RFID Takes off — Big Time
By Raghu Das
Zebra Technologies has recently bought several impressive RFID companies, putting over $200 million on the table; and with $500 million in the bank, it is clearly poised to do more. In different RFID sectors, Assa Abloy buys at least one RFID company every year. Inside Contactless has just raised $38 million to boost its effort on RFID enabled mobile phones with the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia, leading the group of investors. Clearly RFID is taking off — big time.
Leap forward in HF RFID
Consider High Frequency RFID. This is the main focus of spending on the technology, with ISO 14443 tags and systems responsible for about 10 times the order value of any other contestant. It is not strongly promoted and it is widely believed to be a mature technology with little improvement ahead of it. Yet HF RFID is taking a huge leap forward thanks to a string of technical breakthroughs in 2007 and 2008 that sharply increase range, multi-tag reading and tag cost and size. These advances also promise lower cost tags and lower power readers to the point where battery operated miniature readers become commonplace. In each case up to a factor of 10 improvement is seen — there is nothing incremental about these advances. IDTechEx has encapsulated this in a new report “HF RFID — the Great Leap Forward”.
Active RFID rapidly gains ground
Active RFID is a particularly hot sector of RFID, with tenfold increase in sales in prospect over the next 10 years powered first by Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) on people and assets then Ubiquitous Sensor Systems (USS) with some merging of the two in state of the art, ultra low cost radio mesh networks. Locate and track everyone and every asset in a hospital? Monitor forest fires with a billion tags? Print RFID tags on paper? This and much more is in prospect and many radically new approaches make new markets feasible, including boosting the batteries with photovoltaics that works off both light and heat.
For example, Ultra Wide Band RTLS has an unmatched combination of accuracy even in 3D, avoidance of multipath and other interference, multi-tag reading at very high speed and penetration of walls. If the current growth of UWB RTLS continues, it will dominate the RTLS market within a few years. However, as the RTLS market reaches the billions of dollars level, there will be a place for many other exciting new RTLS technologies just about to hit the market and many giant corporations are seeking to enter the business. As predicted, recent additions to the IDTechEx RFID Knowledgebase of over 3,100 RFID projects in 101 countries involve an increasing percentage of active RFID projects. Incidentally, this is by far the world’s largest searchable database on RFID in action. It automatically generates graphs of such things as distribution of frequency used, active versus passive, tag shapes employed, and so on, by country.
Startling new innovations
RFID is at a very interesting stage, with huge investment and huge innovation such as silicon chips with the antenna on the chip yet long range. Surface Acoustic Wave RFID has been newly installed in the International Space Station because of its superlative performance and safety. Several types of RFID without the expensive silicon chip are about to hit the market, some with one hundredth of the cost and the capability of direct printing, avoiding the cost of applying a label.
The conference that covers it all
The world’s leading conference on RFID smart labels, active RFID, and their systems is called “RFID Smart Labels USA,” and it takes place in Boston, February 20-21, (www.IDTechEx.com/USA). All of these new advances will be analyzed. A substantial exhibition, investment forum, visits to best-in-class local RFID facilities and optional Masterclasses will once again bring the subject alive. Delegates will receive access to the RFID Knowledgebase of over 3100 projects for a limited period of time after the conference.
Little wonder that huge users and potential users will be speaking about their progress and needs for the future. They include LG, BP, Coca-Cola, Kimberly Clark, Ford, Chep (the world’s number one in pallets), International Post Corporation, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Boeing and — for the world’s airlines — IATA and SITA. Representatives from these companies will present full lectures (and you can meet them). This is not a matter of a brief appearance in an unscripted panel discussion. Organizers IDTechEx do things the traditional way with unmatched value for money. Indeed, independent analysts such as Baird will present in addition to analysts IDTechEx, so projections can be compared.
Cards, China and Japan
With over 40% of the RFID business currently involving cards, it is very relevant that the world number one in cards and, for that matter RFID passports and some other sectors, Gemalto, will present its latest advances.
China spent the most on RFID tags and systems in 2007, mainly driven by cards, so Chinese technical experts will explain what comes next because that surge has given Chinese RFID manufacturers an edge that is little appreciated in the West as yet.
Huge takeoff in RFID phones
Forty million people in Japan now have RFID enabled phones and there is a pretty clear road map emerging to when one billion or more people have them. These phones will be to the Near Field Communication ISO global standards and employ an active RFID reader in the phone that can act as an active RFID tag when on and a passive one when off.
IDTechEx has written the definitive report on this program as a huge number of trails of many innovative NFC benefits are mounted across the world and the haggling about who keeps the profit comes to a close. Many new NFC phones will shortly hit the market. The IDTechEx report “RFID Mobile Phones and Contactless Smart Cards 2008-2018” comes to the interesting conclusion that both forms of RFID will prosper. Those phones will emulate some payment and access cards but will not significantly affect national ID cards and other versions and even in finance, the payment methods will coexist. RFID tags in buildings and many other locations will be monitored by the phones enabling a plethora of added value services to be lucratively provided. The conference thoroughly explains this from several viewpoints. All will be revealed from companies such as LG, Motorola and Nokia — the biggest cell phone manufacturers in the World.
Register early for the best saving and over $3,500 of IDTechEx research — see www.IDTechEx.com/USA for full details.
Raghu Das is the CEO of IDTechEx. For more RFID articles from IDTechEx, please see www.idtechex.com.
Precision Dynamics Corporation and Gateway Ticketing Systems Partner to Provide Plug-and-Play RFID Solutions
Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC) and Gateway Ticketing Systems (high-speed admission control and ticketing software company for the attraction, amusement, and intercity bus transportation industries) announce a partnership formed to meet the rapidly growing demand for cashless transactions. The partnership allows PDC to enter into the markets served by Gateway by using PDC’s Smart Band® RFID Wristbands, which support cashless transactions and keyless entry. Gateway, who has built a reputation as a complete ticketing solution provider in the industries it serves, benefits by being able to incorporate a plug-and-play RFID system into its Galaxy Point of Sale software module.
“PDC is happy to be partnering with such a reputable company as Gateway Ticketing Systems,” says Robin Barber, Vice President for PDC. “This partnership will enable us to expand to broader markets and present custom, quality RFID solutions to more businesses.”
PDC introduced the first patented RFID wristband, Smart Band®, which is used in venues such as waterparks and resorts for automated admissions, guest identification, cashless point-of-sale, keyless entry, and more. Gateway Ticketing Systems Inc., with headquarters in Boyertown, PA, has been developing ticketing software solutions and providing service and support for Point of Sale and ticketing systems worldwide for 20 years.
“One of our primary tasks at Gateway is to create an easy, seamless guest experience,” says Michael Andre, President of Gateway. “By doing that, we help our customers build a positive relationship with their guests, and that translates into repeat business for them. The RFID products developed by PDC help us achieve the goal of an optimized guest experience.”
TAGSYS Announces Latest Multi-Branch Libraray RFID System Deployment
TAGSYS announces a comprehensive RFID system deployment for all branches of the Geneva City Libraries (Bibliothèques Municipales de Genève — BM). TAGSYS also announces that BM is the first library network to deploy e-connectware™, TAGSYS’ innovative software for the remote, real-time management and optimization of RFID networks. Working with its Swiss partner SOLID, the system is a response to BM’s request for benchmark management of inventory and loans.
As one of the largest Swiss libraries network, Geneva City Libraries (BM) places users at the heart of its activities. In order to fulfill the users’ needs for information, culture, and leisure, the BMs concentrate their effort to propose a free and a wide variety of collections (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.), events (exhibitions, conferences, etc.), and quality services.
The BM network is constituted of seven libraries (with spaces for young people and adults), one multimedia library, two discotheques, one library dedicated to sports, five bookmobiles, a prison library, and home delivery service. BM represents 1.6 million loans per year, 7,600 new subscriptions each year, and 500,000 annual visits. BM has purchased nearly 800,000 TAGSYS Folio™ RFID tags, with 600,000 embedded in books, 100,000 on CDs, and 80,000 in patron cards. The library also has purchased 50 TAGSYS security gates and 50 circulation stations.
“The Geneva deployment is an excellent showcase for e-connectware’s power and adaptability,” says Elie Simon, President and CEO of TAGSYS. “BM is dependent on its RFID systems to track and protect hundreds of thousands of books, CDs, and other valuable library material across many branches. Without e-connectware, BM would not have as high an assurance for quality of service and overall high performance of this system.”
e-connectware is a comprehensive set of management and administrative tools to remotely manage and optimize RFID system functions — in real time — to enable the highest quality-of-service levels and ensure data accuracy and integrity in item-level tagging. e-connectware is an ISO 15693-compliant, open-standard solution, and is a fundamental value-add for BM because of its ability to monitor occupancy via a people-counting feature at security gates. By better managing human and item traffic, the library can better allocate staff and security, ultimately rendering better service to patrons. To date, Geneva City Libraries have installed e-connectware in three branches, with all 8 others planning to come online by the end of the 2008’s first semester.
“We choose the TAGSYS concept presented by SOLID because monitoring system performance is critical to the success of this deployment,” says Kieran Pavel, in charge of the RFID project for the BM. “Because our network makes available an important variety of localization, documents, and patrons, our MIS department must know at all times how the system is performing. We also have high expectations regarding e-connectware’s track-and-trace process. The RFID and the e-connectware could largely reduce the track-and-trace process.”
“For many years TAGSYS and SOLID have partnered to bring the very best RFID solutions to the most demanding track-and-trace scenarios,” says Yves Alimi, CEO of SOLID. “The Geneva City Libraries house some of the world’s most valuable literary and historic tracts, and our RFID systems will ensure those items are safe and accounted for at all times.
Magellan Technology Announces DNA/Specimen Tracking Applications
Magellan Technology announces its new RFID reader with PJM StackTag® technology, which has been specially designed to enable hospitals and laboratories to easily and accurately track multiple DNA and other slide specimens that are stacked or stored very close together with little or no space between the slides.
The new RFID reader has been specifically developed to take advantage of Magellan’s unique PJM (Phase Jitter Modulation) StackTag technology, which complies with the international standard ISO/IEC 18000-3 Mode 2, and has the ability to reliably communicate with RFID tags even when they are stacked, touching, or overlapping each other without any separation.
As many as 1,000 microscope slides can be read in a few seconds with Magellan’s new RFID reader, providing hospitals and laboratories with an easy and efficient way to catalogue and track the thousands of specimens they have to store, often for many years. The 13.56 MHz HF (High Frequency) technology inherent in Magellan’s reader is ideally suited for difficult environments such as tissue samples and items containing liquids.
“Our solution allows substantially more flexibility for the suppliers of DNA test kits to universities, hospitals, and government agencies than any other RFID systems currently available,” explains Ken Laing, Magellan Technology’s Vice President, Sales and Marketing. “With Magellan’s PJM technology, it’s not a problem when the tags on two different DNA samples touch and as a result, many more samples can be stored on the shelves or in the cabinets. In fact, the savings in time and labor combined with the fact that hundreds if not thousands of samples can be stored more compactly, once again demonstrates Magellan's commitment to identifying applications that until now could not effectively or reliably use RFID.”
Magellan’s new RFID reader contains a full embedded RFID Operating System so that it can be directly connected to the IT network using Ethernet or USB. The reader is ROHS-compliant and fully certified for CSA/UL, FCC, CE, Australia, and Canada. A video clip is available on the Magellan website that demonstrates the use of the new reader.
