RFID News

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, SMARTRAC SETTLE PATENT LITIGATION BY ROUND ROCK

The two RFID hardware vendors have entered into a licensing agreement with the patent holder, allowing them to sell products using Round Rock's patents, effectively releasing the vendors' customers from Round Rock lawsuits.

Nov 04, 2013—

Motorola Solutions and Smartrac have signed settlements with patent-licensing company Round Rock Research, thereby ending a lawsuit between Motorola and Round Rock, as well as halting Round Rock's suits against multiple companies that employ Motorola's RFID readers and Smartrac's tags. Motorola Solutions and Smartrac now have a license for Round Rock's patents, though the companies have declined to disclose the terms of the agreement.

Round Rock Research is a patent-licensing firm with several thousand patents and pending applications. The company does not manufacture, sell or market any products or services. Instead, it operates as a non-practicing entity (NPE), or what is sometimes referred to as a "patent-assertion entity" (PAE) or "patent troll," earning revenue solely by licensing and enforcing its patents. On Dec. 14, 2011, the Mount Kisco, N.Y., firm filed lawsuits against nine companies using products provided by Motorola, Smartrac and other RFID vendors, charging that the solutions infringed on five of Round Rock's radio frequency identification patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Those companies consisted of American Apparel, Dole Food and Fruit of the Loom, Gap, HanesBrands, JC Penney, Macy's Retail Holdings, PepsiCo and V.F. Corp (see RFID Lawsuit Not a Major Issue for RFID and Courting Confusion). A week later, Round Rock filed a similar lawsuit against Amazon.com, claiming the online merchant infringed on nine Round Rock U.S. RFID patents. In March, 2012, the company added Wal-mart Stores Inc. to the list of defendants, claiming the retailer violated 10 of Round Rock's U.S. RFID patents. In all 10 lawsuits, Round Rock asked that it be awarded damages adequate to compensate for the alleged infringement, that such damages be determined by a jury and be trebled, with interest, and that it also be reimbursed for its legal expenses.

Round Rock acquired patents related to the use of ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags and readers from semiconductor company Micron Technology.

In response to being sued by Round Rock, some of those firms then demanded defense and indemnification against Round Rock's claims of patent infringement from Motorola Solutions, under the indemnification clauses in their contracts with Motorola. In March 2012, Motorola filed a countersuit against Round Rock, challenging its claims. This ongoing litigation created some uncertainty—not only for the end users named in the lawsuits, but also for others who were potential customers and were concerned about becoming pulled into the patent dispute.

With the settlement announced today, Motorola reports, all pending litigation between it and Round Rock has now been terminated. Meanwhile, end users are being instructed to contact Motorola or Smartrac to begin the process of having the Round Rock patent lawsuit dismissed.

CHECKPOINT SYSTEMS ADDS RFID TO EAS SOLUTION

Spanish retailers are testing Alpha Keepers—lockable plastic containers for securing high-end beauty-care and other products—fitted with RFID transponders, to enable stores to better manage inventory while reducing shrinkage.

Oct 30, 2013—

Checkpoint Systems, a leading provider of merchandise-availability solutions for the retail industry—encompassing loss prevention and merchandise visibility—is currently working with several unnamed retailers in Spain to test a device known as an Alpha Keeper that contains an embedded radio frequency identification transponder. The goal, Checkpoint explains, is to help retailers better manage inventory while reducing the amount of shrinkage.

Checkpoint's Alpha division offers a variety of Keepers—clear, lockable plastic boxes for displaying products in stores—which allow expensive items, such as high-end perfumes or razors, to be placed on shelves so customers can view them. But because the product is difficult to remove from the case, the Alpha Keeper also acts as a theft deterrent. In addition, each Keeper is fitted with a Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag (either acousto-magnetic or RF), so if someone attempts to move a boxed product past theEAS readers located at the store's entrance, this action will trigger an alarm.

A store associate uses a handheld reader to conduct inventory counts of perfume displayed in RFID-tagged Alpha Keeper plastic boxes.

For the RFID-enabled version of the Keeper, Alpha embeds a passive EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tag in the plastic case, in addition to an acousto-magnetic or RF EAS tag. Using Keepers with RFID offers retailers a variety of additional benefits, Checkpoint reports. Stores can receive goods into inventory more quickly, since tags can be read automatically by a portal reader, or quickly by staff members using a handheld interrogator. In addition, store associates can use a handheld device to perform cycle counts and quickly locate misplaced items, or goods whose expiry date has passed. - See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?11134#sthash.6zA6ahdU.dpuf

JUNKYARD SEE VALUE IN RFID

The company is using TrazeTag's rubberized tags to track the whereabouts and processing of salvaged cars, and to trigger a video record.

Oct 29, 2013—

A U.S.-based salvage yard is attaching Etiflex's rugged radio frequency identification tags to damaged cars, and is using RFID readers mounted on forklift trucks to track the parts that its workers remove, as well as the vehicles' locations within the yard.

The tags, made via TrazeTag's patented process of encasing RFID inlays in a tough but flexible rubber casing, was designed for the types of rugged environments in which the majority of RFID tags can be the most challenged. One of the company's latest deployments is an example of that kind of rugged environment: a junkyard to which damaged cars are sent to be destroyed, stripped for parts or occasionally sold. For the past eight months, a U.S.-based salvage yard, which has asked to remain unnamed, has been attaching a TrazeTag Long Reading-Range tag to each car's dashboard via adhesive as the vehicles arrive at the yard. The tags, made with an ImpinjMonza 4 chip, are interrogated by RFID readers mounted on forklifts, and that action triggers a video camera—also mounted on the vehicle—to record what is occurring. The video data, stored on a cloud-based server, enables the company to know which steps the vehicle has undergone, as well as where it is located.

The salvage yard attaches a TrazeTag Long Reading-Range tag to each vehicle's dashboard.

The TrazeTag is designed for durability, according to Leandro Margulis, TrazeTag's founder. Molded in rubber, the tag can sustain heavy impacts, Margulis reports (see TrazeTag Designs Rubberized RFID Labels for Abusive Environments). Therefore, he says, the clients that are using or plan to use TrazeTag's products are typically in the yard-management, oil and gas, or government and defense sectors. The tags can come with inlays from a variety of high-frequency (HF) and ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) vendors using NXP Semiconductors or Monza 4 chips for UHF, with a read range of up to 36 feet.

The junkyard poses a challenging environment, as the tags are surrounded by metal, and are exposed to extreme temperatures and water. The tag is designed with its rubber encasing to improve readability in the presence of metal (which can interfere with RF transmissions), as well as to protect the chip and antenna from water or other environmental damage. The end user's goal was to make it possible to better track each vehicle from the time it entered the yard until it was destroyed or sold. Most cars remain in the yard in storage before undergoing a scrapping process (if parts are removed to be sold) and ultimately ending up at the crusher, where they are then compacted and recycled. Junkyards typically track which vehicle has arrived and the processes it has been through manually, by writing down vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and recording where the cars are transported and when, via pen and paper.

Keeping track of the vehicles within a large yard is no easy task, since they are often piled on top of each other and are thus often not readily recognizable. What's more, the yards can be quite large.

RFID NEWS ROUNDUP

Tageos EOS-400 apparel RFID label certified by the University Of Arkansas; more schools select Ekahau's location-aware panic-button solution; RFID Inc. unveils its portfolio of UHF tags; Capital Networks adds NFC functionality to digital signage solution; University of Trento researchers measure impact of weather, trees, day and night on sensor transmissions.

By Beth Bacheldor

Oct 24, 2013—

The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations: Tageos; Ekahau; RFID Inc.; Capital Networks; and University of Trento.

Tageos Apparel RFID Label Certified By the University Of Arkansas

Tageos' EOS-400 tag

Tageos has announced that its EOS-400 tag—a paper-based, inlayless passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID label for use in apparel—has been tested and certified by the University of Arkansas' Arkansas Radio Compliance (ARC) center. ARC's purpose is to ensure that retailer suppliers deliver RFID-tagged products that meet the performance requirements necessary to benefit both retailers and their suppliers, consistently and cost-effectively.RFID tags are tested on the ARC benchmark testing setup and performance data is stored, which retailers can use to create lists of approved tags for their RFID use cases. Those lists are then made available to the suppliers. According to Tageos, the EOS-400 has been tested and certified for categories A (denim), B (polybagged apparel), C (items packed together in boxes, such as DVDs) and D (hanging apparel), and their use cases. The EOS-400tag measures 70 millimeters by 17 millimeters (2.8 inches by 0.7 inch), and is now available with an NXP Semiconductors Ucode 7 chip embedded in it (when the EOS-400 was first unveiled, it featured either Higgs-3 or Higgs-4 chips from Alien Technology; see RFID News Roundup: Tageos Expands Its Product Range With RFID Hangtags). The European EPC Competence Center (EECC) has also certified the EOS-400 tag for use in apparel applications.

More Schools Select Ekahau's Location-Aware Panic-Button Solution
Three additional schools across the United States have selected Ekahau's RFID-over-Wi-Fi real-time location system (RTLS) designed to support school-safety and emergency-response procedures and practices, according to Ekahau. The three schools are the Metropolitan School District of Bluffton-Harrison, in Bluffton, Ind., the Crown Point Community School Corp., in Crown Point, Ind., and the Albany Unified School District, in Albany, Calif. Earlier this year, Ekahau had announced the three other schools using its RTLS solution: Skyview High School, in Nampa, Idaho (see Idaho School Installs RTLS to Make Students Safer), Grandview Middle School, in Grandview, Wash., (see RFID News Roundup: Michigan School to Track Emergencies) and Patrick Henry High School, in Glade Spring, Va. (see RFID News Roundup: Virginia High School Installs Ekahau's RFID Solution to Bolster Emergency Responses). The RTLS solution consists of Ekahau's Wi-Fi-based RFID tags, infrared (IR) beacons to make location data more granular and Ekahau's Vision software. A teacher wears an Ekahau safety badge with the RFID tag embedded in it and, in the event of a medical, disciplinary or other emergency, pulls down on the badge's safety switch in order to alert co-workers and police dispatchers of the situation. If an alert is issued, the software captures and interprets the emergency's location, as well as other information. Within seconds, the software transmits a message directly to the appropriate badges inside the facility, thereby informing other personnel of the emergency's nature and where it is occurring. Since the location-tracking functionality is built in, Ekahau reports, this helps police minimize emergency-response times by avoiding the need for map lookups and phone calls. The Ekahau Vision software also allows school officials to send mass notifications to teachers' badges, displayed as text messages on each badge's light-emitting diode (LED). In addition, the software automatically time-stamps and records all emergency events and resolutions for review by school boards and police departments.

RFID Inc. Unveils Its First Portfolio of UHF Tags
RFID Inc., an RFID hardware provider based in Aurora, Colo., has announced a new line of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags. This is the first time the company has offered passive UHF tags, according to James Heurich, RFID Inc's president, and the culmination of two years of development and testing. All of the new UHF tags are compliant with the EPC Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6C standards. The FR4 pallet tag family consists of seven models, all of which have an IP 68 rating (signifying them as dustproof and waterproof) and feature peel-and-stick mounting and four feature-mounting holes. The ABS pallet tags, with 11 models, have various mountings, and either an IP 67 or IP 68 rating, depending on the tag. RFID Inc.'s UHF lineup also includes high-temperature tags, ceramic tags, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cards and hangtags, a tag on an alligator clip, a plant tag (designed to be inserted into the soil), screw and bolt tags, vehicle tags that can be affixed to windshields and headlights, stickers, inlays, key-fobs, wristbands, laundry tags and metal-mount labels. Next month, Heurich says, RFID Inc. plans to roll out a suite of UHF reader and antenna products, including readers that he says will make it easy to program large quantities of RFID tags simultaneously. The current rules and guidelines for programming Electronic Product Code (EPC) tags are very cumbersome and detailed for the average user whose application need not comply with the EPC standards, according to Heurich. If a trucking company wants to program 1,000 tags, numbered from one to 1,000, a simple command of [W0001] programs the first tag, and RFID Inc.'s reader firmware handles all of the behind-the-scenes work, he explains. Likewise, if a user wishes to encode an automobile's vehicle identification number (VIN) onto a tag, all that is required is to key-stroke the VIN into RFID Inc.'s write command. Commands and reader settings can be entered into the interrogator via a software program that RFID Inc. offers free of charge, or any terminal program, such as HyperTerminal. All commands and replies are visible via standard human-readable ASCII characters. RFID Inc. also offers low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) passive RFID tags, as well as LF and HF readers (see RFID News Roundup: RFID Inc. Intros Smart Multi-Function HF Reader) and active 433 MHz active tags.

RFID HELPS SWISS HOTEL PROVIDE FIVE-STAR SERVICE

The solution can tell bartenders the name and specific preferences of a patron approaching the bar, so that they can provide personalized greetings and assistance.

Oct 23, 2013—

When travelers check into a hotel, they might feel more at home if employees at that establishment recognized them by name and treated them as friends. One luxury hotel in the Lake Geneva area of Switzerland is doing just, with help from RFID-based technology. The five-star hotel has installed an RFID system known as TouchPoint, provided by Swiss startup OneLab Solutions, to identify guests as they approach the bar.

Although the hotel has asked to remain unnamed, its director says: "As a five-star hotel, we strive to provide excellent personalized service, but it is difficult to recognize every guest. TouchPoint helps us achieve this, and lets all of our guests feel like a VIP. We are looking forward to extending the system throughout the hotel in order to improve the overall guest experience."

Inside the TouchPoint key fob is an active 433 MHz RFID tag made by Adveez.

The system consists of active 433 MHz RFID tags built into key fobs carried by guests, as well as readers that awaken and receive those tags' transmitted ID numbers, and then forward those IDs back to a gateway, which communicates with a cloud-based server. A tablet computer mounted behind the bar can then display information about the customers carrying the fobs. OneLab charges clients a monthly fee for the software service and use of the hardware.

OneLab was launched in 2012 by four individuals with backgrounds in RFID technology, with the mission of offering security solutions that identify when individuals or objects enter specific areas, according to Skye Legon, one of the cofounders. However, the TouchPoint solution was conceived when the cofounders began considering what their technology could offer the hospitality industry. The initial concept, he says, began with the idea of installing a reader at an elevator to identify a guest and his or her room number. OneLab software would then use that data to direct the elevator to automatically proceed to the individual's specific floor.

BRAZILIAN SUPERMARKET OPERATOR IMPROVES LOGISTICS, INVENTORY ACCURACY

Grupo Pão-de-Açúcar's investment in RFID has eliminated accounting discrepancies and boosted efficiency related to the distribution of fish for its Pão-de-Açúcar and Extra stores.

Oct 21, 2013—

Grupo Pão-de-Açúcar (GPA) has found an RFID solution to a problem that previously affected both logistics and accounting for its Pão-de-Açúcar and Extra supermarket chains. The distribution of fish, as well as other products in its cold chain, presents significant challenges for the retailer. After all, fish do not have identical weights, and businesses work with average values per unit, resulting in differences between what theoretically was delivered to a store, what was really sold and the expected revenue generated by marketing.

Paulo Leonidas, GPA's director of supply, says that prior to adopting RFID, his company had to calculate the fish's average value since it was impossible to know each unit's exact weight at the time of distributing tons of goods to supermarkets. "So, the store received 30 kilograms of a product, on average—but, in fact, it could be 32 kilos, which had just generated an additional sale of 2 kilos," Leonidas explains.

The executive says weight differences resulted in significant accounting discrepancies—a problem that was eliminated with the use of RFID. The impact of this difference may seem to be merely 2 kilos at a single store, but across a network composed of hundreds of supermarkets, this variation amounts to a hundreds of kilograms valued at hundreds or thousands of Brazilian reals in revenue.

With the RFID system, the average weight was replaced by the actual weight. "RFID carries the RG of each of the boxes of products delivered to stores," Leonidas states. "If you have 32 kilos of fish, you have exactly 32 kilos, which eliminated the problem in the accounting books and also regarding the replacement of products."

Prior to GPA's adoption of RFID, Leonidas says, if the system indicated that the store had received 40 kilos of a product, based on the average unit weight, only 35 kilos might actually be available. "In such a situation," he notes, "the consumer himself would be without your product, because the store manager would only realize that the stock would be at a critical level when the quantity of product was about to end, or when it was exhausted."

Thanks to RFID, Leonidas reports, the risk of shortages of a certain type of fish at stores has been eliminated. The distribution efficiency—beyond the actual control of the revenue provided by these products—is encouraging the company to expand its use of radio frequency identification. "The idea is to expand the technology to meat and produce," he says, "which also suffer from challenges quite similar to the distribution of fish."

CRIBMASTER ADDS RTLS FUNCTIONALITY TO ITS TOOL-TRACKING SOLUTIONS

The Live Tracking module enables users of CribMaster's storage cabinets also to identify the real-time location of assets and personnel, via AeroScout's Wi-Fi tags and software.

Oct 18, 2013—

CribMaster, a division of Stanley Black and Decker, is selling a new solution known as Live Tracking that combines CribMaster's existing passive RFID tracking technology for the industrial market with Wi-Fi-based active RFID tags and real-time location system (RTLS) software from Stanley Black and Decker's AeroScout division. With the solution in place, product manufacturers, mine operators and other businesses could not only track small tools or other items fitted with smaller, less expensive EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) passive tags, but also obtain real-time location data regarding larger or high-value items fitted with AeroScout battery-powered tags. The passive UHF tags come from a variety of vendors, including William Frick & Co., using RFID chips from Impinj. The passive-tagged tools are stored within CribMaster cabinets with built-in RFID readers. With Live Tracking, users can also obtain location-based alerts related to active-tagged items, via CribMaster software.

More than a year ago, AeroScout and CribMaster began working together to create a solution that would combine AeroScout's RTLS Wi-Fi tags and MobileView software with CribMaster's passive RFID solutions for the industrial market. According to Mike Ratteree, CribMaster's project manager, industrial companies already use combinations of active and passive RFID systems. However, he says, those systems are typically independent—for example, one solution may track employees via active RFID badges, while another might monitor small assets or tools via passive RFID tags. By combining the two technologies into a single system, Ratteree says, companies would be able to do more. For instance, CribMaster software could trigger an alert to management in the event that an individual with an active RFID badge is located in a restricted area, and is associated with specific items containing passive tags that should not be in that area.

With Live Tracker, a CribMaster customer can identify not only who was issued a specific tool, but also that worker's location.

CribMaster set up a demo room containing a miniature installation of the technology, in order to demonstrate to the members of its integration project team how the technology might work. The company then spent the past year integrating its own software with the MobileView software. While CribMaster's software displays data about all items fitted with passive tags, and issues alerts, MobileView calculates active tags' locations and forwards that information to the CribMaster software. - See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?11103#sthash.fH8Km2Oe.dpuf

BANGALORE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT CORP. IMPROVES ON-TIME RATE

BMTC adopted an RFID solution that tells it when buses are running late on routes served by its busiest terminal.

Sep 27, 2013—

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corp. (BMTC), which operates 6,597 buses and 50 stations throughout India's third most populous city, is boosting its on-time bus schedule rate, by employing radio frequency identification technology to track the arrival of vehicles at its most active terminal. By mounting an RFID tag on each bus and two RFID readers at the terminal's entrance, the company can identify when a particular bus may be running late, based on its arrival time, and can then address the problem as needed—for example, by assigning an additional bus to a late-running route, or by making changes to a specific route or schedule based on the RFID read times. The solution was provided by ABLogics, based in Bangalore.

An ABLogics TechBee tag, made with an Alien Technology ALN-9654 inlay, was affixed to the driver's side window of each bus.

During the two months since the technology's installation, the Indian bus company's adherence to appointed bus schedules has improved, says Amal Rani Meenakshi, ABLogics' global solutions manager for RFID. BMTC's dispatchers and managers, she explains, can now view when a bus is delayed and provide additional coverage as necessary, in order to ensure that passengers are picked up and delivered to their stops on time.

The BMTC transports 4.8 million passengers daily throughout the metropolitan area. It operates six terminals in the city of Bangalore, as well as 41 depots, and its vehicles operate according to 6,300 different schedules, for a combined average total of 83,618 trips daily. At the Shivajinagar bus terminal (BMTC's largest) in central Bangalore, approximately 1,000 buses make eight to 10 trips each day, carrying a total of 100,000 passengers. Due to the large number of vehicles, drivers and routes involved, the transit company found it nearly impossible to identify which buses were delayed, and by how much time. The company conducts continual marketing efforts to encourage the use of public buses as an alternative to private motorized vehicles, such as cars or motorcycles; however, ensuring that bus schedules are reliable is critical to attracting passengers.

ABLogics' Amal Rani Meenakshi

Prior to the installation of ABLogics' TechBee rTrack solution—consisting of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags, as well as readers and software to manage the collected data—the bus company had installed GPS vehicle-tracking units on its buses. But the GPS technology had limitations, Meenakshi reports, noting that the bus-mounted units tended to provide erratic and inaccurate location information. Therefore, the company turned to ABLogics to develop a better solution.

ABLogics' TechBee tags consisted of Alien Technology ALN-9654 inlays encased in plastic material. A tag was affixed to the interior of each bus' right (driver's side) window via an adhesive. The company also installed two Convergence Systems Ltd. (CSL) CS203 readers, which were mounted on a wall near the entrance via metal brackets. Both interrogators, each of which has an integrated antenna, are located at a point at which drivers must slow down and negotiate a right-hand turn into the main terminal.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?11028#sthash.JsdLQH9G.dpuf

EPIX OFFERS PASSIVE LONG-RANGE UHF TAG FOR WINE, SPIRITS

The tag can be read from up to 36 feet away thanks to its near-field antenna, which uses a bottle's fluid contents and foil cork wrapper to boost its backscatter range.

Sep 25, 2013—

EPix, a U.K. company that manufactures electronic products and solutions, has developed a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tag for the wine and spirits industry that it claims has a 36-foot read range when applied to a full bottle of wine, as long as the bottle is standing upright. The tag, which ePix says would cost no more than a standard EPC Gen 2 UHF tag, employs a near-field loop antenna that couples with the metallic foil covering the top of a bottle, helping it achieve a longer read range than would otherwise be possible.

Liquids absorb the transmission of UHF RF signals, but ePix has patented a method for a passive RFID tag to use the electrical energy absorbed by the wine when that tag is placed against a bottle's exterior. The tag is attached to the side of the bottle, with one end situated beneath the metallic foil wrapping that a vintner typically places over a wine bottle's cork or cap. The foil wrapping, which couples with the tag, acts as an antenna. The remainder of the tag extends beyond the foil wrapper, where it makes capacitive contact with the liquid contained within the bottle.

The tag attaches to the side of the bottle, with one end situated beneath the metallic foil wrapping that a vintner typically places over a wine bottle's cork or cap.

When the bottle is on its side, however, its liquid contents may no longer be in capacitive contact with the tag's antenna. What's more, the wine flows to the top of the bottle in such a scenario, and can thereby interfere with the electric field in the foil wrapping, resulting in a read range closer to about 9 feet.

"This tag is designed to increase the current flow in a near-field loop, enabling the tag to reflect a more powerful signal," says David Mapleston, ePix's technical director and founder.

Mapleston says he began developing the tag after speaking with one of his students at an Alien Technology Alien Academy RFID workshop, held in England. The student commented on the problem of counterfeit spirits sometimes sickening customers. Several spirit and wine companies do embed passive RFID tags in their bottles' labels for authentication, but those firms typically employ high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz tags to enable transmission in the presence of the fluids. Therefore, the tags are both expensive and require a very close read. By using UHF RFID technology, Mapleston explains, businesses could not only prove a bottled product's authenticity, but also track it through the supply chain or conduct inventory audits via a handheld reader.

However, Mapleston says, without a spacer or a resonant cavity (a recess with a radiating antenna) built onto it, a passive UHF tag has a limited read range. Such tags are more expensive than standard UHF tags, and measure 2 millimeters (0.08 inch) thick, making it impossible to discretely hide them on a bottle's packaging. What's more, he adds, they are not omnidirectional—that is, the tag transmits its backscatter signal in only one direction.

EPix tested several UHF tags on bottled wines to confirm this to be true, using the company's Power-Mapper product that tracks RF transmission, and found that when a bottle was tagged with a passive UHF tag lacking a spacer or resonant cavity, the tag's backscatter transmission dropped in power when located very close to the bottle.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

BAG MAKER ADOPTS RFID SOLUTION TO PREVENT COUNTERFEITS, GRAY MARKET

Bagjack is using Serfides' authentication software to track high-end messenger bags shipped from its German manufacturing site and, eventually, within a store.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

Sep 24, 2013—

German messenger-bag manufacturer Bagjack is deploying a new RFID-based anti-counterfeiting solution from Berlin startup Serfides, intended to help confirm the authenticity of goods, as well as identify instances in which the product may have undergone an unexpected channel on its way to consumers. This past summer, Bagjack piloted the technology by tagging its high-end products with Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags, and by then reading those tags as they left the manufacturing site. But now, the company intends to instruct some of its dealers in Japan, as well as its own international scouts, to begin reading the tags, to ensure that the bags stay on the expected supply chain route.

Serfides was founded a year ago, after some early development work was conducted on the anti-counterfeiting software, which has two primary purposes: to authenticate products, and to track the goods' movements through the supply chain. For the authentication feature, Serfides software assigns each tagged item with a specific validation code that is paired with a unique ID number encoded to that item's passive RFID tag—either high-frequency (HF) or ultrahigh-frequency (UHF)—or on a label printed with a 2D data matrix or QR code. That validation code is encrypted and stored not only on the tag's chip, but also in Serfides software operating on a user's back-end database. When an interrogator reads the tag's unique ID, it also captures its validation code. Serfides software operating on the user's database then decrypts that code. If the code does not match the one linked to the tag's unique ID number, the user can assume he or she has a counterfeit tag and product.

Richard Doll, Serfides' managing director

It can be difficult for manufacturers, retailers or customers to determine if an RFID tag is cloned. Therefore, a company that reads a cloned tag on a counterfeit product might not realize that item is actually a fake. Serfides' solution is intended to prevent such tag cloning, according to Richard Doll, Serfides' managing director. In addition, Doll says, the solution is designed to check an individual product's movement history against the scheduled movement profile previously entered into the software during logistics planning processes.

Bagjack produces rugged messenger bags that it initially provided to bicycle couriers, and which have since become popular with a variety of customers worldwide. The company makes high-end messenger bags, and as its business has grown, it has begun offering less expensive products manufactured in Asia for mass-market purposes. Counterfeiting and gray-market redirection of its goods through the wrong channels are both of concern to the company, particularly with regard to its higher-priced custom products, which are still manufactured in Germany.

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FORESTRY COMPANY EXPANDS RFID DEPLOYMENT

Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods is printing and encoding RFID tags onsite to record each tree's maintenance and location, while the company intends to also track equipment and personnel.

Sep 23, 2013—

For the past four years, Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods (HLH) has been planting koa and other indigenous species of trees on former pastureland located on Hawaii Island (the Big Island). The company operates a for-profit division that plants trees for harvest, while its nonprofit division, LegacyTrees.org, plants koa trees for the purpose of permanent reforestation. Investment trees are sold in lots of 100, at a one-time cost of $9,380, for the 2013-14 planting season. The nonprofit division allows an individual to sponsor what HLH calls a "legacy tree," often in memory of a loved one, for the price of $60, of which $20 goes to a charity of the customer's choice, with $1 donated to the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.

Central to the company's operation is an RFID and GPS technology solution that makes it possible to identify every tree as it grows from a seedling at a nursery to a tree in the forest. Initially, the system was designed to uniquely identify each tree via a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tag, with users employing handheld readers to interrogate those tags as the trees were planted, and again 25 year later during harvesting (see RFID Helps Foresters Grow Koa Trees). However, to support the reforestation activity's expansion, the RFID system needed to be revamped in order to be able to track the large volume of trees that customers want planted and cultivated for a permanent forest.

Each seedling receives its own tag, encoded via a Zebra R110Xi4 RFID printer.

To date, Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods has dedicated approximately 1,000 acres of land to reforestation efforts on the slopes of Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano. However, the company is currently negotiating for the purchase of sufficient acreage to increase that size many times over. Most of the firm's growth has been in the realm of legacy forest tree planting, in which individuals purchase a seedling to be planted permanently and cared for within the dedicated forest.

William Gilliam, HLH's chief information officer, says that some new features have already been incorporated into its RFID-based tracking system, while others are still in the works, to be implemented later this year or in 2014.

For instance, Gilliam says, the company recently began printing and encoding its own EPC Gen 2 passive RFID tags to keep up with demand. When HLH first launched its operations, it required about 40,000 tags annually. But more recently, the firm has needed 120,000 tags for a single planting season. To address this tag volume, the company acquired an RFID printing-encoding solution, supplied by SimplyRFID, featuring a Zebra Technologies R110Xi4 printer-encoder to generate labels more quickly.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

WASHINGTON STATE'S TOLL COLLECTOR TRIALS RFID-ENABLED PHONE TAG, APP

GeoToll's new tag attaches to a commuter's NFC-enabled phone and uses the phone's HF NFC signal to power that tag's UHF transponder.

Sep 23, 2013—

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is testing hybrid RFID technology that enables commuters to make bridge or high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane payments via their mobile phone. The technology, provided by Florida startup GeoToll, consists of a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) and high-frequency (HF) RFID tag that receives a 13.56 MHz HF transmission, compliant with the Near Field Communication (NFC) standards, to send an 815 MHz UHF signal, compliant with the ISO 18000-6C (EPC Gen 2) standard, to a reader posted in the area. The technology is currently installed at two Seattle area bridges, as well as at multiple locations on a highway HOT lane, says Tyler Patterson, a toll operations engineer at the Washington State Department of Transportation. WSDOT interns, meanwhile, are driving through those read points with tagged mobile phones mounted on their dashboards, in order to test how well that data is collected and deducted from a preset account.

If the solution proves effective, Patterson says, the agency envisions being able to provide the technology as an alternative to the existing electronic payment system in which a passive UHF "Good To Go!" RFID transponder, compliant with the ISO 18000-6C standard, is attached to a windshield, front license plate or motorcycle headlamp. HOT lane users also submit payments via the RFID tag; if carpooling, however, they must cover the tag with a shield to prevent being charged.

GeoToll's Timothy McGuckin

Late last month, WSDOT launched the GeoToll solution using the agency's existing reader infrastructure at its State Road 520 floating bridge and the Tacoma-Narrows Bridge, with four readers installed at each location, one at each lane. Altogether, the tags are being interrogated at 10 locations along State Route 167's HOT lanes, where commuters can make payments if they use the lanes when carrying only a single occupant.

ISO 18000-6C is one of several standards in use by tolling agencies throughout the United States. Timothy McGuckin, GeoToll's CEO, joined the company after working for the OmniAir Consortium, a not-for-profit group he founded that focuses on supporting the use of ISO 18000-6C as a single RFID-based standard for toll-collection systems within the United States (see Efforts to Aid Adoption of ISO 18000-6C RFID for Toll Collection Move Forward). If U.S. toll operators utilized a single standard, tags could interoperate in different states across the country.

GeoToll's goal was to create a solution that would allow the transmission of an ID number linked to a specific driver's information—including the account from which the toll funds could be deducted—without requiring that the driver purchase or acquire an RFID sticker or large plastic tag and attach it to the vehicle. Such tags are expensive for the agencies, McGuckin says, in terms of costs related to materials, distribution, battery replacement (for toll systems employing active RFID tags) and disposal. Using a driver's mobile phone, he explains, reduces the hardware required for that driver to merely a small adhesive sticker, attached to the back of the handset.

RF Code launches new mobile management platform for data centers; IMI's CreativeLift lifting magnets now come with InfoChip RFID technology; STid intros new modular RFID access-control reader, configurable wirelessly via Impinj chip; Spanish startup ThirteenFiftySix developing NFC wristband to control smartphones; Savi releases Savi Mobile Tracking System 2.4; Haldor, Belimed team up on real-time surgical instrument-management system

Sep 19, 2013—

The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations: RF Code; Industrial Magnetics Inc.; InfoChip Systems; STid; Impinj; ThirteenFiftySix; Savi Technology; Haldor Advanced Technologies; and Belimed.

RF Code Launches New Mobile Management Platform for Data Centers

RF Code's Asset Manager Mobile software

RF Code has announced Asset Manager Mobile, an asset-management software application for iPads, tablets and smartphones, as well as interactive desktop graphing and charting capabilities. According to the company, the software extends the reach of RF Code's IT asset-tracking and environmental-monitoring solutions, and provides data-center managers with access to real-time data regarding their facilities, from any location and at any time. Within a dynamic environment, such as a data center, in which large technology enterprises have recorded as many as 45 percent of assets changing locations within a year, collecting real-time data—and being able to access that information at the actual time during which a process or event occurs—is an absolute necessity to effectively managing operations, the company says. The app, which runs on Apple iOS or Android devices, provides a global search feature to quickly access any location, asset or sensor defined in the system. Alert conditions (such as security violations, or elevated temperature or humidity readings) are also sent directly to the Asset Manager Mobile software, enabling immediate, proactive responses to critical issues. In addition, it includes reporting, charts and graphs that can be studied and drilled into for more specific details. The software works with RF Code's 433 MHz active RFID tags and readers for asset and environmental monitoring. Asset Manager Mobile is designed to enable easy access to locate, browse, view, add, edit and delete assets and RFID tags. According to RF Code, several companies—including FedEx, Hewlett-Packard, Bloomberg, eBay, Vodafone and others—are currently using RF Code's active RFID system to monitor assets and environmental conditions. Asset Manager Mobile is slated to be made available next month through the Apple App Store and Google play at no cost.

IMI's Lifting Magnets Now Come With InfoChip RFID Technology

IMI's CreativeLift lifting magnet

Industrial Magnetics Inc. (IMI), a provider of lifting magnets and magnetic separators used by manufacturers to extract metal from products, has announced its CreativeLift lifting magnet with RFID. The CreativeLift magnet, used for handling steel plates, die castings, forgings and other items, eliminates the need for clamping devices, slings or chains, according to IMI. The RFID technology is designed to make it easier and more accurate in identifying the lifts, as well as in tracking plant maintenance operations. The RFID technology, provided by InfoChip Systems, includes Near Field Communication (NFC) passive high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz RFID tags and handheld interrogators. A tag is affixed to the CreativeLift magnet, and maintenance and quality personnel can document the lift magnet's location, inspection history, safety compliance and maintenance record, using the handhelds as part of their company's control programs. IMI has been tagging its magnetic separators, which are employed at bulk-processing plants—particularly those operated by food companies striving to ensure that no stray metal ends up in products—since 2012 (see RFID Attracts Interest for Magnetic Separators).

STid Intros Modular HF RFID Access-Control Reader, Configurable Wirelessly Via Impinj Chip

STid's Architect access-control reader

French RFID firm STid has announced Architect, its new RFID-enabled, modular, secure access-control reader that leverages contactless chip technologies. The reader design features a common RFID core that can be placed inside a variety of polycarbonate casings, including one equipped with a keypad, a fingerprint sensor or a touchscreen, so each reader can be tailored to a customer's specific needs. The reader can be also be customized with color and logos. The device is compatible with the ISO 14443A, ISO 14443B and ISO 18092 standards, and supports simultaneous reading of all chips in NXP Semiconductors's Mifare family: Ultralight, Classic (1 or 4 kilobytes), Ultralight C, Mifare Plus S and X (2 or 4 kilobytes), and DESFire. It also supports more specific products, such as the CPS3 card used by French health professionals (IAS protocol), Moneo and Near Field Communication (NFC) identification. The Architect can also be reprogrammed onsite to upgrade to future technological options, STid reports. The reinforced polycarbonate casing is rugged enough for both indoor and outdoor use, according to the company, while the core and modules (excluding the connectors) are rated IP 65, which means that testing has confirmed them to be dustproof and waterproof. Integrated into the Architect is an Impinj Monza X-2K Dura ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID chip to enable the device to be configured via an EPC Gen 2 RFID reader. The Architect features a variety of data security mechanisms, implementing such public encryption algorithms as TDES, AES, RSA, HMAC-SHA-2 and more. The readeralso features an accelerometer-based tamper-protection system; the accelerometer can sense tampering, and can alert a customer so that the reader's authentication keys can be deleted. The firm also indicates it has received First Level Security Certification (CSPN), a high-level accreditation for information system security products governed by the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d'Information (ANSSI), a French government agency. According to STid, the certification recognizes the company's technological and security expertise.

MOTORCYCLE COMPANY TRACKS VISITORS VIA RFID

India's TVS Motor Co. has installed active tags and readers to monitor the locations of guests as they move throughout the 250-acre compound, thereby preventing security breaches.

Sep 20, 2013—

By installing a radio frequency identification solution at its headquarters and factory, TVS Motor Co. reports that it has reduced the number of security breaches (when an individual enters an unauthorized area, overstays his or her expected visit time, or cannot be located) to nearly zero.

TVS Motor Co. is one of India's largest manufacturers of motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and other types of two- and three-wheeled vehicles. The company receives more than 100,000 visitors annually—consisting of suppliers, consultants, contractors and service engineers, among others conducting business onsite—at its campus in Hosur, in the Tamil Nadu region. To protect its intellectual property, as well as make the processing of those guests more efficient, the firm installed a personnel-tracking system featuring active RFID tags and readers supplied by Gemini Traze.

TVS Motor Co.'s A. Amaran

TVS Motor's 250-acre compound in Hosur houses the company's headquarters and corporate departments, including product development, business planning, supply chain, finance, research and development, manufacturing and IT. Consequently, the quantity and variety of visitors to the site is high, and security concerns are thus critical, in order to prevent even one guest from potentially walking away with the firm's intellectual property.

Therefore, the company installed an RFID solution last year comprising battery-powered RFID tags in badges, readers at key department entry points, and software that tracks location data. That information is fed to TVS Motor's visitor-management system, enabling the firm to better manage the movements of these visitors, including their real-time location and movement history.

"We needed a framework to monitor the movement of the visitor from the time he enters the organization to his exit," says A. Amaran, TVS Motor Co.'s senior manager of IT. Without RFID, he reports, the plant's visitor-management system had several shortcomings: It was time-consuming to use, requiring its staff to sign visitors into and out of specific locations. Prior to the RFID system's adoption, guests registered at the security gate, where they were provided with a paper pass indicating their intended destination on the campus. Every pass had to be signed by the inviting employee, which would then be turned in during the exit procedure. Each individual was also given a plastic badge printed with his or her visitor type, such as "Consultant," "Vendor" or "Supplier." As guests wandered the facility, they were monitored by security guards at various strategic points throughout the complex.

According to Amaran, this system was time-consuming for visitors, required considerable man-hours for security guards, and was unable to provide a historic record of every area that guest had visited. What's more, since security was being tracked manually, visitors had to wait to be registered upon entering specific departments, and then wait again in the common area of that department for their host to arrive from his or her office and receive that guest.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?uf

SANRAKU HOSPITAL, WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER ADDED TO RFID IN HEALTH CARE 2013 AGENDA

RFID Journal's ninth health-care event will focus on solutions that can improve patient safety, hospital operations and supply chain efficiencies.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

Sep 19, 2013—

RFID Journal announced today that representatives from Tokyo's Sanraku Hospital and North Carolina's Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have been added to the agenda for RFID in Health Care, an exhibition and conference focused on the use of radio frequency identification technology within the health-care sector. The event will be held on Dec. 4, 2013, at the Georgetown University Hotel & Conference Center, located in Washington, D.C.

RFID in Health Care will feature hospital executives explaining how they use RFID to increase asset-utilization rates, reduce expenses and improve patient outcomes, and is designed to provide a unique learning experience for health-care executives. Early adopters will share the results of real-world deployments, and answer questions regarding the benefits they have achieved thanks to RFID.

Among the confirmed speakers are Akira Nakamura, Sanraku Hospital's general manager, and Ryuhei Setoyama, the medical facility's honorary director. Nakamura and Setoyama will share how the hospital has implemented an intelligent nursing information system with bar-code and RFID capabilities (see Hospitals in Japan, China Seek to Save Lives Via Pocketsize Reader). This solution has helped the facility improve patient safety, by providing real-time medication confirmation. At the same time, the system utilizes a single smart terminal platform to automate routine work, thereby improving nurses' work efficiency. Attendees will learn how the technology's use will be expanded during the next phase, to include managing medical equipment.

During another session, Stuart Grogan, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's radiology equipment manager, will discuss how RFID has improved efficiency and reduced costs at his hospital. The solution—consisting of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags sewn into radiology vests, as well as a handheld reader and software to monitor each vest's location—was developed by the hospital's management to improve efficiency related to tracking the locations and inspection statuses of more than 850 vests (see Wake Forest Baptist Builds Its Own RFID Solution for Radiology Vest Inspection). Attendees will hear how the facility, since the solution's installation, has saved considerable time and lowered labor costs.

"These are two great case studies that will enable attendees to hear how RFID technologies are benefiting hospitals and clinics today," says Mark Roberti, RFID Journal's founder and editor. "Health-care industry professionals looking to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes should attend the event and listen to these and other speakers."

RFID in Health Care will combine thought-provoking presentations, expert panelists and an exhibit area showcasing the latest RFID solutions for the health-care industry. What's more, guests will have the opportunity to meet leading technology companies and view their latest solutions. This conference is designed for executives at hospitals or clinics considering the implementation of RFID technology within their facilities.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

Y TESTS RFID SOLUTION FOR TRACKING CELL PHONES

The project uses GuardRFID's Active Label, a 6-millimeter-thick, battery-powered 433 MHz tag small enough for monitoring mobile devices, tools and thermometers.

Sep 18, 2013—

Guard RFID Solutions (also known as GuardRFID) is marketing a 6-millimeter-thick active 433 MHz tag that it claims is the lowest-profile active tag currently available on the market. The tag was designed at the request of a customer in the aerospace industry that required an active tag small enough to be attached to cell phones, according to Zahir Abji, GuardRFID's president and CEO. That customer piloted the new tag with GuardRFID's software and readers.

GuardRFID's active tags are used to track individuals and assets in real-time location system (RTLS) applications, by beaconing at preset intervals, or when excited by a low-frequency (LF) transmitter. Last year, Abji says, an aerospace customer approached GuardRFID with a unique problem to solve. Because the work being performed at that facility was highly sensitive, staff members or contractors entering specific areas were required to leave their mobile phones in a locker or other location outside the secured area. In this way, he explains, the company and its customers could be assured that no one could take a picture or send data to another party regarding work-in-progress.

The Active Label tag (AT-4BLF) is designed to fit unobtrusively on a smartphone or other small object that needs to be tracked.

However, ensuring that personnel do not forget this rule and inadvertently carry their phone into the secured area was difficult without reminders or officer-conducted searches. The company tried attaching a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID label to each phone, but found that the tags were not always read, especially depending on the orientation of the phone's tag within an individual's pocket or bag. In addition, passive tags require an array of antennas around a door that could be deemed aesthetically problematic. Active tags, including GuardRFID's existing active RFID tags, tend to be too thick—about a half inch or more in height—to attach to a phone. - See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?11002#sthash.Rm5VmGrV.dpuf

INTEL'S GEN 4 VPRO COMPUTER PROCESSORS FEATURE AEROSCOUT WI-FI RTLS TECHNOLOGY, TABLETS

Intel's new processor comes with a built-in AeroScout active RFID Wi-Fi tag that can operate with new AeroScout software to provide security options based on that tag's location, and help laptop and tablet users find individuals or items within their vicinity.

Sep 16, 2013—

Intel's newly released fourth-generation Core vPro computer processor comes with a built-in AeroScout active RFID Wi-Fi tag, enabling what Intel calls indoor location-based services (LBS). That, according to AeroScout, means that a computing device using the vPro Generation 4 platform can be located if it comes within range of an enterprise Wi-Fi network, and can be programmed to change its own settings based on that device's location. Such devices can also identify the locations of other laptops and tablets containing the new processor, as well as assets fitted with AeroScout Wi-Fi RFID tags. Intel officially released the new processor last week, but some laptops, tablets and notebooks containing the technology are already being shipped.

In conjunction with that release, AeroScout—a division of Stanley Black & Decker—is offering a free version of the company's MobileView application, known as Find Near Me, designed for use with the Intel processor. This app allows a company to identify the locations of tablets or laptops operating on the same Wi-Fi network, and add AeroScout's Wi-Fi tags to other items that could also be located with one of the mobile devices running the Intel processor.

The Find Near Me app allows a tablet or laptop user to identify his or her own location, as well as that of any Wi-Fi-enabled or -tagged assets operating within the same wireless network.

AeroScout already offers a solution with its MobileView software platform that enables users to locate any device transmitting a Wi-Fi signal within range of an enterprise Wi-Fi network on which the MobileView software is running. With Intel's Generation 4 vPro processor, however, the device itself can employ AeroScout's free Find Near Me software application to ascertain such details as where the device is located and what is around it. Based on the device's location, developers will be able to use an open application programming interface (API), made available with the software, to direct the device to operate according to any business rules a company may have established for that location—for example, blocking certain functions for security purposes.

AeroScout is also offering, at no cost, an Enterprise IT Asset Management application that allows users (who will be IT practitioners, according to Mark Gallant, AeroScout's VP of industrial marketing) to track the locations of an unlimited number of Wi-Fi-enabled Intel vPro devices within a specific Wi-Fi network, as well as up to 20 AeroScout-tagged items. AeroScout's Find Near Me and Enterprise IT Asset Management applications are completely free, and do not require a user to purchase the MobileView software. However, Gallant notes, because Find Near Me is limited to location data rather than analytics, users requiring additional information, such as historical data and analytics derived from that data, should purchase the MobileView platform.

Using power from the device itself, the tag built into the vPro platform beacons at preset intervals, transmitting a unique ID number. That ID is received by Wi-Fi access points, and other authorized devices using the Find Near Me software can then locate that device, along with any other such devices within its vicinity. The Enterprise IT Asset Management software will also allow authorized parties to review the locations of all LBS devices and AeroScout tags within the wireless network. The devices containing the new vPro processor are expected to be used most commonly in industrial or corporate environments, Gallant explains, rather than by individual consumers.

To enable the LBS functions, a company's IT department can download the Enterprise IT Asset Management and Find Near Me versions of MobileView from AeroScout, though those software features are not necessary to simply locate a device. They can load the applications onto one of their servers and then upload their own enterprise maps onto the LBS server, which would reside on their corporate enterprise network.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

NFC BRINGS REAL-TIME AUDIO COMMENTARY TO AMERICA'S CUP SPECTATORS

Live2Media's Livecard system includes a radio receiver that operates only when its built-in NFC reader detects an authorized RFID tag and, based on that tag, determines which channels an individual can access.

Sep 13, 2013—

During the 34th America's Cup yacht race, being held this summer in the San Francisco Bay area, some spectators are listening to audio commentary about the competition, or to crew members aboard the boats, via a Near Field Communication (NFC)-based solution provided by Pleasanton, Calif., startup company Live2Media. The technology consists of a battery-powered device containing an FM radio receiver that receives multiple channels of audio streams, providing that audio to users when its built-in NFC reader detects an authorized RFID-enabled Livecard.

For the America's Cup races, the cards presently authenticate only a user's identity, says Greg Moyer, Live2Media's CEO. But in the future, he says—for other venues or events—such cards will be able to dictate which channels a person may access, collect data indicating what is being heard, and enable the collection of reward points at sponsors' NFC-enabled reader kiosks, known as "Tap Towers." Advertisers could also air promotions on the channels, and the collection of data about the traffic to those channels could help the advertisers decide the best time and channel on which to place ads.

The SCOR device, with a Livecard printed with America's Cup graphics

Live2Media has spent several years developing a system to bring audio to spectators of sports and other events. The solution is intended to enhance those spectators' experience, by providing them with a choice of audio streams. After all, Moyer notes, ticket holders can usually watch an event taking place in front of them, but rarely can they hear what is being said by players, coaches or commentators. The Livecard Kit comes with the receiver—known as the SmartCard Operated Radio (SCOR), which offers multiple audio channels—and also includes an NFC Livecard, a set of ear buds and batteries.

The America's Cup is the first event at which Live2Media sold its technology. The solution is being offered at three different zones in which spectators congregated to watch the races within a 15-square-mile area.

The 2013 America's Cup—being held throughout September in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay, north of the city of San Francisco—consists of a series of races between two wing-sailed catamarans, one operated by a defending champion team and the other by one of multiple challenger teams. Live2Media is selling its Livecard kits to spectators as they arrive at the viewing areas. Moyer declines to indicate the number of kits that have been sold to date. The technology firm began offering its solution last month, having been delayed by an accident in which a crew member aboard one of the competing yachts was killed, after which the audio system was put on hold for about a month.

Participants purchase the kit for $30, according to Moyer. The SCOR device, which measures 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches in length and width, and is as thick as a deck of cards, can be worn around a person's neck on a lanyard. It offers three channels of audio—one featuring interviews with competitors, as well as commentary; one playing a live audio feed of what is being said on one of the competing boats; and the third broadcasting the audio feed from the other boat. However, the system does not operate until a user inserts a Livecard, which is made of PVC plastic and is the size of a credit card—85.6 by 54 millimeters (3.37 by 2.13 inches). The card is printed with graphics promoting the event, and also contains an embedded RFID tag made with an NXP Semiconductors Mifare RFID chip. The SCOR device—which has a built-in NFC reader, developed by Live2Media and made with an NXP MFRC522 reader chip—reads the unique ID number encoded to the card's tag. Built-in software then determines if the card's ID is authorized. If authorization is confirmed, the software prompts the device to power on. If the card is removed, the device ceases to operate.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10990#sthash.aTqmqMIz.dpuf

AGENDA ANNOUNCED FOR RFID JOURNAL LIVE! EUROPE

The event, to be held in London on Oct. 15, will feature presentations by Marks & Spencer and Wilkinson, and demonstrate the latest technology solutions.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

Sep 12, 2013—

RFID Journal has announced the final agenda for this year's RFID Journal LIVE! Europe conference and exhibition, to be held on Oct. 15, in London, England. The conference, focused on educating end users about how radio frequency identification technology is delivering real business benefits across Europe, will also feature a co-located event, RFID in Europe, connecting European end users, operators, solution providers, universities, research establishments, non-government and government organizations, and all other European stakeholders, through the promotion of national projects via an international network.

The year's event will include the following presentations:

• Marks & Spencer, a leading U.K. retailer, will discuss the expansion of its RFID implementation to all of its stores (see Marks & Spencer Rolls Out RFID to All Its Stores). Attendees will learn why the company expects the system's future potential benefits to provide greater visibility and accuracy of all stock at the item level, as well as lower the costs of annual stock-taking and reduce instances of theft and fraud.

• Wilkinson, a British housewares and household goods retailer, will share how it is fighting stock loss through the use of RFID. The presenter will explain how the system enables the company to identify who is stealing goods, when this occurs, through which doorway and which products are being taken. Attendees will hear how the retailer is using this collected data to prevent it from paying refunds to individuals attempting to return stolen goods to the stores, as well as compiling a database on a store-by-store basis.

• The Museum of London will discuss how it is utilizing Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags at its two facilities to heighten the customer experience (see London History Museum Adopts Technology of Future). Attendees will learn how the museums are using NFC-enabled technology to encourage visitors to interact with the exhibits, engage the museum via social media, book tickets and more.

• Tudespensa.com (Your Pantry), a Spanish online supermarket, will present a session explaining how it is employing RFID to ensure on-time delivery of goods to customers (see Online Grocer Tracks Orders Via RFID). The presenters will discuss how the solution collects information, stores it in Tudespensa's database and, in the event that incorrect goods are loaded, issues an alert to warehouse management allowing them to stop the process and correct any errors.

• Roline, a Dutch truck tire and retreading company, is embedding RFID tags in the tires that it retreads (see Dutch Tire Company Bonds EPC Tags to Retreads). The company will share how it is able to create a record of when each tire was received, as well as from whom, and then track that tire through the retreading process via RFID.

"This one-day event is a great opportunity to learn how RFID is delivering benefits today, and to meet some of the leading RFID technology providers," says Mark Roberti, RFID Journal's founder and editor.

In addition, LIVE! Europe will feature an exhibit area in which leading technology companies will showcase their latest solutions. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from those who have already deployed RFID, and to network with leading end users.

GOTOTAGS RELEASES HIGH-SPEED NFC ENCODER, SOFTWARE

The system, one of the many NFC RFID products and services that the company offers, is designed to encode a reel of passive tags at a rate of up to five inlays per second.

Sep 12, 2013—

Encoding Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags can be a time-consuming task, especially for commercial printers and other companies that do not typically sell NFC-enabled products in large volumes. Such businesses often send their tags or labels to NFC service providers, such as GoToTags, which will encode the tags for a vendor prior to shipping them to its customers. Now, GoToTags is marketing a solution consisting of its own encoding software, known as NFC Encoder, and a reel-to-reel RFID tag encoder that makes the process easier and less expensive for both small and large users, as well as for NFC tag providers. The company claims the reel-to-reel solution can encode tags at a rate of up five per second.

GoToTags initially developed the software, and then the reader, for its own purposes over the course of the past two years, according to Craig Tadlock, the CEO of Wireless Sensor Technologies, GoToTags' Seattle-based parent company. GoToTags encodes NFC tags in quantities ranging from as few as five tags to orders numbering in the millions. While ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags can be encoded rather quickly, NFC tags take much longer to encode since the tag needs to be very close to the printer antenna and very precisely oriented on a roll, and since only about two tags can be within read range of the device at any given time to be properly encoded. In some cases, a user might purchase an RFID printer-encoder to accomplish this task, while others might prefer to employ their own NFC-enabled mobile phones. But that process can take a while, Tadlock says, adding that GoToTags was able to encode approximately 1,000 tags within only two hours using an Android NFC-enabled phone.

GoToTags' High-Speed NFC Encoder, shown here with a built-in Advanced Card Systems (ACS) reader

To make encoding faster, GoToTags created its own software solution that can enable the encoding of tags with a standard NFC RFID encoder-printer when the device reads as many as four tags simultaneously—something other encoding software packages typically cannot do. The company then determined that if its clients (commercial printers, for example, or manufacturers of such products as wristbands) could use the same software, they could accomplish the encoding onsite and then ship the products directly to their customers. GoToTags made the software available from its cloud-based server, and its clients could be billed for using the software rather than having to buy it outright. In that way, the company explains, if only a small quantity of tags were encoded, the customers would be billed accordingly, amounting to a charge of only $5 or $13, for instance. - See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10987#sthash.P9nnUl0o.dpuf

VEILING HOLAMBRA, A MAJOR LATIN AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SUPPLIER, ADOPTS RFID

The cooperative, which is tagging more than 1 million baskets, carts and other circulating materials, expects to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Sep 10, 2013—

Cooperativa Veiling Holambra (CVH), a Brazilian cooperative considered one of Latin America's most important producers of flowers and ornamental plants, decided to adopt radio frequency identification technology to monitor the movements and distribution of its products. The company's goal was to lower costs, increase stock-control accuracy, eliminate distribution disruptions and maximize gains.

The project is under the responsibility of Possato Jorge Teixeira, Veiling Holambra's manager of logistics and facilities. Francisco Roberto Pereira, the cooperative's logistics coordinator, will provide a presentation about the project and its RFID deployment at the RFID Journal LIVE! Brazil conference and exhibition, to be held on Nov. 6-7, at the Espaço APAS Convention Center, located in São Paulo.

Veiling Holambra is attaching passive EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID tags to the baskets and other circulating materials that the company uses to transport its products.

The project provides for the individual identification of all of the cooperative's circulating materials (MCs), including carts, dividers, baskets and vases. "For this, we will use EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID tags, monitored and controlled by fixed readers and mobile portals for all logistics processes of CVH," Pereira explains, "with emphasis on the processes of MCs' expedition to suppliers, receiving materials from suppliers, dispatching MCs for customers and returning customers' MCs."

With this investment in RFID, Pereira says, Veiling Holambra expects to increase process reliability, reduce costs, eliminate the manual entering of inputs and outputs, prevent fraud, facilitate inventory counts of MCs and increase operational efficiency.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?

Whirlpool Adopts RFID for Parts Identification

The system, deployed in the paint department at a washing machine manufacturing facility, enables real-time work-in-process inventory management.

Whirlpool Corp. is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. Its Clyde Division, based in Clyde, Ohio, is the largest washing machine facility worldwide, covering roughly 2.5 million square feet. Maintaining a highly accurate parts count is necessary to ensure the constant availability of parts for production, says Bradford W. St. Louis, the company's senior materials engineer.

The input to the paint line is raw stamped parts, while the output is ready-to-assemble washing machine components. Accurate parts tracking also affects finished product quality, St. Louis says. "We paint our cabinets in a different area from our tops and lids, so we have to make sure we have everything matching," he explains.

The company replaced its paper tag-based parts-identification system with a more efficient RFID solution.

Yet, until recently, employees could only identify the racks of raw stamped metal tops and lids in production by reading the information printed on attached paper tags. That process was both paper-intensive and error-prone, St. Louis says.

Last year, the company decided to replace its paper tag-based parts-identification system with a more efficient RFID solution. "Whirlpool puts cutting-edge technologies to use in areas where they promise to be the most effective," St. Louis states.

Whirlpool's washing machine paint line is continuously fed with parts that are transported to the area aboard tagged mobile racks. "On our old system, workers would hang the parts on paint hooks," St. Louis recalls. "The parts would then go onto the line and come out painted." Workers would next take the painted parts and place them onto a rack, with a white paper tag with a part number on it identifying each part. "They would hang the tag with a metal hook that looks like a bent paper clip," he says. "Then a fork truck driver would be able to identify the parts that were on that rack." As the painted parts headed toward storage, a paint line worker would also manually enter the information into an electronic journal.

CANADIAN STARTUP OFFERS INTERACTIVE DIGITAL SIGNAGE SYSTEM

The Linkett NFC RFID reader, mounted on a video monitor, shares coupons, applications and other promotional information with consumers' NFC-enabled mobile phones and tablets.

The Linkett device has an NFC reader built into it that can send and receive data via a 13.56 MHz transmission compliant with the ISO 14443 standard. Lusted declines to identify the RFID hardware vendor with which his company has been working. The system also comes with cellular and Wi-Fi or Ethernet connections, as well as a motion sensor. The NFC reader, when plugged into the digital media player, is mounted to the front of a video screen. When a person comes within close range of the display, the Linkett reader detects that action and can then dictate what text and videos to display on the screen. If a consumer sees something of interest, he or she can tap an NFC-enabled Android phone or tablet (no app is required) against the Linkett reader, which is about the size of five stacked credit cards. - See more at: 

NEW JERSEY SCHOOLS ADOPT RFID TO SECURE THEIR FACILITIES

The Belleville School District is deploying active tags and readers to track the locations of all personnel and students within its schools and on its buses, as well as at "blue light" telephones on the campuses.

Sep 06, 2013—

New Jersey's Belleville Public School District is implementing an active radio frequency identification solution to locate students and faculty members within its schools, as well as students on its 21 buses. The technology is being implemented as part of an extensive security system that the district believes will make its students and staff some of the best-protected in the United States. The use of RFID, cameras with built-in analytic software, and a new phone system—as well as the posting of armed officers and a new director of security—is intended to prevent tragedies like the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Ct., and to provide location data for use in generating attendance reports, or during a problem such as a medical emergency or fight.

The solution, which is being installed by Clarity Systems Consulting Group a computer services company located in Mine Hill, N.J., consists of 433 MHz active RFID hardware and software supplied by Wade Garcia and Associates, an RFID systems provider based in San Antonio, Texas. Wade Garcia develops active 433 MHz tags and corresponding readers that operate via the company's own proprietary air-interface protocol.

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP ENERGY-HARVESTING NFC TAG WITH SENSORS, E-PAPER DISPLAY

Intel and university scientists have created a prototype tag that can be interrogated, controlled and recharged by an NFC-enabled smartphone.

A group of researchers from Intel Labs, in Oregon, as well as several universities, have partnered to develop a power-harvesting Near Field Communication (NFC) tag that can store sensor data and display it on an electronic paper (e-paper) screen, by using power harvested from a user's NFC-enabled mobile smartphone during tag reads. The technology, known as the NFC Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform (NFC-WISP), could become open for use by developers by December 2013, says Alanson Sample, the Intel Labs research scientist and principal investigator who led the technology's development. Sample envisions the Wirelessly Powered Bistable DisplayTag—a version of the NFC-WISP tag that includes an e-paper display—to track sensor measurements and display that information on its screen, or to store and display data from an NFC-enabled phone, such as a map, credit card or airplane boarding pass. The energy to power the processor, sensors and display, he says, is harvested from each NFC read event.

The NFC-WISP technology was developed by a team of researchers and students from the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as Sample and other Intel researchers.

The working prototype NFC display tag on the left shows travel directions captured from the screen of the smartphone on the right. 






Bus operators add technological edge to services
MANGALORE: Commuting in Canara Combined Transport (CCT) buses from Mangalore toKundapur has acquired a technological edge.

Thanks to the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, passengers travelling from point-to-point just need to flash their card while travelling

on any of the 197 CCT buses and not worry about tendering exact change to conductors who too just need to swipe these cards against their ticketing machines.

However, the passengers need to pay Rs 100 upfront to obtain the card, which has a validity of 30 days.

The card that contains their photograph also doubles as an identity card.

A commuter needs to recharge for a minimum of 15 days and a maximum of 30 days of travel.

The benefit of this card is that a regular commuter gets a concession of up to 30% of the regular point-to-point fare for long distance travel and the concession dips for shorter distance travel.

Buoyed with the success of this effort, the Canara Bus Operators' Association is now toying with the idea of extending it on buses touching Baindoor and Kollur along the coast.

Bus operators on Karkala-Moodbidri routes too have procured ticketing machines that supports the use of RFID technology and the process of training the personnel on these buses to use these machines is currently on, says S Sadananda Chatra, general secretary, CBOA.

A major advantage of the machine, the use of which has been made mandatory on city buses in Udupi by deputy commissioner M T Reju, is the fact that the regional transport authority can check the fares that operators charge.

"We can not charge fares arbitrarily and have set up a back end office which helps take care of all issues relating to the ticketing machines and the issue and management of these cards," Chatra, owner of Durgamaba buses says.

Commuters have the option to recharge the cards at CCT offices in Mangalore, Udupi and Kundapur.

What helps commuters the most, Chatra explains is the fact that the balance amount left in the card is known to them with each ticket they buy. This helps the commuters top up their cards if the balance gets low, he says, adding that the commuters have to renew their cards after two years and apply for a fresh one.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless non-contact use of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached.

RFID TRACKS CHEMICAL INVENTORY AT OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

ORNL manages its inventory with passive EPC UHF RFID tags, using a handheld reader to identify the locations of chemicals at hundreds of storage locations.

Jul 22, 2013—

Four years after an initial installation of radio frequency identification technology, and following several years of improving on that deployment, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is monitoring its inventory of chemicals within 1,200 individual storage areas. The solution, consisting of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags, handheld readers, printers and software provided by Open Wave RFID, allows laboratory managers and technicians to accomplish inventory checks within a matter of hours, as opposed to the days required to track the same materials via bar-code labels and scanners.

ORNL is the largest U.S. Department of Energy science and energy national laboratory, with a 3,000-acre campus located in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Researchers at the site focus on neutron science, nuclear energy, systems biology and national security. ORNL stores approximately 105,000 containers of chemicals within storage areas that include everything from flammable cabinets and coolers to shelving in full laboratories. About 25,000 new chemicals enter the ORNL annually, while a similar number are removed. On a regular basis, the national laboratory requires that technicians and other users of these chemicals conduct inventories to reconcile what is on hand with what is listed in the electronic records, according to Jeff Sickau, the manager of ORNL's Hazardous Materials Management Plan (HMMP) and chemical-safety programs. This task was time-consuming using bar codes, he says, since it meant removing each vial, canister or other container from its storage location and scanning every bar code individually.

To conduct inventory counts, a user waves a handheld RFID reader near the chemicals. The software highlights any items that should have been read and were not, as well as any that were read but should be located elsewhere.

"We've been looking into RFID since about 2003," Sickau states, but the ORNL was waiting for the cost of RFID tags to drop to an affordable price. In 2009, the lab decided that tag cost had met that requirement (having dropped to about 20 cents per tag), and thus invested in software, passive EPC Gen 2 RFID tags, printers and handheld readers.

The initial RFID system was more efficient than the bar-code solution, Sickau reports, but did not produce the results that the laboratory had hoped to achieve. The read rate was approximately 80 percent, he says, which was not nearly high enough. Some tags were difficult to read on metal, and the software did not provide the details required in the field (at each storage location) to reconcile against the laboratory's electronic records. "We realized early on," he explains, "that you could have 80 percent accuracy, but you could quickly lose any efficiency you gained when trying to find the missing 20 percent."

About two years ago ORNL began working with Open Wave RFID, a solution provider based in Chattanooga, to resolve problems related to RFID read rates and data management from those reads, recalls Tim Waggoner, Open Wave RFID's co-founder. After examining the system in place at ORNL, Waggoner says, it became clear that the software was inadequate, and that the readers, printers and tags were not operating as needed. Open Wave developed a software solution that pulls data from ORNL's existing Hazardous Materials Management Information System (HMMIS), stores information regarding each chemical and links that data to the unique ID number encoded to the RFID tag. Open Wave has since commercialized the solution under the name ChemVue, which includes Motorola 3190z handheld readers, as well as RFID printer-encoders and tags from a variety of vendors.

ORNL took the solution live in 2012. As each new chemical is received, data is input into the HMMIS, after which staff members print an RFID tag with a unique ID number encoded to it, and the same number is printed on the front in both text format and as a 2-D bar code. The adhesive tag is then applied either to the container itself, such as a bottle or canister, or to a zip-lock bag in which the vial or container is placed. In some cases, several vials may be stored with a single bag, to which all of the tags for those vials are affixed. The chemicals are then assigned a particular location and put away in coolers or on shelves.

- See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?f