Apr 17, 2007At the RFID Journal LIVE! 2007 conference, to be held in Orlando, Fla., April 30 to May 2, Paxar will demonstrate its new RFID label 9855HF printer-encoder, which it says will be commercially available in July. This is Paxar's first high-frequency (13.56 MHz) printer-encoder. The company says it is responding to a growing interest among end users in using high-frequency tags to track such products as pharmaceuticals, jewelry and other high-value consumer goods, at the item level. Until now, Paxar has focused on providing printer-encoders for UHF (915 MHz) RFID smart labels.
"Paxar is committed to RFID as an overall technology, and we're inlay- and frequency-independent," says Lori Porter, Paxar's product line manager for RFID solutions. "We have some customers who are looking at HF as a solution for pharmaceutical tracking, and for product-authentication applications."
The 9855HF contains an HF INfinity reader module from Canadian RFID hardware manufacturer Sirit, which reads and encodes inlays compliant with the ISO 15693 and 18000-3 air interface protocols, Porter says, as well as others containing the Icode UID chip and the new Icode UID-OTP chip. NXP Semiconductors unveiled the UID-OTP chip last month (see NXP Announces HF Chip for Item-Level Tagging) and says it built the chip to comply with the candidate HF air-interface standard for item-level tags currently being developed by EPCglobal (see EPCglobal Developing HF Tag Standard).
The 9855HF is designed to enable the printing and encoding of standard case labels, Porter explains, as well as a range of product identification form factors used for consumer products, such as hangtags for jewelry or apparel.
"We have positioned the reader inside the printer-encoder so that it can read and encode an inlay regardless of its position on the label [or hangtag]. Some other printer-encoders require that the inlay be embedded in a certain spot on a label," says Porter. "We also have special printing configurations for eyeglasses and jewelry hangtags. We're very committed to item-level marking with this machine." Aside from making printer-encoders, Paxar also converts RFID smart labels and has a line of item-level consumer product labels in a range of configurations, and also for application to fabric and a variety of other materials.
Porter says Paxar is currently working with tag makers Texas Instruments, Tagsys, NXP and Raflatac to ensure that the 9855HF can read and encode their products based on ISO 15693, ISO 18000-3 and the NXP Icode protocols. She adds that Paxar is also still completing its certification process for approved use under FCC and ETSI regulations.
The list price for the 9855HF is $4,495.
Late last month, Avery Dennison, which sells RFID printer-encoders, inlays, tags and labels and services, purchased Paxar (see Avery Dennison Acquires Paxar for $1.3B). As a result, the two companies are merging.
