Innovative Process Embeds World's Smallest Low-Frequency Chips Into RFID Tags

HID Global, trusted leader in solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced its manufacturing innovation that enables use of the world's smallest integrated low-frequency (LF) chips ever produced for contactless ID applications. HID Global is the first company that can effectively attach an antenna via its patented direct bonding technology to a chip surface less than 0.3 millimeters square, which is smaller than the pinpoint of a needle. This area is 50 to 75 percent smaller than the industry's smallest chips previously used for deployment in LF radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and transponders.
The integrated chips use less material, which enables production efficiencies for chip manufacturers as well as increasingly smaller form factors for finished RFID tag products. As chip manufacturers developed methods to provide computing capacity into smaller sized chips, RFID engineers were previously restricted by process limitations. Equipment could not handle the tiny chips, nor could effective antennas be mounted to them. Through HID Global's newly developed capabilities, the company can utilize the latest micro-sized chips to bring to market new innovative tag products that will provide customers more tag options.
"We've been successful in producing smaller chips with different memory size options," said Chris Feige, general manager, Tags & Labels, NXP Semiconductors, maker of the Hitag(R) micro chip family (HTMS1x01/HTMS8x01). "Now, HID Global has eliminated the barriers to integrating these micro-sized chips into tiny RFID solutions, allowing our next generation chip to reach its full potential."
In addition to providing the opportunity to reduce unit cost and tag size, HID Global's patented technology for bonding the smallest chip on the market offers RFID system engineers more design options. Where read range is important, a small chip also makes room for a larger antenna for improved performance over a comparably sized tag with a conventional chip. In space-restricted applications, engineers can now design smaller form factors without compromising performance.
A key application in which these chip/antenna combinations have tremendous potential are glass tags for animal identification. Smaller glass tags are less intrusive, especially tags designed for subcutaneous implant. Uncompromised read range performance also reduces trauma to laboratory animals and pets.
"HID Global's break-through technology removes limitations that previously existed in the market, making it possible to integrate the smallest possible chips into RFID tags, while delivering exceptional size-to-performance ratios," said Marc Bielmann, managing director of Identification Technologies with HID Global. "Innovative handling and assembly technologies reinforce our leadership in RFID solutions development for a broad spectrum of animal ID, industrial applications and access control."

SA not ready for NFC technology yet

South African banks and retailers are likely to be slow to adopt near-field communications (NFC) technology for mobile payments because of the high costs of installing point-of-sale terminals and other enabling infrastructure. That's the word from Tim Walter, executive head of marketing at Nashua Mobile, who says that there is little appetite among institutions to drive adoption of yet another new point-of-sale payment technology just as the end of their protracted rollout of the EMV credit card standard is in sight.

Improving banknote security with organic electronics

Counterfeiting of bank notes has always been a problem and central banks are leading a high-tech fight against sophisticated counterfeiting operations. For instance, when the European Central Bank (ECB) designed its new banknotes, they included a variety of security features – holograms, foil stripes, special threads, microprinting, special inks and watermarks (see here for an interactive display of security features).

Nevertheless, there were rumors already at the start of the euro that the ECB was working on embedding radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to further enhance security. A RFID tag's ability to read and write information to a banknote could make it very difficult, for example, for kidnappers or bank robbers to ask for 'unmarked' bills. A tag would give governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally track these bills.

LF Contactless Key Fob RFID Tag for Personnel Identification and ID Control

GAO RFID Inc is offering its LF contactless key fob RFID tag commonly used for personnel identification and ID control. This contactless RFID tag, model 111006, operates at a frequency of 125 kHz. It is compliant with the EM4100 standard. It provides a read range of 2 to 6 cm with a maximum read quantity of 1 tag/s. It is light in weight and has a high memory capacity of 64 bits R/W. This light weight tag has Manchester, Biphase and PSK data coding types. It is waterproof and resistant to immersion in salt water, alcohol, oil, 10% HCl and ammonia allowing it to perform well even in harsh industrial environments. Moreover, this key fob RFID tag is able to withstand shock or vibration.

India's first RFID technology toll

India's first RFID (radio frequency identification) -based electronic toll plaza was inaugurated on National Highway No.5 (NH-5) at Chandimandir in Haryana's Panchkula district. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister C.P. Joshi inaugurated the new toll plaza in the presence of union Culture Minister Selja, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The new toll plaza is on the Zirakpur-Parwanoo section of the NH-5, 20 km from Chandigarh.

Village first to get biometric smart cards

For the first time in the state, the Tiruvannamalai (India) district administration has issued biometric smart cards to beneficiaries of social security schemes to ensure a paperless and transparent system, through which social security payments can be made. Of the total 1,70,500 beneficiaries of eight social security schemes, including the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme, Destitute and Deserted Wife Pension and Destitute Widow Pension in the district, the district administration, in association with 12 public and private sector banks, issued smart cards to 18,500 beneficiaries.

New RFID Guidelines For Retailers And Suppliers Unveiled By VICS Board

Suppliers, retailers and solution providers seeking help on efficient identification, serialization and placement of Electronic Product Code (EPC)-enabled RFID tags should benefit from new guidelines that were announced recently by the Board of Directors of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association (VICS). The new guidelines, developed by the VICS Item Level RFID Initiative (VILRI) on RFID tag placement and performance, cover how the industry should cooperate to ensure reliable tag performance and data capture deployment. .
The guideline for tag placement uses the UPC tag placement guideline as a starting point and requires bi-directional communication between supplier and retailer during EPC implementation in order to determine optimal EPC type and placement. The goal is to minimize work effort and keep implementation costs low. The guidelines for tag performance inform the business user community about the factors that influence use-case fitness of RFID tags, and how the industry can and should cooperate now and in the future to ensure reliable deployments from a tag performance and data capture perspective. The VICS Board of Directors also endorsed the GS1 US Serialization Management Working Group approach to re-enforce the GS1 General Specification where brand owners are the sole owners of the serial number for their products.
"The VICS board's decision to adopt the guidelines for tag placement and performance and serialization gives a strong signal to the industry that all trading partners need to move beyond limited trials and consider full fledged rollouts of RFID systems at the item level. The improvement in inventory accuracy alone has proven to deliver more than enough to pay for the investment. Now that we have a growing number of standards to guide companies through the process, the initial outlay for these systems is likely to decrease," said Joe Andraski, President and CEO of VICS.
The VICS board previously endorsed the GS1 EPC standards, which enable companies to identify, capture and share information to deliver real time visibility into inventory and business processes. GS1 EPC standards increase visibility and efficiency throughout the supply chain and improve quality information flow between companies and their key trading partners. VICS has also endorsed the use of GS1 Keys, Barcode Data Capture standards and other GS1 technical standards, including VICS EDI.
"The people leading the VICS Item Level RFID Initiative will do for the EPC what forward-looking people did for the UPC barcode in the 1970s," said Bob Carpenter, President and CEO of GS1 US. "Their consensus on using a standards-based approach to RFID will dramatically accelerate widespread adoption of the technology. Their companies will be more efficient, and as a result their customers will be happier and more loyal."
The new guidelines are specific to replenishable merchandise in apparel and footwear. VILRI anticipates that they will include other consumer goods in the future as determined by the Advisory Board and approved by the VICS Board of Directors.

US firm develops contactless and NFC parking meter

A US firm has developed a new wireless e-money parking meter which will allow motorists to make contactless and near field communication (NFC) payments. Parking specialist MacKay Meters has teamed up with electronic payment firm UIC to develop the new MacKay Guardian Solo meter. Motorists can already pay their parking fee with credit cards, tokens, MacKay smart cards and cash at the company's meters but the latest upgrade will enable them to use contactless-enabled bank cards and smartphones featuring NFC technology.

Strategic RFID Partnership in China Market

Alien Technology and Digital China, the largest integrated IT service provider in China, today announced a strategic relationship for RFID sales, product offerings and solution delivery to customers in China.

Digital China provides customers with sophisticated application-based IT solutions, driving technological innovations for work and personal life while enhancing the digitalization process in China. Digital China has a formidable local infrastructure with 50 offices, 16,000 staff and an organization that addresses 860 cities throughout China with its 19,000 channel/value-added channels. Digital China focuses on significant market players within their respective industries including China Development Bank, China Mobile, Sinopec and others.

The partnership provides the right to resell Alien's integrated circuits (ICs), inlays, readers, services and training to Digital China's new and existing customers/resellers through its extensive reach within the China market. Alien will become Digital China's preferred RFID partner and will be the first choice recommendation to Digital China's customers for all UHF RFID solutions.

Glasgow to roll out new smartcard for Subway

Smartcard tickets, similar to London’s Oyster Card, will be introduced on Glasgow’s Subway next year. Commuters will be able to top up their card online from the comfort of their home or work, at stations and at shops. They will tap the card on a special reader at the start of the journey and again at the end.

RFID Chipmakers Align on Industry-Wide Serialization Schema

Leading UHF Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) technology provider Impinj, Inc. announced industry alignment on a chip-based serialization schema, termed MCS (Multi-vendor Chip-Based Serialization), to facilitate serialization for brand-owners using passive RFID tags for item level tagging. MCS addresses applications using the Serialized Global Trade Identification (SGTIN-96) for universally identifying products in the supply chain and complies with the guidelines set forth by GS1, the standards body for Electronic Product Code (EPC). Aligned UHF EPC Gen2 RFID tag IC manufacturers include Alien Technology, Impinj and NXP Semiconductors.

Under GS1 serialization guidelines, each brand-owner is responsible for ensuring unique serialization for their tagged products. Serial number management has clearly been identified as an industry challenge. Until today's alignment, each IC vendor has been independently approaching the issue that would require each brand-owner to determine how to coordinate between IC suppliers. MCS was designed to address this issue by recommending a simple and flexible guideline for an industry-aligned approach, accommodating both chip-based and customized IT-based solutions.

MCS relieves the burdens associated with serial number management, even among multiple RFID IC suppliers providing solutions for billions of tags. MCS-compliant systems will utilize a self-contained, factory programmed and permanently locked unique serial number embedded within the Tag Identifier (TID) memory of each IC. With an MCS compatible solution, brand-owners simply distribute tag product data as before, leaving it to the printing or encoding device to provide the unique serial number for RFID encoding that is now extracted from the MCS compatible tag. The result is a complete SGTIN-96 without the burden of number management and without worry of a duplicate.

Someone is putting QR Codes to good use. Well.ca is bringing the first QR‐code virtual store in North America to downtown Toronto. Running from April 2 to 30, this innovative shopping experience allows users to skip the line ups and have their favourite health, baby and beauty products delivered to their homes. Read details of the release after the jump.
To participate in the virtual shopping experience, consumers begin by downloading the Well.ca app, available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone. Once installed, consumers can visit the virtual store – a visual representation of the store shelves they are used to – scan the product QR codes and check out on their phone. The process is simple and hassle‐free and includes free delivery across Canada.

QR Codes To Support Integrated Marketing Programs

Intelisent has seamlessly integrated QR codes into their WebTrack IMb Tracing product to provide marketers with a cutting-edge tool that sends information across multiple channels — offline, online, and mobile. These QR codes meet all USPS requirements, and the USPS is providing a 2% price reduction in postage when QR codes are used in marketing materials this summer.
QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can contain alphanumeric text and feature URLs that direct users to websites. An advantage of the QR code is the ability to hold a large quantity of alphanumeric characters to link to even the longest website URL. The QR code is scanned on a mobile device, and leads the consumer to a mobile-optimized website that is unique to the individual recipient.
Intelisent creates QR codes that are always relevant to the mail piece. The company’s robust infrastructure allows them to handle large volumes, and the QR codes are always unique and individual for each mail piece. The importance of this capability is that it leads qualified prospects to the advertiser’s website immediately, increasing the conversion rate in sales, (examples: mobile couponing, product/loyalty marketing, directions to the business, free mp3 downloads, customer feedback forms).
A study entitled “Personalized Marketing and Real Time Data,” written by noted marketing industry analyst David Daniels of The Relevancy Group, shows that marketers who leverage live data to enhance the timeliness and relevance of their outbound marketing messages can achieve nearly six (6) times the return on investment of marketers who are less strategic in their approach. QR Codes are a part of the next generation of marketing strategies to help companies promote, message, and integrate their total marketing efforts.

Syrma Participates in Leading RFID Events

Syrma Technology will be showcasing its extensive RFID custom development capabilities and growing standards-based product lines at two leading industry events: RFID Journal LIVE! April 3-5 in Orlando, Florida, and EURO ID April 24-26 in Berlin. More information about these events and the products and capabilities Syrma will feature there are available through the company’s new website, www.SyrmaRFID.com.
Visitors to the Syrma (Booth 1105 at RFID Journal LIVE! and Booth C10 at EURO ID) can see Syrma’s two newest products: a handheld reader with a USB interface for use with handheld computers, tablets, laptops, PCs and other devices, and a tiny tag that is only 2mm in diameter and 2.2mm thick. The tag is the smallest in Syrma’s product line and can be used on many previously hard-to-track items. Both products support the ISO 15693 high frequency (13.56 MHz) standard, and the reader also supports ISO 14443.
  Syrma will be giving away four free USB readers at each show. Booth winners will be randomly drawn from business cards collected from visitors to Syrma’s booth.
 

PiiComm Inc. to Supply RFID Asset Management Solution for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

PiiComm Inc., a Wireless Systems Integrator and leader in RFID Asset Management and Field Workforce Mobility Systems, has been selected by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) to provide a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Barcode Asset Tracking solution to track physical assets stored at locations in over 170 Missions worldwide.

PiiComm has introduced an easy and effective Advanced Information Data Capture (AIDC) solution for DFAIT agents who will carry the barcode and RFID device during his/her workday, adding, verifying and modifying the tracked data as appropriate allowing them to upload/download asset data to SAP via the SIGNET worldwide Corporate data network. The solution leverages RFID enabled handheld mobile computers from Motorola Solutions Inc. and customized software developed by PiiComm which has been certified for use on the SIGNET network by DFAIT.

The Department's intent is to ensure that all appropriate items (capital assets, attractive items) are tracked within the Corporate Finance and Material Management system. The barcode and RFID solution will be standardized for all of DFAIT and will improve accuracy and visibility to those assets.