Impinj Demos Mass Serialization of RFID Tags for Pharma

Encoding is a much more complex operation than reading, Moretti explains. "It takes more time and requires higher power to be delivered to the tag. You need sensitive tags, a good reader and the right algorithm to encode reliably, especially on a large population of tags. Impinj has tackled these challenges over the last year using our Monza silicon, Speedway reader and special pharma firmware that runs on the reader."

The Commissioning Station will also include an RFID printer-encoder. According to Moretti, Impinj will decide on a specific printer-encoder for the product prior to the product's official launch, which is expected sometime in the second quarter of 2008.

Here's how the station will work: As a packed case of products approaches the station, the RFID printer-encoder will print and encode an Electronic Product Code (EPC) to an RFID label and apply it to a case. The case will then move between the two antennas, and the Speedway interrogator will begin encoding a unique EPC to the RFID tag attached to each item within the case. The specialized software running on the interrogator will track the encoding progress by counting the tags successfully encoded, and comparing that total with the number of tags it is supposed to encode.

"The system will know how many items are shipping in a case," Moretti says. "For example, it'll know that the case holds 72 items, and that it needs to encode 72 tags. So if it is able to encode only 71, the system will know there's a problem." In the event that a problem is discovered, the system will send the case out through a rejection chute to a rework station. The software in the Speedway reader will also be able to control the conveyor belt speed, he adds, "so if the encoding of the tags slows, it'll slow the belt down in order to catch all the tags."

Impinj debuted its Commissioning Station earlier this month at the Track & Trace Health Care Industry Adoption Summit, sponsored by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA). During the demonstration, the station successfully encoded between 500 and 800 tags per minute. An in-line system can encode only about 250 UHF Gen 2 item tags per minute, Moretti notes, adding that for high-frequency (HF) RFID tags, the encoding speed is about 120 items per minute.

"Nobody wants to slow their line to accommodate serialization, 2-D or RFID," he says. "Speed is going to be a problem for in-line systems. Mass serialization at the end of the line will always be the fastest method of encoding." The Impinj demo successfully encoded item tags inside cases containing 48 bottles with tags embedded on the bottoms of the bottles, as well as another 48 with labels affixed to their sides. It also encoded item tags in cases containing 72 closely packed blister packs and 72 bottles of liquids.