutions.
“That’s a good example of where we can go, and where other
technologies cannot go.”
ULTRA is also used in many medical applications. Durable and
salt-free borosilicate glass is resistant to many chemicals, which
allows the screens to be sanitized.
Along with ULTRA, A D Metro has developed other leading
technologies. These include LCIR (Linear Correlating Infrared)
touch screens used in avionics, particularly in helicopters where
the technology solves a problem specific to these aircraft.

7. The combination of a helicopter’s fast-rotating blades and
sunlight can create a strobe effect that interferes with light-
registering instruments. A D Metro came up with a unique
technology that works in an environment where competitors’
products will not, since they can’t function with sunlight hitting
the optics. As a frame-based technology working with infrared
light beams, LCIR can tolerate direct sunlight.
With LCIR, there is no substrate glass covering the display, so
nothing impedes the optics. This makes it ideal for radar,
mapping applications, high-contrast applications, and avionics.
While some manufacturers claim that their products can work
with sunlight, it is only possible with a deep top to shield the
optics, shading them from direct sunlight.
“That’s kind of inelegant, whereas we have a very compact
design,” says David. “Our frame is one-eighth of an inch high
and a quarter of an inch thick, whereas the competition might
be three-quarters of an inch thick. The very tight restrictions in
avionics control panels make them impractical to install where
space is extremely limited and displays crush up against each
other,” he explains. “That’s where we’ve got the edge. You don’t
need that type of top cover to keep the sunlight out.”
Thanks to A D Metro, these screens are also impervious to dirt
and debris. Since optics are in front, they’re easy to clean, and
will actually instruct the user to wipe the screen.
The company is also behind the ARGON PCAP. A projected
capacitive controller, it senses and adapts to the connected
(off-the-shelf) PCAP sensor size, format, and cover glass.
Projected capacitive controllers need to be programmed
to the actual sensors they’re working with because they
have a sequence of horizontal and vertical channels.
These channels—and there can be 100 of them—are
hard-wired to the computer. Plug in the ARGON controller
and it will sense channels and parameters to ensure optimal
touch performance. It is so sensitive it can be operated
wearing latex gloves.
“We can do a lot of things with the ARGON product that we
developed to make plug-and-play usage out of projected
capacitive that you can’t do with just a standard projected
capacitive controller,” explains David. There’s no need to work
with suppliers on programming changes and operation, unlike
with other products on the market.
The company has several prominent suppliers of Projected
Capacitive (PCAC) chips expressing interest in ARGON. “We’re
working with a few of them right now to see if we can make
an industry standard of that to make it much easier to use
projected capacitive technology without the high level of
support that’s required.”
Although there are no particular plans to mark the company’s
30th
anniversary, Albert David is upbeat about A D Metro’s future.
“If we are here today, we won’t be gone tomorrow; we were
here in 1993, and we’re still here in 2023. We’re not a fly-by-
night operation, and we have a solid, in-demand product line.
We’re servicing a niche market that a lot of higher volume sup-
pliers don’t seem interested in.”
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December 2023 - January 2024