The following are news announcements made during the past week.
WaveMark Enhances Comprehensive OR Inventory-Management Solution
WaveMark, a provider of radio frequency identification and Web-based solutions, has announced a series of software and hardware enhancements to its OR inventory-management solution, designed to help streamline data capture and allow for real-time supply management by exception within operating rooms. The WaveMark solution utilizes high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz RFID tags compliant with the ISO 15693 standard. The company has expanded its OR solution portfolio to include the WaveMark SmartWand—an RFID and bar-code handheld reader designed specifically for the health-care industry for use in conjunction with tablet applications, to cycle-count, streamline picking, manage remote stocking locations and place orders. In addition, the solution portfolio features more than 50 custom RFID-enabled SmartCabinet configurations, supporting a variety of OR product, storage and space requirements. The solution portfolio now features a mobile RFID tracking system that complements the RFID SmartCabinets, and that leverages a hospital’s existing product storage units, such as shelving and refrigeration units, and also supports a wide set of OR specialty areas, ranging from cardiac surgery, cardiovascular rhythm management, orthopedic surgery and ophthalmic surgery to less invasive interventional cardiology, neurovascular, peripheral vascular, interventional radiology and electrophysiology procedures. WaveMark’s MobileHospital iPad app enables the tracking of lower-value surgical supplies, and a point-of-care workstation, as part of the solution, is designed to increase charge-capture accuracy, provide product-safety alerts, and enable operating room staff members to quickly document product information in multiple systems. There is also an implant- and tissue-tracking module that provides hospitals with an intuitive and efficient set of tools and workflows to meet their regulatory compliance objectives, according to WaveMark, and the solution portfolio can be integrated via interfaces with existing OR systems, ADT, billing, procurement and clinical documentation systems that free clinicians from paperwork and eliminate repetitive data entry and errors. The new item-level locator functionality lets an OR staff identify the availability and location of medical items online—which, WaveMark reports, can decrease turnover and case setup times, as well as improve patient safety. The OR solution portfolio now features Advanced Analytics, a browser-based business intelligence and analytics platform that provides time-series analysis of cost per case, inventory positions, usage, inventory costs and other critical variables for trend and pattern detection in a single intuitive interface. Finally, WaveMark has engaged in partnerships with global medical device manufacturers that actively participate in the solution by shipping RFID-tagged products to create shared visibility of inventory positions, and provide electronic notification to hospitals as shipments are processed and shipped from their distribution centers. A number of health-care facilities are currently using WaveMark’s RFID-enabled cabinets to track equipment, including VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and Tufts Medical Center (see Ann Arbor VA Hospital Tracks Lab Supplies Via RFID and Tufts Medical Center Saved $1.5 Million With RFID).
HID Global Introduces RFID-enabled Laundry Tag
HID Global has announced the addition of its industry and logistics SlimFlex Laundry tag solution to the company’s SlimFlex tag family of broadband, ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID transponders supporting the EPC Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6 standards. The tag leverages the SlimFlex tag family’s durability and flexibility, in a format designed for automated tracking and inventory for commercial laundry and health-care linens and supplies. The SlimFlex Laundry tag is capable of withstanding the chemical exposure and high temperatures of repeated commercial washing, drying and pressing cycles, the company reports, as well as medical-grade sterilization procedures. For example, it has an IP68 rating, meaning it is dustproof and waterproof, and is resistant to mineral oil, petroleum, salt mist, vegetable oil, hydrochloric acid (10 percent solution), bleach (5 percent solution) and ultraviolet (UV) rays. According to HID Global, the tag is encased in white thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), making it flexible, and is small—measuring 55 millimeters by 12 millimeters by 2.3 millimeters (2.2 inches by 0.5 inch by (0.1 inch)—so it can be discreetly sewn into the hem of clothing or linens, unnoticeable to users during everyday operations. The firm reports that the tag delivers reliable performance and reading stability in high heat and subfreezing temperatures, and also can withstand temperatures of up to 428 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius) during ironing. The tag has a read range of up to 8.2 feet (2.5 meters), and is designed to enable automated sorting, inventory and accounting for commercial cleaners, as well as improved tracking and infection-control processes for health-care linens and supplies. The SlimFlex Laundry tag is made with an NXP Semiconductors G2iM chip featuring 256 bits Electric Product Code (EPC) memory, a 64-bit tag ID (TID) and 512 bits of user memory. HID Global’s SlimFlex Laundry Tag is available now.
Nordic ID Launches Small, Compact UHF RFID Reader
Nordic ID has unveiled a new compact ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID reader, known as the Nordic ID Stix, that the company says is suitable for retail environments, especially those utilizing tablets and point-of-sale (POS) solutions with limited space. The new reader, which plugs into a USB port, is 53 millimeters (2.1 inches) wide, 79 millimeters (3.1 inches) long and 7 millimeters (0.3 inch) high, and weighs 22 grams (0.8 ounce). The device has a typical reading range of 1 meter (3.3 feet), though the read range is adjustable, and a typical reading speed of 150 tags per second. It is equipped with two light-emitting diode (LED) indicators, and has a deactivate/kill tag function. The Stix reader can also be used with information kiosks, smart displays, document-tracking systems and smart-shopping applications. Nordic ID offers its ready-to-use Nordic ID NUR application programming interface that provides full control over the reader, and applications for the interrogator can be written in the C/C++ and .NET languages. Available now, the Nordic ID Stix comes with a two-year warranty.
Diamond Services Unveils Gem-Scale Integration With GemBox RFID
Diamond Services Ltd, GemBox RFID‘s distributor in Hong Kong, China, India, Belgium and Israel, has announced that it is introducing GemBox’s latest feature: integrating the operation of a number of digital diamond scales into the software of GemBox RFID, so that a gem’s weight, recorded by the scale, can automatically and simultaneously be saved into the GemBox software program and onto the proprietary tag attached to the gemstone. GemBox RFID includes RFID tags small enough for gem industry applications, enabling users to track stock and store information about each item. GemBox RFID allows diamond, gem or pearl traders to perform inventory counts of up to 1,000 items within 30 seconds, Diamond Services reports, and can also reduce the incidence of theft. This particular procedure eliminates the need for an operator to enter a gemstone’s weight into a record, and consequently eliminates any possibility of human error, according to Yossi Kuzi, a co-owner of Diamonds Services Ltd. GemBox RFID uses Magellan Technology‘s phase jitter modulation (PJM) RFID technology. Magellan’s passive high-frequency (HF) system includes 13.56 MHz passive PJM labels compliant with the ISO 18000-3 standard, as well tunnel and desktop readers (see RFID Helps Gem Dealers Track the Diamonds They Buy, Cut and Sell).
Ams Announces Analog Front-End Chip for Secure Operation of NFC-enabled Payment Transactions
Ams, an Austrian manufacturer of ICs and sensors (formerly known as austriamicrosystems), has announced its AS3922 chip, an advanced active tag analog front-end (AFE) chip that enables the operation of Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID functionality on micro-SD, micro-SIM, SIM and other space-constrained carrier devices. According to ams, the AS3922 IC, which features the company’s Active Boost Technology to overcome the limitations of passive load modulation, basically allows a complete contactless credit card to be put onto an ultra-small form factor within a challenging environment. The active tag AFE IC is designed for ultrasmall form-factor ISO 14443 tag applications, particularly for those in which the coupling factor between the reader coil and the tag coil is so small that using passive modulation would not produce sufficient signal on the reader coil, resulting in little or no communication. Boosting the response to the reader, the company explains, allows for tag functionality in applications with a lot of RF interference in the field, or that require ultrasmall form-factor antenna. The benefit, according to Ams, is that any legacy mobile phone can now become a payment vehicle. The AS3922 chip emulates an ISO 14443A/B tag through active transmission of the tag’s response, in synch with the reader’s carrier field. This overcomes the difficulties with using conventional passive load modulation in a micro-SD or micro-SIM card, a device with a very small antenna and—in a mobile phone—operating within a harsh environment. The AS3922 IC can be installed in micro-SD- and SIM-based cards developed by payment and security companies, as well as by manufacturers of microSD and SIM cards. In that way, mobile phone network operators, banks and others will be able to provide customers with a contactless payment technology card suitable for the many mobile phones lacking built-in NFC capability. As well as offering Active Boost functionality, the AS3922 chip also features antenna auto tuning (AAT) technology, Q factor adjustment and a low-impedance output driver with adjustable output power. The chip complies with the ISO 14443A and B standards for tag emulation, according to ams, supporting data rates of up to 106 kilobits per second, as well as FeliCa at data rates of up to 212 kilobits per second. The AS3922 chip provides an analog contactless bridge (ACLB) interface for communication with a secure element, and a digital secure environment interface supporting NFC CLF, DCLB and NFC-WI interfaces. “Previous SIM or micro-SD card-based NFC products needed an external booster antenna, which is not user friendly or robust due to its extended antenna,” said Mark Dickson, ams’ senior marketing manager for wireless technology, in a prepared statement. “Active Boost technology from ams changes the game because it enables NFC to become a ‘plug and play’ function for any device with a micro-SD, SD or SIM card slot.” The AS3922 chip is in volume production now.
Survey Shows That, On Average, Half of World’s DCs Use RFID
Nearly 3,000 hours annually are lost at distribution centers due to inefficient processes, with DCs losing an average of nearly $390,000 per year due to mis-picks, according to a new global research report released from Intermec. But organizations surveyed report that technology can help. In fact, 89 percent of managers queried believe that investing in new technology would enable them to achieve time-savings and improve worker productivity, while 74 percent of managers believe that increasing automation within a DC would have the greatest impact on increasing profitability. More than two-thirds, or 68 percent, of those surveyed believe that worker mobility and flexibility is key to improving profitability—a sentiment felt strongest in the United States (76 percent) and the United Kingdom (84 percent). Despite these findings, the report found that nearly one in four, or 23 percent, of all companies surveyed are still utilizing paper to conduct DC processes. Technologies that pique the interest of those surveyed include multifunctional devices, which 72 percent of managers cited as being critical to ensuring that workers are flexible and are equipped to do more. In addition, 67 percent indicated that intuitive, user-friendly devices help drive employee satisfaction, morale and loyalty. RFID technology is also seen as a boon to efficiency. Fifty-two percent of managers queried currently use RFID within their distribution center. This is highest in Germany, at 60 percent, followed by 59 percent in the United States and 44 percent in France. The research report, commissioned by Intermec and carried out by research company Vanson Bourne, surveyed 250 senior supply chain and distribution center managers at organizations with within the United Kingdom, France, Germany and North America employing more than 500 workers.