ABSTRACT
The cathode ray tube (CRT) is unequaled in its ability to produce dynamic, quality, high-informationcontent imagery at high resolution. Even more impressive is that it achieves this for a lower cost per pixel than any other comparable electronic display technology. For the instrument designer requiring a highinformation-content display, it offers numerous advantages. As a raw image tube, it is commonly available as an off-the-shelf item with a broad infrastructure of vendors, integrators, support, and part suppliers. Interface standards are well established and as a complete system, ready to take a standard signal input, it is available worldwide in a variety of performance ranges. To meet different application requirements, it is available in diagonal sizes from 12 mm to over 1 m with resolution from thousands of pixels to over 5 million pixels per frame. Tube characteristics improve on a yearly basis, and prices continue to decrease. Stanford Resources has been tracking the CRT market for almost 20 years, and is an excellent source of information. In its latest report, it indicates that despite competition from other display technology, the CRT will remain the single largest market in the display industry. The worldwide market for CRT tubes in 1997 was 261 million units worth $26 billion U.S. This is expected to grow to 341 million units worth more than $34 billion by 2003 [1, 2]. Although there are many competing information display technologies, the CRT will be with us well into the 21st century.
