The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations: IDTronic; Ring Theory; Thinkify; Agee Race Timing; ByteLight; RF Code; Motorola; and E-ZPass.
IDTronic Unveils ‘Elegant’ RFID-enabled Key Fob
IDTronic, an RFID hardware provider based in Germany, has announced what it describes as an “elegant” new key fob designed for access-control systems and time recording, particularly in the lifestyle, business and hotel industries. The Piano key fob, composed of polycarbonate plastic with a high-gloss finish (like the varnished surface of a piano), is available with a variety of passive 125 kHz RFID chips supplied by EM Microelectronic, Atmel and NXP Semiconductors. Memory size varies from 8 bytes (a read-only version) to 256 bytes. The key fob is also available with NXP or Legic 13.56 MHz chips supporting the ISO 14443A/B or ISO 15693 standards, and with memory sizes varying from 512 bits to 8 kilobytes. Each fob weighs only 4 grams (0.1 ounce) and features an IP 68 rating, making it dustproof and waterproof. Made of polycarbonate and available in white, black, yellow, red or green, the 125 kHz key fobs measure 50 millimeters by 12 millimeters by 4 millimeters (2 inches by 0.5 inch by 0.2 inch), while the 13.56 MHz key fobs measure 50 millimeters by 15 millimeters by 3.5 millimeters (2 inches by 0.6 inch by 0.1 inch). The fobs operate at temperature ranging from -25 degree to +55 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees to +131 degrees Fahrenheit) and storage temperature ranges from -25 degrees to +75 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees to +167 degrees Fahrenheit). The key fobs have a metal eyelet so they can be easily attached to a key ring without damaging the fob, the company reports.
Ring Theory Develops Smart Rings for Boston Subways, Raises Thousands on Kickstarter
Ring Theory, a company started by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) undergraduates, has launched a Kickstarter project to raise funds to further develop its wearable technology: the RFID-enabled Sesame Ring, which acts like a smart card, enabling users to leverage secure contactless payments for use with transit systems. The Sesame Ring Kickstarter Project began on Aug. 22 and will run through Sept. 14. To date, it has raised $12,222—more than double its stated $5,000 goal. The company will use the funds to develop Sesame Rings that can serve as CharlieCards, the smart cards used by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) transit riders. Just as transit riders tap their CharlieCards on an RFID reader at a metro turnstile or on a bus, ring wearers can tap the ring on the same readers in order to pay for their rides. Adding fare to the rings is the same as adding fare to the smart cards. Ring Theory reports that it plans to use the money to obtain 3D printers, hardware and mass-production capability. “The pledges will cover the cost of production and delivery of the rings to our backers,” says Olivia Seow, who founded and is developing the Sesame Ring with cofounder Edward Tiong. “We also intend to further develop the ring, making it sleeker, metallic, and multi-purpose.” According to Seow, the Sesame Ring can be adapted to any smart card. “The specifications of the ring simply mirror that of the card, making it compatible with existing readers used. For our case, the Sesame Ring acts as a CharlieCard, allowing users to pass through gantries in a familiar way.” In June 2013, Seow and Tiong approached MBTA with the Sesame Ring idea, and provided the duo with the technology needed to create functional CharlieCard rings. So far, approximately 500 people have pre-ordered the rings for use in the Massachusetts Bay area, and Seow says the company intends to ship all rings before this Christmas. Each ring features a 3D-printed face design that, according to Seow, offers optimal RF permeability. The Sesame Ring is not the first type of smart ring that Seow and Tiong have developed—they first created the Easy Ring, a college ring for students at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, which is affiliated with MIT.
Agee Race Timing Chooses Thinkify’s New Wireless RFID Reader
Thinkify, a supplier of embedded RFID solutions, has announced that Agee Race Timing has selected its TR-290-B wireless RFID reader, an EPC Gen 2 interrogator developed specifically for race-timing applications. Battery-powered (offering up to six hours of operating time) and weatherproof, with an IP 67 rating, the TR-290-B offers cable-free setup, according to Thinkify. It features an ASCII protocol interface over a Bluetooth connection, enabling it to communicate with a host PC, as well as a universal mounting kit. “A great thing about the TR-290 is that readers can be setup in minutes and don’t require the lengthy boot cycle of other models,” said Brian Agee, Agee Race Timing’s owner, in a prepared statement. “The wireless Bluetooth interface means that the host computer can be located up to 100 feet away, giving me a lot of flexibility on my installation. The wireless interface also means that readers can be installed on both sides of the start/finish line without the need for expensive gantries or dangerous cable mats that can present a tripping hazard.”
ByteLight Unveils NFC Reader Alternative for Retail Loyalty, Promotion Apps
ByteLight, a Massachusetts startup that develop software for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), has launched what it calls Light Field Communication (LFC), an alternative to RFID-based Near Field Communication (NFC). The technology is designed for used with loyalty and promotions applications, and to provide retailers with a cost-effective, fast and secure method of verifying a customer’s presence during tap-and-go check-ins and checkouts via a smartphone. The solution includes the “LFC Reader”—which, technically speaking, does not function as a reader, but as a transmitter. Specifically, the LFC Reader’s LED emits a modulated light signal (which blinks so fast that its modulations cannot be detected by the eye) encoded with the device’s unique ID number and location. The light signal is then received by the image sensor in the camera on any type of smartphone. An app on the smartphone, which would be built by a third-party, demodulates and identifies the signal by communicating with ByteLight’s back-end, cloud-based software. The third-party app would also manage the user’s loyalty or promotional information. According to Kyle Austin, ByteLight’s head of marketing, the LFC system lets customers easily check in to their loyalty program without having to unlock their phones and launch an app, and provides retailers with easy-to-use, affordable options for loyalty and promotional apps. “NFC has focused on mobile payments, and we are focused on loyalty, on promotions,” Austin says. “And our solution is much more affordable,” he notes, adding that LFC Readers are 1/20th the price of NFC readers. The LFC reader is about the size of a deck of playing cards, and can be plugged into existing point-of-sale (POS) systems. ByteLight has partnered with Appconomy, a cloud-based retail platform and mobile solutions provider, to pilot the LFC Readers with Chinese retailers; about 50 of 100 LFC Readers have already been deployed. Appconomy has developed JinJin, a smartphone app that works with the LFC Readers. According to ByteLight, the joint solution will enable these retailers to redeem and reward actual customers checking into stores, engaging in loyalty programs and making purchases.
RF Code Tags More Than Two Million Assets in Data Centers Worldwide, Launches Program to Spur Active RFID
RF Code, which provides IT asset-tracking and environmental-monitoring solutions, has announced that it has sold a total of 2 million asset-tracking tags to companies worldwide. The firm’s 433 MHz active RFID tags are being used to meet the regulatory, financial and resource demands of its customers’ IT facilities, as well as track other types of assets (see RF Code, Vehnet Offer Solution for Managing Assembled Vehicles, Components). In a prepared statement, Mitch Medford, RF Code’s CEO, said, “The speed at which our asset management solutions are being adopted has increased at an unprecedented rate in 2013 while our environmental sensors are trending to take us to 3 million tags and sensors in the market in just a few months. After deploying RF Code into their data centers, our largest customer calls us their ‘automated infrastructure platform for managing physical assets.'” To further its momentum, RF Code reports that it has begun it Passive-to-Active (P2A) program as an incentive for customers of passive RFID to realize the benefits of active RFID tags. RF Code says it will offer money back on every passive tag deployed at enterprise companies—whether in distributed IT, in a data center, in the supply chain or in health care—when they upgrade to an automated RF Code active RFID solution. IBM, for example, is using RF Code’s environmental-monitoring solution with IBM’s Tivoli Monitoring software, which is designed to help companies monitor and manage operating systems, databases and servers within distributed and hosted environments (see RFID News Roundup: RF Code Announces Integration Module for IBM’s Tivoli Monitoring Software).
RF Code reports that IBM recently presented some of its return-on-investment (ROI) results at the 2013 Uptime Institute Symposium. According to RF Code, IBM claims it now has more than 99.7 percent visibility into its data-center assets, up from a starting point of 71.8 percent, and 100 percent audit compliance savings on any manual inventory collection. IBM also reported that it has reduced asset-location time by 94 percent and improved asset-reconciliation time of lost items by 80 percent. In addition, RF Code is the RFID provider behind GE Healthcare‘s asset-tracking solutions at more than 45 hospitals, as well as providing returnable container tracking and other supply chain solutions to industrial markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and North America.
NFC-enabled Skip Clip Unlocks Motorola’s Moto X Smartphone
Motorola‘s new Moto X smartphones feature Skip, a Near Field Communication (NFC) accessory designed to make it easier for customers to unlock their Moto X smartphones without the need to enter a four-digit PIN. According to Motorola, the average person unlocks his or her smartphone 39 times a day, taking 2.3 seconds to do so each time. The Skip is a clip with an embedded NFC tag. As described at the Official Motorola Blog, the Skip is a thin, thumb-sized clip that can be affixed to a shirt sleeve, shirt hem, belt loop or other location, so a person can easily use it to unlock the Moto X by simply tapping it to the phone. Each Skip costs $20. Motorola has also developed Skip dots—stickers featuring the Skip tag that can be affixed to a car’s dashboard, a bedside nightstand, a desk at work or a wallet. Each Moto X smartphone comes with three Skip dots; additional dots are available at a cost of $20 apiece. According to Motorola, only Skip clips and Skip dots that have been paired with a user’s phone will unlock it, and a person can easily unpair them in the event that the Skip is lost or replaced. A user who does not have his or her Skip clip or Skip dot handy can still unlock the phone by entering the handset’s PIN. The Moto X is available now through AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
E-ZPass Celebrates 20th Anniversary
For two decades, as of this month, drivers equipped with the E-ZPass transponder have been able to use any toll road, lane or facility within the E-ZPass network throughout 15 states and 25 member organizations. The 20th anniversary of E-ZPass marks the program’s innovation and customer service, and the program “serves as a model for the successful implementation of interoperability in the transportation tolling marketplace,” said P J Wilkins, E-ZPass Group‘s executive director, in a prepared statement. The E-ZPass system uses 915 MHz active tags employing a proprietary air-interface protocol. The E-ZPass Interagency Group, originally formed in 1990 by seven toll facilities within the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, sought to implement a regionally compatible electronic toll-collection system that would meet the needs of the participating agencies and, more importantly, provide customers with a convenient system of toll payment. Within three years, interoperability between the agencies became a reality, according to the E-ZPass Group, which currently operates the world’s largest interoperable toll network, with more than 25 million transponders in use, and more than 2.4 billion transactions processed last year. Customers can now use their E-ZPass transponder accounts to pay for parking at participating airports and garages, as well as purchase prepaid transponders at convenience stores, rest areas and motor vehicle departments, as well as online. “More than 86 percent of the Illinois Tollway’s 2.2 million daily transactions are electronic,” added Kristi Lafleur, the E-ZPass Group’s executive director, in the prepared statement. “E-ZPass interoperability gives our customers faster, safer and more convenient travel on our own system and throughout 14 other states. Whether a business traveler, tourist or a trucker carrying goods across the country, all customers are better served through this seamless network.” The organization is partnering with regional, national and international organizations to advance toll interoperability and identify related transportation solutions.