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RFID News Roundup
GuardRFID Unveils Active Staff Tag for RTLS
Vancouver, Canada-based GuardRFID Solutions, a developer of active RFID solutions, has announced its 433 MHz active RFID Staff Tag. Designed for real-time location system (RTLS) applications in health care, enterprise security and industrial environments, the tag offers configurable buttons, two-way communications, on-tag annunciation and fall-detection in a thin ID-badge form factor. The Staff Tag, the company reports, leverages a proprietary protocol, can be worn like a standard ID badge and can be adhered to a proximity card without degradation of performance. The batteries last for up to 12 months, and can be easily replaced by users. What's more, users can specify their own custom functions for the two configurable buttons, two separate LED indicators and audible alert. The two-way communication offers a tag wearer the ability to send and receive commands to and from the active RFID RTLS network, GuardRFID explains, and to have the indicators provide feedback. The RFID Staff Tag can work with GuardRFID's RFID-enabled applications, such as the AllGuard RTLS and Security. The Staff Tag will also be available in the form of a low-profile article tag, for securing laptop computers and other assets. To facilitate equipment maintenance, GuardRFID's active RFID RTLS can be used to locate an article tag, after which the two-way communication and indicators will quickly help to identify the specific piece of equipment requiring service.
OATSystems, CSC Partner on Part-Marking Package for Airbus
OATSystems, a division of RFID vendor Checkpoint Systems, has announced—at this week's RFID Journal LIVE! 2011 conference and exhibition, held in Orlando, Fla.—that Airbus has approved its ATA Spec 2000 RFID solution for tracking and tracing A350 XWB aircraft components across their full lifecycle. OAT and its partner, CSC, are jointly taking the part-marking package to market, are and offering it to A350 XWB suppliers to help them meet Airbus' RFID part-marking requirements for that type of aircraft. Multiple tier-one global suppliers have already licensed the solution for tagging and tracking major components and subassemblies, according to OAT. Airbus has recently given its official approval to the package, which includes products and services, and the partnership is aimed at providing parts suppliers with an easy-to-use option for fulfilling Airbus' component-tagging mandate. The packaged solution covers such use cases as creating birth records and updating repair maintenance histories; includes RFID software, readers, training and support; and offers multiple deployment options for Airbus A350 XWB suppliers, based on component type, production volume and enterprise systems. Mobile packages include handheld readers (such as those from Motorola Solutions), with additional options for fixed portals or smart tables. Airbus already employs OAT's software suite as part of its Value Chain Visibility (VCV) program, designed to create visibility, via automatic-identification technologies, such as RFID, across the full Airbus value chain—from suppliers to Airbus, covering the full spectrum of industrial processes between its global manufacturing sites and on to its airline customers and in-service partners. As part of that effort, all of Airbus' new A350 XWB wide-body aircraft are being built with most flyable parts tagged with high-memory EPC Gen 2 RFID tags for maintenance-tracking purposes (see A Flurry of High-Memory Tags Take Flight). Each A350 is expected to have 3,000 tagged parts, the company reports, 2,000 of which will be fitted with high-memory tags. The planes are expected to be put into service in 2013.
Orbiter Unveils RFID Power-Control Board
Orbiter, based in Tacoma, Wash., has unveiled a power-control board and recharger that, according to the company, effectively turns a fixed ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID portal into a mobile one that can operate on battery power for up to eight hours. The board works with absorbed glass matt (AGM) high-amp hour batteries, generally available worldwide and typically used with such assets as electronic wheelchairs. "Portable RFID readers typically operate on 12 volts and don't have the performance of fixed readers," says Gregory Stewart, Orbiter's manager. "This board enables the combination of two 12-volt batteries to create a 24-volt battery," thereby providing the reader with capability of operating at full power. The power-control board, batteries, reader and reader antenna can all be mounted on a cart, Stewart explains, and rolled around various areas, such as a store's back room. Orbiter's RFID power board automatically recharges the batteries, and three-color LED lights provide an indication of battery life. According to Stewart, the firm has already sold the Orbiter RFID power board, integrated with portal readers, to the U.S. military. The mobile portals are now being used at Naval Station Great Lakes, in Illinois, Edwards Air Force Base, in California, Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland, and elsewhere.
Vancouver, Canada-based GuardRFID Solutions, a developer of active RFID solutions, has announced its 433 MHz active RFID Staff Tag. Designed for real-time location system (RTLS) applications in health care, enterprise security and industrial environments, the tag offers configurable buttons, two-way communications, on-tag annunciation and fall-detection in a thin ID-badge form factor. The Staff Tag, the company reports, leverages a proprietary protocol, can be worn like a standard ID badge and can be adhered to a proximity card without degradation of performance. The batteries last for up to 12 months, and can be easily replaced by users. What's more, users can specify their own custom functions for the two configurable buttons, two separate LED indicators and audible alert. The two-way communication offers a tag wearer the ability to send and receive commands to and from the active RFID RTLS network, GuardRFID explains, and to have the indicators provide feedback. The RFID Staff Tag can work with GuardRFID's RFID-enabled applications, such as the AllGuard RTLS and Security. The Staff Tag will also be available in the form of a low-profile article tag, for securing laptop computers and other assets. To facilitate equipment maintenance, GuardRFID's active RFID RTLS can be used to locate an article tag, after which the two-way communication and indicators will quickly help to identify the specific piece of equipment requiring service.
OATSystems, CSC Partner on Part-Marking Package for Airbus
OATSystems, a division of RFID vendor Checkpoint Systems, has announced—at this week's RFID Journal LIVE! 2011 conference and exhibition, held in Orlando, Fla.—that Airbus has approved its ATA Spec 2000 RFID solution for tracking and tracing A350 XWB aircraft components across their full lifecycle. OAT and its partner, CSC, are jointly taking the part-marking package to market, are and offering it to A350 XWB suppliers to help them meet Airbus' RFID part-marking requirements for that type of aircraft. Multiple tier-one global suppliers have already licensed the solution for tagging and tracking major components and subassemblies, according to OAT. Airbus has recently given its official approval to the package, which includes products and services, and the partnership is aimed at providing parts suppliers with an easy-to-use option for fulfilling Airbus' component-tagging mandate. The packaged solution covers such use cases as creating birth records and updating repair maintenance histories; includes RFID software, readers, training and support; and offers multiple deployment options for Airbus A350 XWB suppliers, based on component type, production volume and enterprise systems. Mobile packages include handheld readers (such as those from Motorola Solutions), with additional options for fixed portals or smart tables. Airbus already employs OAT's software suite as part of its Value Chain Visibility (VCV) program, designed to create visibility, via automatic-identification technologies, such as RFID, across the full Airbus value chain—from suppliers to Airbus, covering the full spectrum of industrial processes between its global manufacturing sites and on to its airline customers and in-service partners. As part of that effort, all of Airbus' new A350 XWB wide-body aircraft are being built with most flyable parts tagged with high-memory EPC Gen 2 RFID tags for maintenance-tracking purposes (see A Flurry of High-Memory Tags Take Flight). Each A350 is expected to have 3,000 tagged parts, the company reports, 2,000 of which will be fitted with high-memory tags. The planes are expected to be put into service in 2013.
Orbiter Unveils RFID Power-Control Board
Orbiter, based in Tacoma, Wash., has unveiled a power-control board and recharger that, according to the company, effectively turns a fixed ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID portal into a mobile one that can operate on battery power for up to eight hours. The board works with absorbed glass matt (AGM) high-amp hour batteries, generally available worldwide and typically used with such assets as electronic wheelchairs. "Portable RFID readers typically operate on 12 volts and don't have the performance of fixed readers," says Gregory Stewart, Orbiter's manager. "This board enables the combination of two 12-volt batteries to create a 24-volt battery," thereby providing the reader with capability of operating at full power. The power-control board, batteries, reader and reader antenna can all be mounted on a cart, Stewart explains, and rolled around various areas, such as a store's back room. Orbiter's RFID power board automatically recharges the batteries, and three-color LED lights provide an indication of battery life. According to Stewart, the firm has already sold the Orbiter RFID power board, integrated with portal readers, to the U.S. military. The mobile portals are now being used at Naval Station Great Lakes, in Illinois, Edwards Air Force Base, in California, Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland, and elsewhere.
