Apr 27, 2016RFID technology manufacturer Alien Technology has released a new integrated circuit known as the Higgs-EC—which, the company reports, offers improved read and write sensitivity, as well as error-correcting memory that can be written to as many as 200,000 times. According to the company, the Higgs-EC (model number ALC-380) enables the development of smaller tags featuring greater sensitivity, faster reading and encoding, and longer read and write distances. The error-correcting memory is designed so that if a chip is damaged—cracked, for instance—a reader can still capture its encoded data.
The company is releasing the Higgs-EC, as well as three inlays made with that chip, and a new Android-based handheld RFID reader, in anticipation of next week's RFID Journal LIVE! conference, taking place in Orlando, Fla., on May 3-5. The new products, says Chris Chang, Alien Technology's CEO, are timed to meet the needs of the EPC ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tag market, which is surging, he says, partly due to the demand by brands and retailers for item-level visibility of goods. At present, Chang says, approximately 5 percent of all retail goods are being tagged, with about 6 billion tags applied to goods annually. He expects it won't be long before that number is closer to 10 billion per year.
Along with the greater need to RFID-track goods and assets, Chang suspects, will come the necessity for faster, more sensitive tags containing more memory for bulk reading and encoding. And, he says, while the incidence of damaged tags may not yet be high, tags used in greater volumes can lead to increased errors, which is something that Alien aims to prevent with its new chip.
"We want to make sure our customers can really, really, trust the integrity of data from RFID reads," says Neil Mitchell, Alien Technology's senior director of marketing. "No matter what chips and tags go through, the users need to be able to rely on the data." In the case of a damaged chip, an RFID tag may still function, but if even a single bit is no longer stored properly, the data will be flawed when read. If this occurs, he explains, users are often unaware of the problem with the tag, and it thus continues to provide an incorrect ID number throughout a supply chain or at a retailer's store.
The Higgs-EC offers what the company calls Sentinel memory—the error-corrective memory architecture detects and corrects single-bit data errors that may result from damage caused by cosmic rays or cracks. The chip comes with additional unused bits that can provide the necessary data if one of the bits being used becomes damaged. "As volumes of tags increase," Mitchell states, "we don't want our customers to have to worry about data quality."
The chip also features higher sensitivity: -22.5 decibels per milliwatt (dBm) for reading and -19 dBm for writing. Users can encode the Higgs-EC as many as 200,000 times—twice the rate of other chips on the market, Alien reports—and contains 128 bits of Electronic Product Code (EPC) and user memory. The new IC measures only 490 micrometers by 479 micrometers (0.02 inch by 0.02 inch) and is 150 micrometers (0.006 inch) in thickness, enabling users to further shrink the size of inlays (based on antenna design), if needed.
The three new inlays made with the Higgs-EC are upgraded versions of previously introduced tags containing Alien's older Higgs 3 and Higgs 4 chips. The new Squiggle (ALN-9840), which measures 95 millimeters by 8 millimeters (3.7 inches by 0.3 inch), offers improved read and write distance compared with those of the Higgs 3 and Higgs 4 Squiggle tags—what the company calls the industry's most widely used and general-purpose tags for tracking items and assets. With the EC chip, Alien reports, the tag is optimized for high-volume enterprise, retail and apparel applications, such as apparel hangtags, baggage tags, shipping labels, file folder labels, pallet placards and various asset-management tagging uses.
The new Squiglette (ALN-9830), which measures 70 millimeters by 9.5 millimeters (2.8 inches by 0.4 inch), also offers improved read and write distances, as well as other Higgs-EC advantages, including Sentinel memory. It is designed for high-volume retail and apparel tagging, as well as for warehouse management and asset management.
The new GT "Garment Tag" (ALN-9828), measuring 50 millimeters by 30 millimeters (2 inches by 2 inches), is designed specifically for hangtags, just like its immediate predecessor, which is made with a Higgs 4 chip.
The Higgs 3 and Higgs 4 chips, along with Alien tags made with those chips, will not be retired with the release of the Higgs-EC, Mitchell notes. He adds that the Higgs-EC and the new inlays will be priced similarly to the Higgs 4 chip and inlays.
All three new inlays are available for delivery now, and will be on display and available for demonstration at LIVE! 2016, in Alien Technology's booth (#404).
Alien expects other RFID vendors will market their own tags made with the Higgs-EC chip. The first company to do so is SML Group, which this week announced the release of its GB4HEC inlay. The new inlay, which measures 42 millimeters by 16 millimeters (1.7 inches by 0.6 inch), takes advantage of all the Higgs-EC's features, according to the company. SML has also developed a new set of RFID labels incorporating the GB4HEC inlay. Those labels, the company reports, are designed for use with small or delicate items, such as intimate apparel, women's blouses or scarves, or gloves or accessories. "Because of the features of the Alien HEC IC," says Robert Wood, SML's director of RFID and technical services, "it adds to SML's inlay portfolio in sectors such as item-level tagging, pharma and retail, where additional user memory and additional security (dynamic authentication) may be needed for product authentication." SML will display the new inlay and labels next week at its LIVE! booth (#720).
The new Alien Android handheld reader, known as the ALR-H450, comes with a QWERTY keyboard and a battery life that extends throughout a typical workday. It is Wi-Fi- and 3G cellular-capable, as well as Bluetooth 4.0-enabled, and comes with a built-in GPS unit and a 2D bar-code scanner. One of the ways in which the device differentiates itself from other UHF handheld readers, however, is in its price. Mitchell says the reader will cost $1,599—which, he adds, is considerably less than the price of most comparable handheld readers.
The new IC and tags are likely to be used for tracking apparel and other retail items that are considered fast-moving goods—products that may be packed in crates and then shipped in high volumes through warehouses and to retailers. "We think [the Higgs-EC chip] is going to create quite a stir in the industry," Mitchell says.
Alien Technology recently opened a new office and laboratory in San Jose, Calif., which, like the company's location in China, is being used for research and development. In addition, both sites, along with Alien's facility in Dayton, Ohio, are used to test specialty tags for particular applications, in response to requests from customers. "For the past 12 months, we've been building our research and development capability for the fast building of specialized and custom tags," Chang explains, noting that requests for such custom inlays are becoming more frequent. "We see a need in this segment."
