Apr 19, 2013Seattle-based RFID technology company Impinj has developed two new RFID reader products intended to expand the way in which passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags are used, one that provides real-time location system (RTLS) functionality, and the other making it possible to add RFID interrogator functionality to any device without large expense. The Speedway xArray system consists of Impinj's Speedway Revolution R420 reader combined with an integrated antenna and special software. The unit can be installed in a ceiling and create a 40-foot diameter read zone (wider than for a typical EPC Gen 2 RFID reader), thereby enabling real-time visibility into tags' locations within that radius, and pinpointing their positions within a few meters. The Indy RS500 system-in-package (SiP) reader chip can be installed in such objects as manufacturing equipment, beverage dispensers, locked goods or tool cages, to enable the reading of EPC tags that come within range of a particular machine or product. It requires no other RFID reader hardware—simply an antenna, a power source and a connection to a back-end system.
According to Scot Stelter, Impinj's senior director of product marketing, both products signal Impinj's evolution beyond the traditional approach to enabling RFID reads at locations and for use cases previously considered too costly for implementation.
Measuring 18 inches in length and width and 2 inches in thickness, the xArray is designed to fit into a ceiling tile and provide wide-area monitoring via an antenna array that radiates a single RF beam in a pattern comprising a total of 52 orientations (both horizontal and vertical paths). The reader, when installed at a typical ceiling height of 15 feet, creates a 40-foot diameter read zone, identifying tags' locations based on the angle of response. The unit comes with a power-over-Ethernet (PoE) connection so that it can be installed directly onto a ceiling or other location with only a local area network (LAN) cable connection, thus eliminating the need for a power cable.
The xArray reader accomplishes the wide range and location capabilities thanks to a combination of that antenna array and Speedway Revolution reader software that analyzes the tag-read angles and approximates each tag's location, even if that tag is moving—and also ascertains the direction of that movement. The device, Stelter explains, can distinguish the RF beam's orientation during the reads, as if each beam orientation were a separate antenna, and thereby approximate each tag's location based on the beam orientation that receives a response.
Various Impinj customers are currently trialing the technology in several form factors falling within two general categories, Stelter says: inventory management and asset tracking. In the case of asset tracking, hospitals, for example, can employ the technology to locate such assets as high-value equipment on wheels, by installing the readers in ceiling tiles to identify EPC Gen 2 UHF passive RFID-tagged items within a room. Inventory management within a retail store would be possible as well, by installing the reader on the ceiling, above the sales floor or stock room, in order to obtain real-time data regarding the location of inventory, rather than relying on staff members to carry a handheld reader past shelves to ascertain the inventory on hand.
The xArray could also be used to monitor the traffic flow of patients within a hospital, or guests at a resort or amusement park. While one reader can capture tags in a 40-foot diameter area, Stelter says, a grid of xArray readers could be installed within large retail stores, factories or resorts.
In the past, Stelter reports, RFID systems have been designed around the model of a dock door and portal through which tagged items are transported. When handhelds were added to the process, he says, it became possible for users to track stationary items, but a fixed wide-array reader like the xArray takes the reading solution one step further, by enabling users to capture location data without the handheld.
Impinj estimates that the xArray will cost approximately $3,000 for each reader, with built-in software. Some of Impinj's customers are trialing the technology at stores and other locations.
The Indy RS500 SiP reader chip is also designed with a non-traditional read environment in mind. In this case, says Mohammed Sajid, Impinj's Indy product line manager and director of technical marketing, the reader chip simplifies and lowers the cost of embedding a UHF RFID reader into a kiosk, beverage dispenser, cabinet, construction or manufacturing machine, or other device, by allowing users to simply solder the chip directly onto a circuit board and attach power and connection to the back-end system, as well as antennas. This, Sajid says, thereby enables that machine to identify objects by means of RFID tags attached to those items.
The Indy RS500 measures 29 millimeters by 32 millimeters (1.14 inch by 1.26 inch), and costs less than $100 when purchased in volume in the thousands. The IC is scheduled to be tested by alpha customers this summer, with full production plans for September 2013. According to Sajid, the reader chip is already being embedded by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) into point-of-sale devices, printers and handheld readers.
"A few years back," Sajid says, "all there was were four-port, general-purpose readers." What followed were POS readers, handheld devices, access-control readers and other special-purpose devices for reading passive UHF tags. Most recently, he notes, businesses have been embedding RFID "in things that have nothing to do with RFID." This includes applications such as coffee makers, soda fountains and heavy equipment, by which companies wish to track the types of consumables used in their equipment, computers or other devices, in order to track their usage by individuals carrying RFID tags.
One example would be a large piece of equipment that a manufacturer may lease to a company using that machinery. By applying RFID tags to parts or consumable items used in that machine, as well as embedding an RFID reader into the machine itself, a manufacturer can ensure that only authorized items are used with it, based on the RFID reads. In another example, the technology could be built into medical equipment cabinets to ensure that inventory was on-hand at a hospital.
Prior to the RS500 reader's introduction, Sajid says, embedding RFID interrogators into such items required a great deal of engineering to build the reader hardware and then actually embed it. "They would have to build the circuit board with multiple components," he states, "and they really needed someone with RF design and manufacturing skill sets" to do it. Impinj's older reader chips—the R500, R1000 and R2000 models—all require the other necessary reader components to operate, including external power amplifier, directional coupler, inductors, capacitors and baluns (a type of transformer for RFID inputs and outputs), as well as a microcontroller and power regulators. However, he notes, the RS500 is a turnkey solution by which the chip is simply soldered into place, with antennas attached, and then hooked up to a back-end interface and DC power.
Impinj will display the Speedway xArray reader system and the Indy RS500 reader chip at its booth (#204) at RFID Journal LIVE! 2013, to be held from Apr. 30 to May 2, in Orlando, Fla. Both products are finalists for RFID Journal's Best in Show award (see Finalists Unveiled for Seventh Annual RFID Journal Awards).
