EVE Integration with Modbus Products

5 Sep 2026 –

Bridgetek, the company behind the Embedded Video Engine (EVE) family of graphics controllers, has released a short demonstration video EVE Integration with Modbus 4in1 Sensor showcasing its EVE-powered intelligent display platform being used with an industrial Modbus RTU sensor. The video describes the hardware architecture and shows the resulting system running live, translating raw environmental data into a polished, real-time dashboard.

The dynamic and stylish HMI is created using the extensive graphics, touch and audio features of the Bridgetek EVE family. It is based on the Bridgetek Data Visualiser demo.

The Core Idea: Bridging Industrial Protocols and Rich Graphics

At the heart of the demonstration is a simple but powerful proposition: industrial and building-automation environments are full of sensors that speak Modbus RTU, a serial communication protocol. Introduced decades ago, and still as popular as ever today, Modbus RTU is prized for its reliability and simplicity. However, Modbus data, a series of numerical values, has no inherent visual representation.

Bridgetek provides a solution by pairing the Modbus-based sensor with an EVE graphics controller. An MCU communicates with one or more sensor(s) over Modbus, reading the values, and sending a set of simple commands to the attached EVE-based display over SPI to create comprehensive charts and gauges. Thanks to its powerful graphics capabilities, EVE takes the heavy lifting of turning these simple commands into an eye-catching, clean, touch-enabled interface. Cost-effective MCUs with limited resources can drive dynamic interfaces on high resolution displays, such as the Bridgetek DP-1561-01A and DP-1561-02A  15.6” (1920×1080 pixels) displays. The VM820B15A module contains the display and BT820 EVE device (using the onboard MN820 mini module).

This matters for engineers designing HVAC panels, environmental monitors, smart building dashboards, factory-floor status screens, and many other similar applications. In these applications, a device often needs to both talk to industrial sensors and present that information attractively to a human operator — without requiring a full embedded Linux system or other similar architectures.

The Hardware Chain

As shown in the video, the key components in the signal path from sensor to screen are:

• Modbus 4in1 Sensor — A compact ceiling/wall-mount sensor that measures four environmental parameters: temperature, humidity, ambient light, and motion. It communicates over Modbus RTU and is powered from a 5V supply, with power and data interfacing via a 4-pin JST connector.
• RS485-JST Adapter — Provides a convenient way of interfacing the sensor to the main Modbus RTU network. On the Modbus side, the RS485 differential pair, ground and 24V power connect to the terminal block on the adapter.  A 30cm cable interfaces to the JST connector on the sensor itself including the RS485 differential pair, ground and 5V supply (derived from the 24V-to-5V regulator inside the adapter).
• UART-to-RS485 Modbus RTU Line Driver — Sits between the microcontroller (MCU) on the MM2040EV and the RS485 Modbus cable. It translates the UART serial signals (TxD, RxD and Drive Enable) from the MCU into the differential RS485 Modbus signalling the sensor expects, and vice versa.
• MM2040EV — Bridgetek development module, built around an RP2040 microcontroller. This MCU board talks via Modbus RTU (using the UART) to poll the sensor, and it communicates with the EVE display module over SPI.
• EVE VM820B15A — The intelligent display module itself, powered by the BT820 EVE graphics engine, provides an easy way to add comprehensive high-resolution HMIs to MCUs such as the RP2040 with colour graphics, touch and audio.

 

The demonstration system consists of the following: EVE VM820B15A display <- SPI -> MM2040EV MCU <- UART ->   UART-to-RS485 line driver <- Modbus RTU -> RS485-JST Adapter <- Modbus RTU -> Modbus 4in1 Sensor

This architecture is notable because, due to the use of the BT820 EVE, a single low-cost microcontroller module (the MM2040EV) is acting as a Modbus RTU master to poll the sensor and simultaneously driving a full graphical dashboard with touch control, without needing multiple application processors or a more expensive SoC (System on Chip).

What the Finished Dashboard Looks Like

The second half of the video shows the assembled system mounted on a wall next to the physical Modbus sensor, with the display running. The dashboard design includes:

• A live line chart for Sensor Readings, plotting temperature, humidity, and luminance trends, with each parameter rendered in its own colour for quick visual differentiation.
• Large numeric readouts for temperature (°C), humidity (%), and lux, updating in real time as the underlying Modbus values change. The temperature can be seen moving between roughly 37–39°C and the luminance fluctuating between roughly 12,000 and 20,900 lux-scale units.
• Circular gauge widgets for temperature, humidity, and luminance, giving an at-a-glance analogue-style reading alongside the digital chart.
• Bar-style indicators offering a secondary, compact visualization of the same three metrics.
• Pop-up Dialog indicates when the Modbus sensor reports motion, alerting the user. The BT820’s audio engine can also generate an alarm tone from a wide selection of built-in sounds with just a couple of register writes.
• A settings panel on the right side of the screen provides a toggle switch to select between the Mode menu and the LCD settings menu. In the LCD setting menu, an arc slider controlled by touch allows the display backlight brightness to be set via the BT820’s backlight PWM output.

The user interface presents a modern dashboard theme with purple and blue accents, gauge-style widgets, and clearly labelled axes. This kind of polished industrial HMI (human-machine interface) would typically require significant resources on a host MCU but here it is being driven directly by the EVE graphics controller. Furthermore, it creates the HMI entirely using EVEs object-oriented commands and built-in fonts and widgets, requiring no external assets such as images and fonts.

The application is also easily scalable across different EVE models allowing dashboards of different sizes to be created. Examples include 3.5” (320×240) and below, through to 10.1” (1920×1200) and all the way up to 15.6” (e.g. 1920×1080) and more.

Why This Combination Makes Sense

The demonstration illustrates a broader trend in embedded design: separating the communication/data processing from the HMI and data presentation, while keeping the total bill of materials low. Modbus RTU remains the de facto standard for countless industrial sensors, meters, and actuator devices, meaning a huge installed base of hardware can only be accessed via RS485 serial. At the same time, end users increasingly expect touchscreens and rich visuals instead of seven-segment LEDs or text-only LCDs.

By using EVE’s coprocessor-driven graphics engine, the RP2040 MCU can offload most rendering work to the BT820 in the VM820B15A module, leaving the MCU free to manage Modbus polling, timing, and any additional logic, while EVE handles chart plotting, gauge animation, and touch input. Partitioning the system this way simplifies code development and allows a relatively modest and inexpensive module to run the industrial communications stack and a smooth, animated dashboard simultaneously.

Conclusion

For engineers evaluating EVE for a building-automation, environmental-monitoring, or industrial-HMI projects and many other applications, this demonstration offers a  working example of bridging the popular Modbus RTU sensors and devices to a modern touch-enabled dashboard on the VM820B15A platform. The HMI design can be fully customised by the designer to suit the application, with colour themes and styles to reflect the brand strongly, and custom widgets for an intuitive user experience and effective monitoring of the sensor data.

To find out more, visit www.brtchip.com or contact marketing@brtchip.com

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