Apr 19, 2018I've been writing in this column for several years that radio frequency identification systems need to be easier to deploy and use. At last week's RFID Journal LIVE! 2018 conference and exhibition, held in Orlando, Fla., it was abundantly clear that the market is responding.
Several years ago, SML moved its Clarity software to the cloud to make deployments less complex, while Zebra Technologies introduced sleds that let users connect an ordinary smartphone so employees can then use a software interface with which they are comfortable (see Zebra's Sled Reader Enables UHF RFID Tag Reads Via Smartphone). And Impinj developed a software platform that enables companies to more easily use data from its readers (see With ItemSense, Impinj Aims to Simplify 'Always On' RFID Deployments). Now, many other firms are responding to companies' requests to make RFID systems easier to deploy and use.
Bluvision/HID Global won RFID Journal's Best New Product award this year for its Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacon system, which comes with tamper-evident beacons and sensor beacons (see RFID Journal Announces Winners of Its 12th Annual RFID Journal Awards). The solutions comes with small nodes that plug into ordinary power outlets, making it easy to deploy.
Another solution that impressed me was Infratab's Freshtime system. Place a Freshtime sensor in or on a box of produce, and it will monitor temperatures in real time. The system dynamically calculates—and communicates via the RFID tag—the number of days left before a product can no longer be sold, based on the temperatures to which it has been exposed. It doesn't get any easier than that (see Infratab Introduces Smartphone Sensor Tags for Monitoring Perishables).
A new reader from startup SensThys allows users to daisy-chain low-cost overhead readers, powering up to four units via a Cat5 Internet cable. One reader will send data to the next, and then the next, and back to the host system. This makes it easier to install readers overhead, and to cover an entire store without a complex installation, with only a single cable required for each device (see Startup SensThys Teams With Alien to Provide PoE+ RFID Mesh).
Seeonic introduced an untethered passive UHF reader. The unit can be deployed in a fixture at a store, or in an emergency vehicle or at some other remote location. It has a battery that can last for days, depending on how often you require the unit to wake up and read tags, and it can connect to a cell network to send data back to a host system.
On the tag side, there were numerous innovations. EM Microelecronic introduced a chip featuring sophisticated encryption technology, which is ideal for vehicle identification and other applications. Powercast, meanwhile, introduced a cool visual hangtag that lets you change the price and display it using e-paper.
Smartrac's Midas FlagTag is small and allows you to fold back part of the tag to attach it a metal surface. The part folded back acts as a ground plane for the tag, so even though the tag measures just 43 millimeters by 21 millimeters after folding, it can be read from a distance of 30 feet (10 meters) away (see Smartrac Showcases Industrial Internet of Things Solutions).
Avery Dennison introduced one of the most innovative tags at the show, allowing users to microwave the tag without worrying that it will overheat and burn the item in the microwave oven (see RFID Pilots Address Perishable Foods, Beauty Products). Some ingenious engineering was employed to dissipate the heat, but the idea is not to have a tag that communicates with a reader in the microwave device (something talked about many years ago), but to enable companies to tag food items without worrying that if a customer failed to remove the tag, he or she could create a hazard at home.
There were many other great new products at the event as well—these are just some of the ones I came across. But they indicate a clear path toward easier adoption of RFID systems.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or the Editor's Note archive.
