Transport NEWS
Text size:
T
T
T
EC Spectrum Decision Expected to Boost UWB RFID Adoption
"For us, this is an excellent development," says Jay Cadman, vice president of business development at Ubisense. "It means we can begin shipping product without going through each country's regulatory board to get licenses. It opens the door for us to expand at a much more rapid pace."
Ubisense has customers using its RTLS tags and interrogators—which can pinpoint the location of an item for manufacturing use within 6 inches—in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the United States (see UWB to Help Sales Staff Fish for Leads).
"I think, from the European Union perspective, this allows a very exciting technology to enter the environment," Cadman says. "It's an explosion from our perspective of UWD projects in Europe. The demand there is enormous."
But the explosion will require some transitions for certain other providers of UWB systems, Fontana notes. He says UWB devices operating in the 5.925 to 7.250 GHz band (which the FCC opened up in March 2005) are close enough to the EC band to translate well to EC standards. Systems in this range include various low-speed communications systems, such as radar, real-time location systems and RFID.
"Thus, initially we forecast that the European market will see such devices becoming generally available," Fontana says. "MSSI is very happy with the mandate, as for more than eight years we have been building our UWB systems above 6 GHz [both government and commercial]."
The EC's sanctioning of UWB bandwidth, Fontana reports, will benefit end users around the world. "It's good for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America—everyone who has been waiting to see what Europe does. I believe Europe is the initial domino." He predicts the decision will lead to adoption of UWB-friendly regulations throughout the globe.
RTLS solutions company Parco Merged Media, which provides 3.6 GHz UWB tags and interrogators for RTLS applications, has also been awaiting the EC sanction of the UWB spectrum. CEO Scott Cohen is less enthusiastic about the frequencies included in the mandate, but indicates the decision was still good for his firm.
"This gives us the ability to sell our location systems in Europe [without going through individual government license applications]," he says. "We have the ability to reprogram our tags" to work with the approved frequencies.
more Transport articles
Ubisense has customers using its RTLS tags and interrogators—which can pinpoint the location of an item for manufacturing use within 6 inches—in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the United States (see UWB to Help Sales Staff Fish for Leads).
|
| Robert Fontana |
But the explosion will require some transitions for certain other providers of UWB systems, Fontana notes. He says UWB devices operating in the 5.925 to 7.250 GHz band (which the FCC opened up in March 2005) are close enough to the EC band to translate well to EC standards. Systems in this range include various low-speed communications systems, such as radar, real-time location systems and RFID.
"Thus, initially we forecast that the European market will see such devices becoming generally available," Fontana says. "MSSI is very happy with the mandate, as for more than eight years we have been building our UWB systems above 6 GHz [both government and commercial]."
The EC's sanctioning of UWB bandwidth, Fontana reports, will benefit end users around the world. "It's good for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America—everyone who has been waiting to see what Europe does. I believe Europe is the initial domino." He predicts the decision will lead to adoption of UWB-friendly regulations throughout the globe.
"This gives us the ability to sell our location systems in Europe [without going through individual government license applications]," he says. "We have the ability to reprogram our tags" to work with the approved frequencies.
