RFID News Roundup

San Antonio Library School Deploying 3M RFID Tracking System
3M Library Systems says the San Antonio Public Library, in Texas, will install a range of 3M RFID products at its main facility, as well as in all 23 branch locations. The installation will include 3M's SelfCheck systems, enabling patrons to check out, return and renew RFID-tagged loaned media, as well as to pay fines and other fees, without the aid of library staff. The library serves a growing population of more than 1.25 million citizens and will become one of the largest municipal library systems in the United States to utilize RFID technology to facilitate faster and more efficient circulation and inventory procedures. According to 3M Library Systems, the installation of the RFID readers and software—which will be used for such applications as inventory control and automated checkout—is scheduled to begin this summer, after 3M RFID tags have been affixed to all print and electronic circulation items. The library expects RFID technology to help increase staff productivity, says Aubrey George, assistant director for support services, as the library system expands its services in tandem with a remodeling and construction program now underway. A total of 60 3M SelfCheck System units will be installed, in three phases. In the first phase, the Central Library and the Cody, Cortez, Great Northwest, Igo, McCreless, San Pedro, Semmes and Westfall branches will all receive the units. The project is scheduled for completion sometime in 2008.

Impinj Adds Chinese RFID technology Firm to VAR Network
Chinese RFID technology provider Yeon Technologies has joined RFID chip and reader provider Impinj's value-added reseller program and will resell the latter's Speedway UHF Gen 2 RFID reader in Taiwan. Impinj hopes its relationship with Yeon Technologies will support the growth of Chinese RFID product manufacturers and distributors, while helping ramp up RFID end-user adoption in Taiwan. Production quantities of the Speedway reader are available today from Yeon Technologies and Impinj's other VAR and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners worldwide. The reader is certified to operate under Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) regulations. The reader also carries both EPCglobal's Gen 2 compliance and interoperability certification marks. Yeon Technologies was founded in the fall of 2006 by YFY Group, a conglomerate of Chinese businesses that includes packaging material manufacturer Yuen Foong Yu Paper. The company is developing a means for RFID-enabling corrugate material used for product packaging by embedding EPC Gen 2 inlays into it (see RFID-Enabled Boxes Inch Closer to Production).

EM Microelectronic Announces New LF Tag Chips
EM Microelectronic, a semiconductor company in Marin, Switzerland, has introduced two new integrated circuits designed for low-frequency (125 kHz) RFID tags used in animal identification, waste management, industrial logistics and access control applications. The EM4205 and EM4305 chips comply with the ISO 11784 and 11785 RFID standards, developed for transponders that meet livestock tracking requirements. The ICs can be encoded to meet to the EN14803 waste management standard, EM Microelectronic reports, and they can also be used in tags for physical access control. The chips are manufactured using a process that protects them from UV damage, which can lead to memory loss. Additional user memory can be secured through a password. The chips also have fraud-prevention features, including a 32-bit unique identifier that enables traceability, e-pedigree and product authentication applications. The EM4305 chip is functionally equivalent to the EM4205 but comes with enlarged pads and gold bumps. These allow transponder manufacturers to directly connect the antenna wires to the chip, without the need of a PCB. This, the company explains, can help lower manufacturing costs and transponder size. Both chips are available now and are backward-compliant with the EM4569 chip.

Mikoh Announces First Smart&Secure Manufacturing Partner
Early last month, Mikoh Corp., an Australian provider of tamper-proof seals and other security solutions, announced plans to introduce tamper-proof RFID inlays to the marketplace, which would be branded Smart&Secure Retail Tags (see New Tag Aims to Protect Consumer Privacy). Mikoh has also revealed its first contract manufacturer that will help the company bring the tags to market. The security solutions provider is teaming up with Twinlinx, a French chip maker, to manufacture 13.56 MHz chips compliant with the ISO 15693 and 14443 air-interface standards. It will use these chips to create 13.56 MHz Smart&Secure Retail Tags. MIKOH expects to receive the first 13.56 MHz chip samples in Q3 2007, with production quantities available by the end of the year.