Как работают RFID

Kevin Bonsor

Длинные очереди перед кассами в гастрономе вызывают жалобы многих. Скоро, они могут исчезнуть, когда вездесущий (UPC) штриховой код Универсальный Код Продукта заменится умными этикетками, названными радиочастотными (RFID) идентификационными метками. Метки RFID по существу являются интеллектуальными штриховыми кодами, которые могут переговорить по сети с системой, и отследить каждый продукт, что Вы кладете в вашу тележку.

Photo courtesy Motorola Smart labels like Motorola's BiStatix tags will enable manufacturers to track their products at all times.

Imagine going to the grocery store, filling up your cart and walking right out the door. No longer will you have to wait as someone rings up each item in your cart one at at time. Instead, these RFID tags will communicate with an electronic reader that will detect every item in the cart and ring each up almost instantly. The reader will be connected to a large network that will send information on your products to the retailer and product manufacturers. Your bank will then be notified and the amount of the bill will be deducted from your account. No lines, no waiting.

RFID tags, a technology once limited to tracking cattle, will soon be tracking trillions of consumer products worldwide. Manufacturers will know the location of each product they make from the time it's made until it's used and tossed in the recycle bin or trash can. In this article, you'll learn about the types of RFID tags in development and how these smart labels will be tracked through the entire supply chain.

Reinventing the Bar Code

Barcodes, like this one found on a soda can, are found on almost everything we buy.

Almost everything that you buy from retailers has a UPC bar code printed on it. These bar codes help manufacturers and retailers keep track of inventory. They also give valuable information about the quantity of products being bought and, to some extent, by whom the products are being bought. These codes serve as product fingerprints made of machine-readable parallel bars that store binary code.

Created in the early 1970s to speed up the check out process, bar codes have a few disadvantages:

• In order to keep up with inventories, companies must scan each bar code on every box of a particular product.
• Going through the checkout line involves the same process of scanning each bar code on each item.
• Bar code is a read-only technology, meaning that it cannot send out any information.

Let's look at two types of smart labels that have read and write capabilities, which means that the data stored on these labels can be changed, updated and locked.

Inductively Coupled RFID Tags

This type of RFID tag has been used for years to track everything from cows and railroad cars to airline baggage and highway tolls. There are three parts to a typical inductively coupled RFID tag:

• Silicon microprocessor - These chips vary in size depending on their purpose
• Metal coil - Made of copper or aluminum wire that is wound into a circular pattern on the transponder, this coil acts as the tag's antenna. The tag transmits signals to the reader, with read distance determined by the size of the coil antenna. These coil antennas can operate at 13.56 MHz.
• Encapsulating material - glass or polymer material that wraps around the chip and coil

Inductive RFID tags are powered by the magnetic field generated by the reader. The tag's antenna picks up the magnetic energy, and the tag communicates with the reader. The tag then modulates the magnetic field in order to retrieve and transmit data back to the reader. Data is transmitted back to the reader, which directs it to the host computer.

RFID tags are very expensive on a per-unit basis, costing anywhere from $1 for passive button tags to $200 for battery-powered, read-write tags. The high cost for these tags is due to the silicon, the coil antenna and the process that is needed to wind the coil around the surface of the tag.

Capacitively Coupled RFID Tags
Capacitively coupled RFID tags have been created in an attempt to lower the cost of radio-tag systems. These tags do away with the metal coil and use a small amount of silicon to perform that same function as a inductively coupled tag. A capacitively coupled tag also has three parts:

• Silicon microprocessor - Motorola's BiStatix RFID tags use a silicon chip that is only 3 mm². These tags can store 96 bits of information, which would allow for trillions of unique numbers that can be assigned to products.
• Conductive carbon ink - This special ink acts as the tag's antenna. It is applied to the paper substrate through conventional printing means. (For more information, read How Printable Computers Will Work.)
• Paper - The silicon chip is attached to printed carbon-ink electrodes on the back of a paper label, creating a low-cost, disposable tag that can be integrated on conventional product labels.

By using conductive ink instead of metal coils, the price of capacitively coupled tags are as low as 50 cents. These tags are also more flexible than the inductively coupled tag. Capacitively coupled tags, like the ones made by Motorola, can be bent, torn or crumpled, and can still relay data to the tag reader. In contrast to the magnetic energy that powers the inductively coupled tag, capacitively coupled tags are powered by electric fields generated by the reader.

The disadvantage to this kind of tag is that it has a very limited range. The range of Motorola's BiStatix tags is limited to just about 1 cm (.39 inch). Making the tag cover a larger area of the product packaging will increase the range, but not to the extent that would be ideal for the system that retailers would want. In order for a global system of trillions of talking tags to work, the range needs to be boosted to several feet or more. Intermec has developed RFID tags that meet these needs, but that are too expensive to be cost-effective.

Researchers at several companies are looking for ways to create a tag with a range of several feet, but that costs about the same as bar code technology. In order for retailers to implement a widespread RFID tag system, the cost of the tags will have to get down to one penny (1 cent) per tag. In the next section, you will learn how these tags will be used to create a global system of tags that link to the Internet.

Talking Tags
When scientists are able to increase the range and lower the price of RFID tags, it will lead to a ubiquitous network of smart packages that track every phase of the supply chain. Store shelves will be full of smart-labeled products that can be tracked from purchase to trash can. The shelves themselves will communicate wirelessly with the network. The tags will be just one component of this large product-tracking network to collect data.

The other two pieces to this network will be the readers that communicate directly with these smart labels and the Internet, which will serve as the communications lines for the network. Readers could soon be everywhere, including home appliances and gadgets. In fact, readers could be built directly into the walls during a building's construction becoming a seamless, unseen part of our surroundings.

Let's look at a real-world scenario of how this system might work:

• On a typical trip to the grocery store, one of the items on your shopping list is milk. The milk containers will have a smart label that stores the milk's expiration date and price. When you pick up the milk from the shelf, the shelf may display that milk container's specific expiration date or the information could be wirelessly sent to your personal digital assistant or cell phone.
• The milk and all of the other items you've picked up at the store are automatically tallied as you walk through the doors that have an embedded tag reader. The information from the purchases you've made are sent to your bank, which deducts the amount of the bill from your account. Product manufacturers know that you've bought their product and the store's computers know exactly how many of each product that need to be reordered.
• Once you get home, you put your milk in the refrigerator, which is also equipped with a tag reader. This smart refrigerator is capable of tracking all of your groceries stored in it. It can track the foods you use, how often you restock your refrigerator and can let you know when that milk and other foods spoil.
• Products are also tracked when they are thrown into a trash can or recycle bin. At this point, your refrigerator could add milk to your grocery list, or you could program it to order these items automatically.

In order for this system to work, each product will have to be given a unique product number. MIT's Auto-ID Center, created a couple of years ago, is working on an Electronic Product Code (EPC) identifier that could replace the UPC. Every smart label could contain 96 bits of information, including the product manufacturer, product name and a 40-bit serial number. Using this system, a smart label would communicate with a network, called the Object Naming Service. This database would retrieve information about a product and then direct information to the manufacturer's computers.

The information stored on the smart labels would be written in a Product Markup Language (PML), which is based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). PML would allow all computers to communicate with any computer system in a similar way that Web servers read Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), the common language used to create Web pages.

Researchers believe that smart labels could be on your favorite consumer products very soon. Once the technical challenges are overcome, the only obstacle might be the public's reaction to a network system that can track every thing that they buy and keep in their kitchen cabinets.

Bar Code History

At 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, a customer at Marsh's supermarket in Troy, OH, made the first purchase of a product with a bar code, a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum. This began a new era in retail that sped up check-outs and gave companies a more efficient method for inventory control. That pack of gum took its place in American history and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History.

That historical purchase was the culmination of nearly 30 years of research and development. The first system for automatic product coding was patented by Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland, both graduate students at Drexler Institute of Technology. They used a pattern of ink that glowed under ultraviolet light. This system was too expensive and the ink wasn't too stable. The system we use today was unveiled by IBM in 1973, and uses readers designed by NCR.

Источник -- http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/

Lots More Information

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

• How UPC Bar Codes Work
• How Anti-shoplifting Devices Work
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RFID мышка

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Эта оптическая трех-кнопочная мышь работает без батареек: поэтому она необычно легкая и выгодная (экономит деньги своего хозяина).
С помощью RFID, мышка получает питание и обменивается информацией с ковриком.

RFID Makes the Grade

At the University of Houston's RFID Programming class, undergrads get to configure RFID networks and establish back-end software infrastructure.

Email Article Create PDF Print Article Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Turn Definitions Off By Mary Catherine O'Connor Apr. 27, 2005—The 24 undergraduate students enrolled in the inaugural offering of RFID Programming, an elective in the university's management information systems (MIS) department of the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, are gearing up for their final exam next week. Since the class began in January, they have followed a syllabus designed to equip them with enough knowledge of RFID—from technical and business points-of-view—to carry out successful RFID implementation projects when they join the workforce. Most of the students are majoring in management information systems (MIS); a few students are pursuing degrees in operations management. "We haven't had companies pounding our doors to hire RFID experts," says Dennis Adams, chairman of the decision and information sciences department of the C.T. Bauer College of Business and the driving force behind the creation of the RFID course. But this lack of apparent demand, he believes, is because most companies are running their RFID operations in-house and have not yet started the kind of process planning they'll need to handle the influx of data that RFID tagging operations will produce. Once that happens, however, he believes they will start knocking. Dennis Adams "It's when companies get in trouble that they say, 'Let's go to the universities,'" he explains. When, or if, the companies do, students taking the school's class on RFID will be able to leverage their academic experience. Vlad Krotov, a doctoral student in the Bauer College of Business who instructs the RFID Programming class, says the students are excited about RFID and really want to learn how it can be used in the real world. "The focus of the class is to think about RFID critically," he says. The course has been designed as a comprehensive survey of the technology and its business applications. Krotov culled reading materials for the class from industry publications such as RFID Journal, as well as various corporations' white papers and case studies of RFID deployments. In addition to taking quizzes based on these materials, students completed collaborative lab assignments in which they configured networks of RFID tags and fixed-position and mobile readers and established a back-end software infrastructure using a developer's kit that was donated to the class by active RFID systems developer RF Code, of Mesa, Ariz. The students wrote data to RF Code's active Mantis tags and deployed readers in a lab setting using RF Code's TAVIS middleware and Visual Basic. "The class lets [the students] get their hands dirty by physically using RFID devices, but then putting the RFID technology in a larger context" to devise ways of handling the data they generate, says Adams. It's a formula that seems to be working: Not one student has dropped the class. Adams says that the class will be offered again next year. Adams says that a significant number of graduates of the MIS program wind up working for one of the many local oil or energy corporations, such as Shell or Exxon Mobil, which are looking at RFID applications to track large machinery and to manage the supply chain for consumer products. He also notes that Wal-Mart, the pioneer of RFID in the retail supply chain, is building a large distribution center in Houston and that Home Depot, another early adopter of RFID, operates a nearby distribution center. One way that local companies with RFID practices have been able to connect with students in the RFID programming class is through speaking opportunities. During this semester Mel Davis, logistics director of ModusLink, a global supply chain and logistics consultancy with a Houston office, and Abeezar Tyebji, CEO of Shipcom Wireless, a Houston-based provider of supply chain management software, gave guest lectures about the role of RFID within their organizations. The Bauer College of Business isn't the only school that has introduced RFID into its curriculum. In East Lansing, Michigan State University's School of Packaging offers an undergraduate class on the use of RFID in packaging. The school also has an RFID testing lab that was opened in 1999 by Robert Clarke, the professor who teaches the RFID course. According to the school's Web site, undergraduate and graduate students use the lab for independent testing and research projects. At least five Michigan State University students have completed their master's degrees in RFID research, in topics such as RFID in warehousing and supply chain applications packaging, and RFID systems design. This past fall, a University of California professor of mechanical engineering made RFID the focus of a class called the Management of Technology, in which students pursuing degrees in business-related topics collaborate with students pursuing technology-related degrees. The students were charged with designing and deploying novel business applications using RFID. There are also a number of RFID-related courses within executive education programs affiliated with universities and colleges across the U.S., including Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor Intel has a Seattle research laboratory affiliated with the University of Washington that is designing an RFID reader in a small form factor attached to a glove.

Food and Livestock Traceability

By Ms Emma Napier and Dr Peter Harrop

Summary of the Report

Recent devastating outbreaks such as foot and mouth disease, mad cow disease and avian flu are driving strict new legislation on food traceability. In addition, consumers are also demanding more information about the food they consume (as do the police and customs).

This report analyses the need for RFID, DNA and other technologies to enable food traceability. Ten year forecasts, case studies and technology evaluations provide a complete analysis on the topic in this 250 page market intelligence report researched globally by IDTechEx experts.

Traceability has become a buzzword in the food industry. Consumer demands for higher-quality foods and more variety have never been greater. Spurred on by recent food scares around the world, such as mad cow disease and bioterrorism fears, governments are forcing the adoption of food traceability systems.

Everyone from producer to retailer will be affected by food traceability. This state-of-the-art review deals with the key topics of traceability - technology, law, forecasts and case studies.

A must read for anyone involved in the food industry.

Report at a glance

Although tens of millions of RFID tags have been applied to livestock and food and millions of biometric procedures have been carried out, there is no analysis of the global situation and the lessons of success and failure. The potential for RFID tagging of livestock is billions yearly and the potential for radio tagging of food is in trillions a year, but what are the forecasts for such tagging at animal, pallet/case and item level for the next ten years? Which countries are in the lead and where will the next wave of technologies, laws and mandates be applied? These and other vital questions are answered for the first time in this major new report.

Written by Emma Napier, a practising veterinarian, and backed by the IDTechEx technical experts located across the world, this report analyses what is going on from fish to cattle, from Botswana to Japan and Canada. It identifies the most impressive suppliers and putative suppliers, the new technologies, the market drivers and much more.

This industry is on the move in a major way. It includes market pull, with McDonald’s the world’s largest outlet for cooked meat recently mandating full traceability from suppliers and Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, mandating RFID on all incoming pallets and cases. This is a prelude to tagging everything. It has legal push with the new European Union legislation in 2005 demanding “one up one down” traceability and the US Homeland Security legislation demanding unprecedented levels of traceability. China and Japan are also in the lead, and they have their own concerns. For example, Japan is convicting criminals that pass off inferior foreign fish as coming from Japanese waters.

Billion dollar businesses will be created as a consequence - much the same as happened with barcodes years ago.

IDTechEx believes that by 2015 900 billion food items could be RFID tagged, and 824 million livestock will have more sophisticated, more expensive tags on or in them. However, new technologies, now being developed, will be needed for the food items. The livestock figure could easily be doubled if chickens are tagged, something of vital interest to the Government of Thailand, which ships 400 million chicken carcases yearly and could have its whole industry wiped out by the new, virulent avian flu.

Table of Contents

	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1.	INTRODUCTION
1.1.	Food supply chain
1.1.1.	Food supply 2005
1.1.2.	Consumer interest
1.1.3.	Public confidence vs. food safety
1.1.4.	Key issues
1.2.	Definition of traceability
1.3.	Types of traceability
1.3.1.	Internal traceability
1.3.2.	External traceability
1.4.	Drivers of traceability:
1.5.	Need for Traceability
1.6.	Food scares
1.6.1.	BSE
1.6.2.	Scrapie
1.6.3.	Foot and Mouth Disease
1.6.4.	Bird flu
1.7.	Fraud
1.8.	Food residues
1.8.1.	Food residues
1.8.2.	Case study: Coca-Cola Europe
1.8.3.	Case study: Perrier water France
1.8.4.	Case study: Honey in China
1.8.5.	Case study: Malachite green in salmon Europe
1.9.	Food poisoning
1.10.	Advantages of traceability
1.10.1.	Animal Identification
1.10.2.	Consumer Demand
1.10.3.	Market Access
1.10.4.	Case study: Freedom Foods UK
1.10.5.	Government interest
1.11.	Statement of independence
2.	IMPLEMENTATION OF FOOD TRACEABILITY
2.1.	EAN.UCC – GS1
2.1.2.	EAN Fish
2.2.	CIES
2.3.	Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)
2.4.	FoodTrace
2.4.1.	Global Food Traceability Forum (GFTF)
2.5.	Can-Trace
3.	TRACEABILITY OF ANIMALS
3.1.	Animal Identification
3.1.1.	Cattle Identification
3.1.2.	Sheep identification
3.1.3.	Pig Identification
3.1.4.	Poultry Identification
3.1.5.	Fish Identification
3.2.	Methods of identification
3.2.1.	Paper
3.2.2.	UK Cattle Passports
3.2.3.	British Cattle Movement Service
3.2.4.	Branding, ear notching and tattooing
3.2.5.	Bar-coded ear tags
3.2.6.	RFID identification
3.2.7.	Tags with sensors
3.3.	Fish tagging
3.3.1.	External tags
3.3.2.	Branding Fish
3.3.3.	Snout tag
3.3.4.	Electronic tag
3.3.5.	Supplier Case study: Destron Fearing
3.3.6.	Case study: Beaver Street Fisheries US
3.3.7.	Case study: Newfoundland Government Canada
3.3.8.	Case study: Pacific States Marine US
3.3.9.	Case study: Queensland DPI Australia
3.4.	Biometric Techniques
3.4.1.	Optical identification
3.4.2.	Retinal imaging
3.4.3.	Iris imaging
3.4.4.	DNA methods
3.5.	Case studies of different technologies in action
3.5.1.	Optibrand – retinal imaging
3.5.2.	Allflex DNA tag
3.6.	Forecasts
3.6.1.	Future situation by country
3.6.2.	Forecasts of RFID use 2005-2015
4.	TRACEABILITY OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS
4.2.	Paper
4.3.	Barcodes
4.3.1.	Linear (one dimensional)
4.3.2.	Two dimensional
4.3.3.	Composite and Reduced Space
4.4.	RFID on animal products
4.4.1.	RFID in the cold chain
4.4.2.	Case study: Syscan International
4.4.3.	Case study: Findus
4.4.4.	Case study: KSW – Microtec
4.4.5.	Case study: GLI
4.4.6.	Case study: Absoft Thermatrak
4.4.7.	Case study: International Association of Iberian Pig Portugal/ Spain
4.4.8.	Case study: Campofrio Spain
4.4.9.	Case study: Foodsafe Botswana
4.4.10.	Case study: Maruetsu Japan
4.4.11.	Others
4.5.	RFID in food safety
4.5.1.	Case study: The SIRA Food Sentinel System US
4.6.	RFID in the supply chain
4.6.2.	Case study: Wal-Mart and others back RFID
4.6.3.	Case study: US Military
4.6.4.	Power PaperID™ - active RFID
4.7.	Summary of RFID trends
4.8.	Biometric methods
4.8.1.	DNA fingerprinting
4.8.2.	Case study: Maple Leaf foods Inc
4.8.3.	Case study - Superquinn Supermarkets
5.	MEAT AUTHENTICATION
5.1.	DNA methods
5.1.1.	Case study FoodExpert-ID US
5.2.	Trends in meat tracking and tracing
5.2.1.	Trends in Japan
6.	FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE
6.2.	TraceFish project
6.3.	RFID for fish
6.4.	Case study: Salmon - Norway and Chile
7.	FRESH PRODUCE, SEEDS AND BEVERAGES
7.1.	Fresh Produce
7.2.	Seeds
7.2.1.	Soybean
7.2.2.	RFID package tagging
7.3.	Beverages
7.3.1.	Wine and Viniculture
7.3.2.	Case study: Flying Null’s RFID ribbon on wine
7.3.3.	Case study: The Vignerons de Laudun winery France
7.4.	Foodservice supply chain
8.	MILK AND EGGS
8.1.	Milk
8.2.	Eggs
9.	GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS
10.	BIOTERRORISM
10.1.1.	Case study: Global Technology Resources
11.	FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES
11.1.	Printed Electronics
11.2.	Toxin Guard™
11.3.	Nanobarcodes®
11.4.	Iontophoretic tattoos Israel
	TABLES
3.1.	RFID projections in numbers and value of tags 2005-2015 for all items, pallets/ cases and animals.
3.2.	Projections in numbers of tags 2005-2015 for food items, food in pallets/cases and for livestock.
	FIGURES
1.1.	Four possible scenarios representing public concerns over food safety
1.2.	Birchgrove free range hens
1.3.	BSE is a cattle disease
1.4.	Ann Veneman
1.5.	Suffolk sheep in New Zealand
1.6.	Cow with FMD
1.7.	Poultry market in Thailand
1.8.	Cock fighting
1.9.	Healthy baby
1.10.	Chinese honey production
1.11.	The pathogens causing food poisoning
1.12.	RSPCA’s Freedom Food in the UK.
2.1.	EAN 13
2.2.	UPC-A
2.3.	EAN 128
3.1.	Cattle identification
3.2.	Leaflet on sheep identification in the UK
3.3.	Sow with ear tag
3.4.	There are many ways to identify a fish
3.5.	UK cattle passport
3.6.	Cattle branding iron
3.7.	Cherokee Park Ranch, Colorado
3.8.	Visually reading tags can be a problem in sheep
3.9.	Aleis StocTraka system
3.10.	DEFRA pilot trial
3.11.	Allflex lightweight sheep RFID tag
3.12.	AVID microchip
3.13.	Insertion of a rumen bolus
3.14.	Aleis rumen bolus
3.15.	Tekvet RFID ear tag and sensor
3.16.	Snout tag
3.17.	Allflex RFID implant for fisheries
3.18.	Structures of the eye used for identification
3.19.	Retinal scan
3.20.	Position of iris (Iridian)
3.21.	The optibrand system
3.22.	The optibrand reader
3.23.	Allflex DNA tag
3.24.	Aleis multiread sheep system
3.25.	Suffolk sheep in New Zealand
3.26.	Threat to humans through close contact with infected birds
4.1.	The evolution of tracking technologies
4.2.	PDF 417
4.3.	Matrix code
4.4.	Composite code
4.5.	RSS 14
4.6.	RSS 14 stacked
4.7.	RSS 14 Limited
4.8.	RSS Expanded
4.9.	Tempsens label
4.10.	Syscan reader
4.11.	Bioett biosensor
4.12.	GLI’s mems card
4.13.	Smart and Secure Tradelanes
4.14.	SIRA barcode
4.15.	The Food Sentinel SystemTM
4.16.	Progression of usage of RFID tags and systems in packaging
4.17.	Flexible battery from power paper
4.18.	Genetic ID cross check packaged meat
4.19.	Pyxis Genomics Porktrac system
4.20.	Role of DNA in the pork chain
4.21.	TraceBack logo
5.1.	FoodExpert-ID chip
5.2.	Aeon company barcode
6.1.	Herring
6.2.	Wavecheetah
6.3.	Salmon slaughterhouse in Norway
7.1.	Laudun grapes
7.2.	Laudun wines
7.3.	RFID tagged sushi meals
8.1.	Breakfast milk
8.2.	Laying hens
8.3.	Reiner inkjet egg stamps
11.1.	Toxin Guard logo
11.2.	Toxin Guard™ system

3М метит библиотечные CD/DVD с коробками

Библиотекарям скоро будет много легче идентифицировать диски: не надо открывать коробки и проверять соответствие ее и содержимого диска. Если подсунуть под антенну ридера коробку с диском - должны считаться две метки (если одна - клиент забыл всунуть в коробку диск) и их номера свериться с номерами клиентского заказа.

Ранее 3M уже радовала библиотекарей своей RFID системой учета книг One-Tag RFID System. В состав входила подсистема перекодировки штрих-кода в RFID (Conversion Station), противокражевые ворота (Detection System), носимый ридер библиотекаря с памятью на миллион едениц хранения и выдвижной шарнирной антенной. Все компоненты подробнее описаны ниже:

Source


3M™ Conversion Station Model 811

[click to enlarge]		Rapidly converts all library items from traditional optical barcode technology to RFID technology by reading the barcode and quickly printing a 3M™ RFID tag. A component of the 3M™ One-Tag RFID System.

Rely on a 3M™ Conversion Station for a seamless and cost-efficient migration to RFID. Converts item IDs from barcodes to RFID tags Fast processing means a lower application cost Automatically dispenses tags Includes touch-sensitive screen, optical barcode scanner, RFID reader Allows programming or reprogramming tag information Does not require connection to automated circulation system Self-contained on a portable cart that allows mobility through the stacks

3M™ Detection System Model 8800

[click to enlarge]		Prevents unauthorized removal of library materials marked with 3M™ RFID Tags.

For many libraries, the cost-effectiveness of 3M™ RFID Tags, combined with this 3M™ Detection System, is the practical choice for securing materials. State-of-the-art protection for all marked library materials Corridor width complies with the ADA Optional voice alarm plays a message of your choice Integrated traffic counter No application server required Available in dark gray or light gray

3M™ Digital Library Assistant Model 802

[click to enlarge]		Easy-to-use handheld unit that performs a variety of collection management functions based on RFID tags affixed to library materials. A component of the 3M™ One-Tag RFID System.

Your first line of defense against disorderly shelves. Makes shelf reading, re-shelving, sorting, searching, weeding and exception-finding routine tasks Can be used to scan items for security status in the event of an alarm Simultaneously performs shelf-reading, searching and inventory scans Can hold information for more than one million items Swivel antenna makes shelf-reading easy at high and low shelves Comfortable, cordless ergonomic design Can quickly identify titles of books not properly checked out

3M™ Pad Staff Workstation Model 895

[click to enlarge]		Checks in and checks out both barcoded and RFID-tagged items. Also program/reprograms RFID tags and converts item IDs from barcodes to RFID tags. A component of the 3M™ One-Tag RFID System.

Increase throughout by simplifying processing. Improves workplace efficient and ergonomics Processes barcoded and RFID-tagged items Display is combined with library's automation system display Works with the existing circulation desk computer, scanner, printer Operates as circulation station or tag programming station Can check out multiple items simultaneously

3M™ SelfCheck™ System Model 8210

[click to enlarge]		Allows easy self-checkout/check-in by library customers. Processes barcoded and RFID-tagged items and multiple items simultaneously. A component of the 3M One-Tag RFID System.

One tag can catapult your library into a more efficient, more productive future! Self-service checkout/check-in is simpler than ever. With no special item orientation required or scan line to find, customers enjoy an extremely high self-service success rate. Dramatically simplifies the checkout/check-in process Processes barcoded and RFID-tagged items Can process multiple items simultaneously Touch screen control Flexible options: four languages standard with more avaiable; enables payment of fines and fees Custom console is available in a choice of colrs and woodgrains Reader pad is built right into the countertop

US$5 billion from IBM for RFID

The main barrier to widespread use of disposable RFID "tags" is cost.

At present, RFID tags consist of a chip and an antenna cost about US20c еach to manufacture, if ordered in the millions - says Paul Moskowitz, of IBM's Industry Solutions Lab, based in Hawthorne.

With chip costs roughly halving every 18 months, Dr Moskowitz hopes within three to five years tags will cost only a few cents. IBM is hoping to use more organic materials in the chips, which will also reduce costs.

RFID technology consists of a tag and a reader. The reader can scan and record each tag as it passes within a set range.

Dr Moskowitz described the technology as being in the mature phase, where more complex tags are used for such things as electronic road tolling, smartcard petrol station refuelling, or recording athletes' times in sports events.

Cheaper RFID tags are used in business for tracking pallets or cases. But if the costs come down, RFID tags could be attached to individual items as a small sticker.

The interest in this is coming from the world's super-retailers, including US giant Wal-Mart, which anticipate savings through better stock control.

"A group of very large companies are demanding this technology," says Dr Moskowitz.

"They believe this will reduce a number of their problems."

The tags should prevent retailers from running out of stocked items, prevent theft, and give them a faster response time to their customers demands, thanks to better stock awareness.

However, Dr Moskowitz says there aren't enough tag manufacturers to cater for the 10 billion pallets of stock Wal-Mart receives a year - let alone the rest of the world.

Dr Moskowitz believes the establishment of an RFID standard for interoperability between the tags of different manufacturers will help accelerate the process. IBM is looking at ways of encrypting RFID tags to build security into the process.

IBM's industry solutions lab draws on part of the company's US$5 billion research and development budget. The focus these days is on applied research, with at least 85 per cent of research conducted expected to result in new products for the IBM range.

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Update on EPC tagging of pallets and cases

Across the world, the first quarter of 2005 saw few deliveries of pallets and cases with EPC UHF tags. Although Wal-Mart, Albertsons, Target, the US Military and others had mandated them, they received only of the order of one million tagged pallets and cases between them all. Wal-Mart reported only 63% successful reads - totally unacceptable - and demanded 100%. Kimberley Clark reported zero reads on loaded pallets that were wet from being brought in from the cold. Gillette started work on redesigning item packaging in cases and case packaging to be UHF friendly, with better spacing and removal of metal. With dry, non-metallic products and packaging a number of players reported 100% reads and in Germany, Metro was getting 100% reads or thereabouts even with absorbent and reflective loads by reading the tags with nothing in the way and using omnidirectional tags such as the Rafsec’s Flag Tag where an antenna pops up at right angles to the tag when it is applied.
In April 2005, IDTechEx assesses that the leading suppliers of EPC UHF pallet/ case tags were delivering at a rate of about 13 million tags per month and, although this was ten times the delivery rate at the end of 2004, it was woefully inadequate to meet the forecast of analysts and EPC global members of billions by year end or get the price down to the magic five cents where most of the world’s 30-40,000 pallets and cases will be tagged. Selling prices had dropped however, from around one dollar two years ago to around 20 cents.
It now looks as if 2005 will see no more than 3-400 million UHF EPC tags delivered to the suppliers of the major retailers and the US Military. They will include Class 0, Class1 and Class 2, Gen 2, with the necessary chips becoming available from six chipmakers. Thus some users are choosing read only tags programmed at the tag maker, other choose read only ones they can program and others, a significant number, choose read write. Some important participants now anticipate supply shortages limiting deliveries over the next three years despite rapid ramp up of production output of tags. This is partly because tag dead on arrival and tag failures in use are not yet always at acceptable levels in the view of the retailers and their suppliers buying the tags.
To comment on this article, please email editor@idtechex.com

Первые чипы EPC G2

Philips выпустила первые образцы чипов RFID, соответствующие EPC-1 G2.

Кристаллы имеют OTP память объемом 96bit, отрабатывают все обязательные команды и обеспечивают дополнительные команды (как определено в стандарте для Класса 1 G2) EPCglobal.

Чип использует алгоритм антиколлизии, который позволяет читать до 1 600 меток в секунду при выполнении нынешних американских законов о допустимой мощности излучения, и до 600 меток секунду при выполнении нынешних европейских законов о допустимой мощности излучения. Посредством обработки идентификатора области применения (AFI), чип будет одновременно соответствовать и EPCglobal и стандарту ISO 18000-6c. С приходом меток Класса 1 G2, предшествующие решения для технологии СВЧ (Класс 0 G1 и Класс 1 G1) от EPCglobal начинают устаревать.

Philips выбрал группу компаний, чтобы подготовить полное клиентское решение: ASK, Checkpoint, Deister Electronic, Feig, Intermec, Omron, SAMSys, Thingmagic, UPM Rafsec, X-Ident. Эти организации будут делать метки, аппаратные средства и софт, для меток на новом чипе. Их продукты появятся во втором квартале 2005, а к третьему кварталу намечен их массовой выпуск.

UCODE EPC G2 оценивается в 9 центов для партии от 10,000 штук. Поставки чипов для массового производства меток намечаются на 3-й квартал 2005 года.

Источник

RFID Strategy -- Taking RFID From Concept To Production

Key steps to moving a pilot project off the ground and into production.

By Chris York

Several weeks ago, we explored the typical steps involved in taking RFID from concept through to pilot and actual production use. Now it's time to delve deeper into the details of a pilot project.

Many companies are holding back on product testing and pilot project initiation with Class 0 and Class 1 EPC tags to prevent having to re-test Gen2 tags. As Gen2 (RFID generation 2 standards) equipment becomes available in volumes in the third quarter, you can expect a significant up tick in pilot project initiation.

As an example, let's look at a manufacturer that is shipping to Wal-Mart and debating whether to apply RFID tags in the distribution center just before shipment or apply them in the packaging process at the end of the manufacturing line. This company is trying to understand the volume of shipments that will be affected and whether it is more cost effective to simply apply tags on outbound shipments to Wal-Mart or apply them to all products in packaging. This manufacturer already uses integrated bar codes with its manufacturing execution system to track raw materials and work in process throughout the facility. The example company knows it has a compliance deadline looming and is going to initiate a pilot project; it is trying to determine the most cost-effective approach to ensure it invests its money wisely.

The process shown below will explore how that determination is made.

The key steps to developing a pilot project are:

1. Determine the project goal -- Obviously, being compliant with Wal-Mart requirements is the overall goal, but this company wants to determine the most cost- effective way to deploy RFID to become compliant while at the same time leveraging the software and hardware investment for the compliance project for use in the future. From this goal, there are some major points that need to be evaluated -- determining which products will be tagged for Wal-Mart, developing the cost comparisons of RFID in distribution versus manufacturing, and determining the future uses for RFID at the site.
2. Ensure executive ownership -- Senior leadership must understand the strategic value of RFID and may need to attend some educational seminars prior to asking their organization to undertake such a technically challenging project. It is critical to have an executive sponsor who sets short- and long-term project goals and communicates to the organization that RFID will be deployed as a market differentiator, cost reduction initiative, supply chain collaboration, or customer compliance solution. The media highlights this commitment every week with the announcement of various companies expanding their internal RFID test labs; these executives obviously understand and support harnessing the power of RFID.
3. Assign a project leader -- A recent market survey by CompTIA indicates that over 80% of companies feel there is a shortage of RFID talent available in the marketplace. They are working with a consortium of standards organizations, software, and hardware vendors to create a vendor-neutral certification process for individuals. As you look to find a project leader, the best choice is often an operations leader who has a good grasp of technical projects. But at other times, an IT resource with experience supporting manufacturing operations can be a good choice. A key skill is negotiation. After all, this person will be interfacing with internal stakeholders, as well as your customers, and needs to develop consensus on technical and timeline project deliverables quickly and without conflict.
4. Conduct an operations and technology assessment -- Typically, this step is done in conjunction with an RFID systems integrator. The assessment consists of detailed process mapping in affected areas, staff profiles (to identify training needs), facility layout, material flow shown on the facility layout, product profile (which items are in pilot), internal systems that will be impacted, and key performance indicators in use. Additionally, compliance requirements as well as short- and long-term project goals are defined and understood to ensure that all options considered are in keeping with future goals. For this example, you should capture process steps and costs for applying RFID in the warehouse for discrete orders, along with steps and costs for applying it automatically in manufacturing. This step typically results in several options and high level costs for each. During this assessment, you will need to know if you plan on using both active tags internally as well as passive tags for customer compliance. You should also expect to know software, product and site testing, and integration costs from this effort. Whether you hire an RFID expert or contract the service, be sure that you have a solid plan to phase in your use of RFID in keeping with project goals.
5. Develop the business case -- Most companies require that a capital appropriation request be completed with a detailed business case for the pilot project. I covered the business case development in "RFID Strategy -- I'm Glad You Asked" (March 22, 2005) so I won't repeat that here.
6. Product, site and technology testing -- We spent an entire issue on testing ("RFID Strategy -- In Search Of An RFID Testing Lab", March 8, 2005); suffice it to say this is another critical step.
7. Production pilot -- The detailed project schedule is the first requirement and will consist of major phases such as:
   • Project Kick-off -- Executive communication of project commencement, management support, and why the project is of strategic importance to the company.
   • Detailed Design -- Developing system performance requirements; software and interface specifications; hardware and tag specifications, and many other details.
   • Sourcing -- Developing and sending out Request for Proposals, selecting vendors, contract negotiation and execution.
   • Integration -- Actual hardware installation and configuration; network wiring; software and interface development, testing and de-bugging; software validation (in regulated facilities); and a conference room pilot with all technology partners.
   • Testing and Deployment -- Production pilot integration testing; volume testing; mock go-live; written procedure development; end user training; and go-live and support.

There are numerous issues that can, and typically do, arise during each of these steps that have to be resolved in bringing a pilot project on-line. As I have mentioned before, RFID is still somewhat art and science combined. The more you use it, the better your team will understand and be able to develop innovative solutions for your business.

Chris York is a principal with Raleigh, N.C.-based Tompkins Associates, a global supply-chain-solutions consulting firm. Chris has more than 15 years of experience in the design and implementation of supply chain planning and execution systems, collaboration and visibility solutions, FDA validation and regulatory compliance, AIDC/RFID, TQM, ISO9000, warehouse and TPM in a variety of industries.

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