Apr 24, 2018An Italian luxury clothing brand is among the first companies to deploy an RFID point-of-sale (POS) solution using new multi-purpose desktop readers from CAEN RFID that serve as POS devices. The company, which has asked to remain unnamed, is using the company's new Hex readers for operations related to POS purchases.
CAEN RFID's parent company, CAEN SpA, sells data-acquisition electronic instrumentation and power supplies for nuclear physics and particle physics experiments. Caen's RFID division was opened in 2003, then spun off from the company in 2006 to offer ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID-enabled readers, including handheld devices, as well as desktop and fixed portal readers. The firm sells the products to systems integrators and resellers for use in retail, as well as for other industries, explains David Pallassini, CAEN RFID's sales manager.
The Hex R12901 reader has been on the market for about two months, and was displayed at this month's RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition, held in Orlando, Fla. The reader is a Power-over-Ethernet (POE) UHF RFID device that comes with a built-in computer that captures and manages read data, then forwards that information to a server, depending on a user's needs regarding data management and integration.
While a variety of desktop RFID readers can be used for POS purposes, Pallassini says, the Hex comes with all necessary functions built in. According to Pallassini, Caen RFID's goal is to make it easier for retailers or users in other vertical markets to set up a system for reading tags at the point of sale that can stand alone.
The device is intended not only for use at the point of sale, but also for commissioning new tags, as well as providing access control, inventory management and document tracking. To accomplish the POS and commissioning functionalities, it comes with a port to connect a bar-code scanner.
In addition to a built-in computer, the reader features a programmable display and a touchpad. The display enables users to view the POE reader to share data with a local or cloud-based server via a connection to an external computer.
Additionally, the device comes with a proximity sensor that enables users to control when it begins interrogating tags. A user can simply slide a tagged item in the front of the device, and it will then "wake up" and begin reading RFID tags. It also offers a set of general-purpose input-output lines that can be used to connect with alarms or lights.
The reader offers a USB interface for linkage to bar-code scanning, printers or keyboards. If a bar-code scanner is plugged into the reader while it is being used, a bar-code tag can be interrogated at the same time that RFID tags are read, thereby linking the two—for instance, in a store's back room. This creates a record of the RFID tag number and serialized bar-code number of the product being sold.
For product returns, if the RFID tag is still attached to a product, the Hex can accommodate that process as well. Users could utilize the touchpad to select the option of receiving a returned item, and then read the tag's ID. The product is thus updated as being available for sale, and it can then be returned to the sales floor. The product ID is listed once more in the in-store inventory after it is transmitted to a store's back-end software.
The reader comes with a built-in circular-polarized antenna, as well as a port to add a second antenna to boost read range if necessary. The Hex, part of the company's Easy2Read product line, measures 8.66 inches by 6.69 inches by 0.98 inch and can fit on or under a desktop or in a sales kiosk.
