Intel Announces UHF Reader Radio Chip

On Monday, Starport Systems, a startup semiconductor company in Irvine, Calif., announced its SP7001 chip made for UHF Gen 2 readers, which is similar to the R1000, except that it also contains the processor needed to convert the tag data into an EPC format. However, the SP7001 does not support dense-reader mode and is not designed for supply chain applications, such as retailers and manufacturers using RFID to track shipments of consumer goods, for which the R1000 is geared. Instead, Starport envisions the SP7001 being used for future consumer applications. Its small footprint will enable cell phone manufacturers to incorporate Gen 2 readers into handsets, which consumers will use to access information on products by reading the EPC tags attached to them. This could help consumers decide which products to buy, says Armond Hairapetian, president and chief executive officer of Starport Systems.

After consumers access information about specific products, they could use the same phones—assuming those devices also contain near-field communications chips—to transact purchases of those same products. In the nearer term, Starport is marketing the SP70001 to manufacturers of handheld readers for asset-tracking applications, and Hairapetian says that the chip could support dense-reader mode in the future, which would make it suitable for use in large UHF supply chain applications.

The Institute of Microelectronics, a research institute funded by Singapore's Agency for Science Research and Technology (A*STAR), announced in January that it had also developed a reader chip. The IC can support EPC Gen2 and ISO18000-6B/C protocols, including dense-reader mode and listen before talk. It contains all of a reader's radio components but requires a separate processor to convert the tag data to EPC or ISO 18000-6B/C format. A*STAR is touting the chip for use in supply chain and retail applications inventory, authentication and tracking of goods and for integration in cell phones and other consumer devices.

According to Rajan Walia, business development manager at IME, a number of reader manufacturers are currently testing the chip, with is being licensed by Exploit Technologies, A*STAR's strategic marketing and commercialization arm. In late 2006, WJ Communications also announced a reader chip (see RFID News Roundup).

Starport is now selling the SP7001 in a starter kit, which includes the chip as well as a USB port and antenna, as well as a reference design for building the chip into a USB form factor and the software needed to create a user interface. The price of the starter kit has not been disclosed, but the SP7001 chip is selling for $50 each in quantities of 10,000 units. IME says that its reader chip could cost reader manufacturers in the range of $100. Intel would not reveal pricing information for the R1000, but Krause says the use of the chip could eventually drive reader costs down to half their present $1,000 range. This will require economies of scale, however.