Labels/Tags/Inlays

Intelleflex Announces EU-Compliant
RFID Product Availability

Intelleflex Corporation (www.intelleflex.com) announces the upcoming availability of its line of battery-assisted RFID products for the European Union. In an effort to continue expanding Intelleflex worldwide, the availability of its RFID tags, readers, and antennas positions Intelleflex at the forefront of the European market, where there is an increasing demand for RFID technology.

Intelleflex's battery-assisted passive RFID technology extends the limited range of ordinary passive tags to 50 meters, providing extremely reliable reads in challenging real-world environments such as metal, liquids, and outdoor locations. The extended on-tag memory provides 60Kb rewriteable storage for data such as asset ID, status, and history or electronic manifest, enabling real-time access to information. The product line will be optimized to operate in the 865-868 MHz frequency range used in Europe, RoHS, and CE compliant, and will undergo TUV emissions certification.

"We are excited to continue our expansion into new markets, and Europe is the perfect next step as it continues to flourish with large-scale RFID implementations moving from pilot testing to roll-out, " says Steve Smith, SVP of Worldwide Sales for Intelleflex. "We already have active customer interest in our Extended Capability solution from the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, and Germany. "

"Partnering with Intelleflex, we can now offer extended capability RFID tracking solutions to the European market, " says John Corry, Director of Intrfid Limited. "Intelleflex's product line fills a void in the market where standard passive RFID falls short, but the cost of active RFID is too high. " Intelleflex's battery-assisted RFID tags are rugged, compact products designed for a wide variety of applications. The tags provide exceptionally high read/write accuracy and long range operation. Intelleflex's multi-protocol RFID readers can interoperate with a wide variety of RFID tags, and can read EPC-compliant passive tags, as well as next-generation battery-assisted Class 3 tags. The general purpose antennas are optimized for Intelleflex's RFID system and compliment the outstanding performance and range offered by their readers and tags.

RSI ID Technologies Releases Four Tag
Designs with Next-Generation Chips

RSI ID Technologies (www.rsiid.com) announces the release of four new antenna designs featuring NXP's next-generation UCODE G2X IC, bringing to market a combination of products offering excellent performance at competitive prices, including designs targeted for nonstandard size and near-field applications.

All of the RSI designs – Corkscrew, Interval, KAT2, and Cube2 – have been developed to work interchangeably with both the standard and expanded memory chips from NXP. Leveraging the improvements in performance of the new ICs, these new antenna designs offer flexibility in the selection of the IC memory based on the application requirements.

"Based on our past successes in working together on UHF Gen 2 projects, we are pleased that RSI ID Technologies has selected our new NXP UCODE G2X silicon for passive smart tags and labels, " says Jan-Willem Reynaerts, General Manager, Market Sector RFID, NXP Semiconductors. "With reliable operation on different materials, across very long read ranges and in dense reader environments, the UCODE G2X offers breakthrough UHF performance, as well as the largest user memory available on the market today. As the leader in RFID chips, NXP is committed to serving the market for UHF applications with our next-generation smart label ICs. "

The G2 XM and XL ICs from NXP offer scalable EPC numbers up to 240 bits and an expanded memory chip that offers an additional 512 bits of user defined memory, which is a benefit for both standard applications and those that require additional memory capacity.

Avery Dennison's Impact-Resistant Tag

Avery Dennison RFID (rfid.averydennison.com), a business unit of Avery Dennison Corporation and leading RFID technology provider, announces immediate availability of the AD-908, a new addition to its portfolio of RFID tags. The AD-908 is a durable tag that provides excellent RF performance in challenging environments or on RF-unfriendly contents and packaging.

"End-users regularly described a wide range of applications where they felt RFID could make difference – but they just didn't have a tag that could meet their requirements," says George Dyche, RFID Account Manager and Durable Product Manager. "Those requirements were used to design the AD-908."

The new tag's welded case encloses the AD-222 Gen 2 UHF RFID inlay giving the tag global readability. The impact-resistant case is designed to IP67, is UV stabilized, is reusable and can be applied to substrates via bolt or rivet.

Because the AD-908 case is clear, a label containing the company logo and/or barcode can also be enclosed – protecting it from the environment. Pre-programming is also a finishing option. The AD-908 is available directly from Avery Dennison or an RFID systems integrator.

UPM Raflatac Launches RFID Tags
Based on NXP G2XM/L IC

UPM Raflatac (www.upmraflatac.com) is expanding its UHF EPC Class 1 Gen 2 product portfolio with UCODE G2X ICs from NXP. The G2X IC offers good performance over the entire UHF frequency range and supports up to 240 bit EPC number. It also offers reliable operation across long read ranges and in dense reader environments. G2X ICs are EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2 1.2.0 compliant.

UPM Raflatac is launching four different products with the G2X IC: Web, Belt, DogBone, and ShortDipole. Sample quantities are available immediately. All these products are available as dry and wet inlays as well as paper-faced tags.

The Rafsec Web is die-cut size 34 mm x 54 mm. It is an item-level product for apparel and footwear tagging with improved orientation insensitivity and EAS alarm functionality.

The Rafsec Belt is die-cut size 73.2 mm x 17 mm. It is also an item-level product for tagging consumer electronics and has EAS alarm functionality. It is also available with 512 bit extra memory.

The Rafsec DogBone is die-cut size 97 mm x 27 mm. It is a retail SCM product for case and pallet-level tagging.

The Rafsec ShortDipole is die-cut size 97 mm x 15 mm. It is a retail SCM product for case and pallet-level tagging.

"We are especially pleased to see UPM Raflatac bringing UHF tags based on UCODE G2X into high-volume production, enabling reliable operation on different materials, across long read ranges and in dense reader environments, and taking advantage of the largest user memory available on the market today, " comments Jan-Willem Reynaerts, General Manager, Market Sector RFID at NXP Semiconductors.

"We have been working with NXP for many years and we are very excited to launch new tags featuring their latest IC family. The NXP G2X IC complements our current Gen 2 UHF product portfolio, strengthening our position as leading global RFID tag and inlay manufacturer, " says Samuli Strömberg, Vice President of RFID Marketing at UPM Raflatac.

Confidex Introduces RFID Tag to Trace Wooden Assets

Confidex (www.confidex.net) announces Confidex Pino™, an EPC Gen 2 RFID tag that enables users to economically track wooden pallets, one of the most common transit items used throughout the world. Confidex has also identified applications within the forestry industry, which continues to strive for the improved usage of wood by reducing the environmental impact caused by inefficient forest production. The Confidex Pino tag is specifically designed for high performance and durability and can be easily inserted into wooden assets, which until now, had been an implementation and economic challenge for users.

"Confidex has developed an economical and viable RFID tagging solution for these longstanding, challenging applications, " says Jarkko Miettinen, Confidex VP of Marketing. "Our unique expertise in RFID design and manufacturing enables Confidex to identify difficult applications in demanding environments and design RFID tagging solutions that meet our customers' specific requirements."

Hub télécom, a subsidiary of Aéroports de Paris Group, has developed a tracking system based on the Confidex Pino RFID tag for an asset management project in France. The project consists of RFID-equipped wooden pallets from Logistic Packaging Return (LPR) that are used by a food producer and a large retail company to automatically track their deliveries.

"Confidex Pino is a promising solution for wooden pallet tracking applications due to its performance, cost-efficiency, and easy installation on existing pallets, as well as on new pallets during production, " says Jacques Vandeputte, Project Manager at Hub télécom.

Pino joins Confidex's industrial UHF RFID family of high-performing and durable tags including Ironside, Survivor, Steelwave, Corona, and Cruiser, which have been successfully used in a variety of industrial asset tracking applications such as identification of IT assets, vehicles, rail cars, reusable transit items, in motion, from arctic to subtropical regions, and now, wooden items.