RFID Journal has unveiled the finalists for the 2010 RFID Journal Awards. The winners will be announced at RFID Journal LIVE! 2010, the company’s eighth annual event, which will be held at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Fla., on Apr. 14-16.
“We had more than 100 submissions this year, and the judging was closer than ever before, indicating the quality of the submissions was consistently high,” says Mark Roberti, RFID Journal‘s founder and editor. “Attendees at RFID Journal LIVE! will be in for a real treat when they hear the winners present their stories live on stage, and see some of the new products that will be featured in our Best in Show category.”
End-user companies were nominated in three categories.
Best RFID Implementation
• Jackson Health System: for a solution that manages more than 12,000 mobile pieces of medical equipment
• Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing: for a system that enabled the firm to implement lean-manufacturing processes to improve inventory management, gain production efficiencies and provide supply chain transparency to its major customers
• Minera Norway: for a system that manages pallets of slate from production to warehouse, and on through the shipping process
Most Innovative Use of RFID
• The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center: for an innovative system designed to reduce patient anxiety and improve workflows
• BP: for an innovative visitor and staff safety system using ultra-wideband (UWB) RFID technology
• The U.S. Department of Energy‘s Argonne National Laboratory: for its use of RFID to modernize the management of nuclear materials
Best Use of RFID in a Product or Service
• Almacafé, the coffee-warehousing subsidiary of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia: for a system that delivers traceability of Colombian specialty coffees from the farm to the consumer
• Bostwick Laboratories: for a system that optimizes specimen tracking and patient identification in a medical diagnostic lab
• Medtronic: for a system that automates the management of consigned tissue inventory and meets governing requirements
Best in Show
Ten technology providers were nominated for the Best in Show award, which will be given to the best new product being exhibited at this year’s LIVE! event. The editors of RFID Journal will choose the winner in the Best in Show category after reviewing the products at the event.
The finalists for this award are:
• Awarepoint: for its ZigBee-based Real-time Awareness Solution
• Franwell: for a new wearable RFID reader, the RFID Sleeve WR100
• IDS Microchip AG: for its IDS-SL900A EPC Class 3 RFID microchip, with a fully integrated temperature sensor
• Impinj: for its Monza 4 tag chip family, which offers improved sensitivity combined with interference rejection, support for omni-directional antennas (True3D antenna technology), innovative privacy features (QT technology) and expanded memory options
• Motorola: for its MC3090-Z handheld RFID interrogator, a lightweight, high-performance device designed for retail and other applications
• Murata: for its Magic Strap LXMS series of antenna-less RFID tags, which can be incorporated into products for authentication and short-range identification
• Omni-ID: for its Omni-ID Ultra, a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tag with a read range of up to 35 meters (115 feet) on, off or near metals and liquids
• TagSense: for its ZRX active reader and ZT-500 active tag with multiple sensor inputs and a one-mile range
• Tego: for its TegoTag-Beyond ID platform, which uses high-memory tags to store information about assets and make that data available whenever and wherever needed
• Voyantic: for its Tagformance RFID measurement system, which allows complete characterization of single or multiple UHF RFID tags, including read-range measurements as a function of frequency and orientation angle
In addition, RFID Journal introduced a new Special Achievement Award this year, to recognize individuals who have contributed greatly to the understanding and adoption of RFID technologies. The finalists for 2010 are:
• Sanjay Sarma, co-founder of the Auto-ID Center at MIT: for developing the concept of the Electronic Product Code (EPC), and for his leadership of the research team that developed the early EPC systems
• Bill Hardgrave, director of the University of Arkansas‘ RFID Research Center: for his research into the effects of RFID systems on inventory accuracy, replenishment and business operations
• Robert Bacon and Michael Slocum of the U.S. Navy AIT Office: for their pioneering work in helping to transform the U.S. Department of Defense‘s supply chain by using RFID technologies
These awards are given in recognition of excellence in the field of radio frequency identification. “Each year, we see more and more great implementations and exciting new products,” Roberti says. “I’m pleased we are able to shine a light on some of the great things being done in the industry.”
In addition to the RFID Journal Awards, LIVE! 2010 will also feature eight industry-specific and how-to conference tracks, nine in-depth preconference seminars, three co-located events, fast-track CompTIA RFID+ training and certification, and numerous technology exhibits and demonstrations conducted by leading technology firms.