RAIN Alliance Launches RAIN RFID Training Program to Upskill Global Workforce
RAIN Alliance, the non-profit industry organization supporting the development and adoption of UHF RFID, announced the launch of its extensive RAIN RFID Training Program.
The program will equip the global RAIN RFID industry’s underserved professionals with essential business and technical knowledge needed to fuel the adoption and deployment of RAIN RFID solutions. Spearheaded by 15 leading alliance member organizations, the training program responds to demand for certified practitioners that can offer vendor-agnostic skills in both the design of sector-specific solutions and their technical implementation.
The program will evolve over time in line with proposals made by alliance members. Initial courses include the RAIN RFID in Tyres Masterclass, RAIN RFID Solutions Planning, and the Certified RAIN RFID Solutions Engineer learning path, which encompasses an Encoding Masterclass, Read-Point Design, and Solution Deployment.
“With global RAIN tag chip shipments forecast to reach 115bn units by 2028, this industry is crying out for a robust, vendor-agnostic training and certification program,” said Aileen Ryan, CEO, RAIN Alliance comments. “Use-cases and applications continue to diversify, and data from RAIN RFID deployments is increasingly being repurposed in support of broader business goals including, notably, efforts to increase environmental sustainability. We expect this trend to continue as inbound regulations like the EU’s Digital Product Passport gain traction and organizations seek to maximise the value of both their people and their technologies.”
The RAIN RFID Training Program will be available globally in various formats, with courses initially available in-person and online to suit participants’ preferences and content requirements. The RAIN Alliance invites all interested professionals to participate and become part of the movement to upskill the industry and support the rapid proliferation of RAIN RFID technology across various industries including retail, logistics, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and automotive.
For more information and to register for the Training Program, visit the RAIN Alliance website.
Identiv’s Thailand facility Earns ISO Certification
Identiv’s RFID and Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) device production facility in Thailand has earned the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System certifications, affirming its adherence to world-class quality management and environmental sustainability standards.
Achieving ISO certification is a major milestone for a facility in operation for less than a year, as the certifications confirm that Identiv’s operations meet the rigorous requirements for both quality and environmental responsibility across its materials, products, processes, and services, according to company officials.
“Earning ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications at a new facility in a notably short time frame is a tremendous achievement for Identiv,” said Dr. Manfred Mueller, Chief Strategy Officer, Identiv in a press statement. “These internationally recognized certifications validate our long-standing commitment to sustainability and quality management throughout our entire production process, providing us with a strong foundation to accelerate RFID production at our Thailand facility.”
Identiv is in the process of transitioning the majority of its RFID and BLE production to its Thailand facility to benefit from its lower cost structure and state-of-the-art production equipment. In addition to RFID- and BLE-enabled devices, the facility can produce sensor-enabled, active, multi-component IoT devices. Identiv expects the production transition from Singapore to Thailand to be largely complete by the end of Q1 2025 and has secured the building adjacent to its current Thailand facility for future capacity expansion.
Subsequently, the company’s main RFID manufacturing will be based in Thailand, while a smaller R&D and engineering-focused operation will remain in Singapore. Identiv will continue to maintain its primary R&D and Engineering center in Germany.
u-blox Offers New Ultra-compact LTE Cat 1bis Cellular Modules
u-blox is expanding its R10 products for the fast-growing LTE Cat 1bis cellular connectivity market. According to company officials, the new modules strengthen u-blox’s portfolio, serving both the IoT and users migrating from legacy 2G/3G cellular connectivity.
The new u-blox LEXI-R10 Global provides an ultra-compact 16 x16mm LTE Cat 1bis solution that can be used worldwide in size-constrained IoT applications such as people or pet trackers and wearables. The LEXI-R10 Global is the world’s smallest single-mode LTE Cat 1bis module with indoor location and a US MNO certified core.
Meanwhile, the new SARA-R10 series brings the same capabilities as the LEXI-R10 Global to u-blox’s popular SARA form factor. With 2G and 3G sunsets continuing globally, the SARA-R10 offers product designers using 2G and 3G u-blox SARA modules a straightforward upgrade path to 4G LTE – the most widely available global cellular standard today and for many years to come.
Predicted by analyst firm Techno Systems Research Co., Ltd to account for 43.6 percent of all non-handset cellular devices by 2029, LTE Cat 1bis is expected to be the best-selling cellular technology for the IoT for the next four to five years.
The first LEXI-R10 Global and SARA-R10 samples are expected to be available by Q3 2024.
LoRa Alliance Announces Contribution Awards Winners
The LoRa Alliance honored the winners of its annual Contribution Awards during a live ceremony at LoRaWAN Live Munich.
The Contribution Awards is an annual recognition honoring members’ outstanding leadership, service and contributions to the LoRa Alliance. The awards recognize individuals and companies for their leadership, service and contributions to the LoRa Alliance for the development and promotion of the LoRaWAN standard over the past year.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Semtech’s Olivier Seller and Tektelic’s David Tholl. The Corporate Awards were given to Xiamen Milesight IoT Co., Seeed Technology Co. and Zenner.
Leadership Award were presented to Geoffroy de Guillebon of Semtech, Norbert Herbert of Actility SA, Telemaco Melia of Echostar Mobile, Daniel Quant of Multi-Tech Systems and Boris Stöckermann of Zenner.
Netmore’s Ken Lynch, Lacuna Space’s Martin von der Ohe, IMST’s Itziar de la Torre and Bechtle’s Stefan Schweiger received the Distinguished Service Award.
Team Awards were cited two different cohorts. Semtech’s Geoffroy de Guillebon in partnership with NTU Singapore’s Amalinda Gamage, Professor Mo Li and Jansen C. Liando were noted for successfully delivering the CSMA Task Force specifications, which improve LoRaWAN’s resistance to collision, thus completing the Task Force’s work.
The second team award was delivered for the alliance team that implemented the LoRaWAN relay feature and performed interoperability to validate the spec and implementations involving the end-device, relay node and the network server. Those members were Actility’s Stephane Boudaud and Ramez Soss, Arad Technologies Or Sarid and Semtech’s Carlo Tinella,
Actility SA and UnaBiz Holdings took hiome the Innovation Award for the collaboration to drive network convergence, advancing LoRaWAN core networks’ position as the “common core” to serve deployments of mixed radio technologies.