Building an Industrial HMI with PX30 and a Custom 7-Inch TFT Display
Introduction
In industrial and embedded systems, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are the cornerstone of interaction. Whether used in factory automation, kiosks, or smart appliances, a reliable HMI must combine performance, connectivity, and a readable display.
In this post, I’ll walk through how we designed an Android-based HMI using the Rockchip PX30 SoC and a custom 7-inch TFT LCD panel, covering display hardware, driver configuration, and BOM.
Why Choose PX30 for HMI?
The Rockchip PX30 is a quad-core Cortex-A35 processor ideal for embedded applications. It supports Android/Linux platforms, includes native MIPI-DSI and LVDS interfaces, and provides enough computing power for UI rendering, touch response, and edge connectivity—all with low power consumption.
Display Selection: High Brightness + Customization
For outdoor or high-light environments, a standard 250-nit panel is insufficient. We selected the RK070CU01, a 1024x600 7" TFT LCD with 800 nits brightness and LVDS interface. To ensure seamless system integration, we customized the TFT display's FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) to fit our connector and routing constraints.
Learn more: Rocktech Custom TFT Display Solutions
Display Driver Configuration
We used Buildroot to prepare a minimal Android OS and configured the PX30 device tree for LVDS output. The panel timings, GPIO enable pin, and touch controller (GT911) were integrated through DTS and kernel drivers.
Example configurations and device tree files:
GitHub: Rocktech TFT Display Configs
BOM Overview
Here is a summary of the key components used in the prototype:
- PX30 SoC
- RK070CU01 TFT Panel (800 nits, LVDS interface)
- GT911 Touch Controller (I2C)
- DDR4 2Gb RAM
- eMMC 8GB
- AXP209 PMIC
- Wi-Fi USB Dongle (RTL8723BS)
- TPS51200 for DDR Termination
We also shared a complete BOM in CSV format for reference.
Conclusion
Using PX30 with a high-brightness custom TFT panel enables a robust and scalable HMI design suitable for industrial-grade applications. With support for Android OS and flexible display configuration, this platform can be adapted for a variety of smart control and display use cases.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave questions or feedback in the comments.