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- Zebra Environmental Sensors Boost Supply Chain Visibility
- NXP MCU Enables Secure NFC Authentications
- Arrow Electronics, Qualcomm Expand Collaboration
Presented here are recent news announcements in the radio frequency identification and Internet of Things industries.
Zebra Environmental Sensors Boost Supply Chain Visibility
Zebra Technologies has announced a new line of environmental sensors. The solution includes the new ZS300 sensor, the ZB200 Bridge and the Android Sensor Discovery app. With these sensors, Zebra reports, manufacturers, wholesalers, and transportation and logistics operators in the food, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries will have cloud-based visibility into environmental factors, for such applications as temperature monitoring and moisture detection. This enables companies to know if products have been maintained within appropriate conditions throughout the supply chain.
The sensors allow users to take corrective actions in real time, the company explains. “We’re excited to expand our sensor technology to address the need for cost-effective supply chain visibility and data insights,” said Tony Cecchin, Zebra’s VP and general manager for supplies and sensors, in a prepared statement. “The ZS300 electronic sensor extends our robust portfolio, including visual and printable indicators, providing customers the ability to drive smarter business decisions, reduce waste and increase efficiency.”
The ZS300 sensor is intended to address challenges related to consumer concerns about medications or food being compromised in transit, with a secure cloud-based platform enabling users to integrate temperature logging into a variety of applications and systems. The system is available in multipacks and includes minimal biodegradable packaging and a no-cost recycling program to reduce environmental impact.
Only four in 10 pharmaceutical decision-makers surveyed in Zebra’s “Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Vision Study” said they trust the entities within the supply chain to keep drugs safe and uncompromised. According to Zebra’s “Food Safety Supply Chain Vision Study,” an average of 37 percent of decision-makers and 20 percent of consumers place complete trust in the industry to ensure food and beverage safety. With this latest solution, Zebra’s mobile computers and tablets can collect data to provide visibility into the temperature exposure of shipments.
Ivanti Wavelink, Zebra’s independent software vendor partner, is among the first to develop a software solution for the ZS300 and ZB200 electronic sensors solution using application programming interfaces, software development kits and documentation from Zebra to provide temperature insights with location. Ivanti’s Velocity Client solution and Neurons for IIOT platform support the ZS300 to enable the integration of environmental sensing into enterprise systems.
“Environmental sensors address critical needs of businesses in the market, and we are excited to collaborate with Zebra to deliver for our mutual customers,” added Brandon Black, Ivanti Wavelink’s senior VP and general manager, in the prepared statement. “Today, we are seeing customers place a lot more emphasis on monitoring the conditions of goods where spoilage can result in costly recalls and adversely affect their bottom lines. With Zebra, our combined solution helps customers gain a competitive edge while reducing risk.”
NXP MCU Enables Secure NFC Authentications
NXP Semiconductors has announced that its single-chip secure, connected MCU solution combines a full Near Field Communication (NFC) reader, a customizable Arm Cortex- M33 MCU and a security toolbox to deliver faster, more secure NFC authentication. NXP’s PN7642 single-chip solution integrates a customizable MCU, an NFC reader and SESIP-Level 2 security to deliver secure NFC transactions for physical access solutions, consumables authentication, secure identity verification and other use cases.
NFC technology is foundational to secure authentication, NXP explains, whether it’s used for verifying that a person standing at a front door has been granted access by a homeowner, or confirming that a consumable inserted into a medical device is approved for use with that device. “NFC has become an essential element for secure authentication, for both people and goods,” said Alasdair Ross, NXP’s senior director for NFC IoT security, in a prepared statement. “By combining a customizable MCU with an NFC Forum-certified NFC solution and a complete security toolbox, the PN7642 makes it easier to integrate NFC technology into new or existing secure authentication solutions.”
The PN7642 includes a high-performance, NFC Forum-certified NFC reader with 2 watts of output power. The integrated customizable Cortex-M33 MCU includes 180 kB flash, 20 kB RAM and a set of controller and host interfaces. The product includes SESIP-Level 2 certification, a security toolbox, crypto accelerators and secure key storage, all software-supported.
Arrow Electronics, Qualcomm Expand Collaboration
Arrow Electronics and Qualcomm Technologies have announced that they have expanded their strategic collaboration. The establishment of Edge Labs, an Arrow Center of Excellence (CoE), is expected to will help customers accelerate the development of connected intelligent edge devices based on Qualcomm solutions.
The first development kit from Arrow company eInfochips, as part of the Edge Labs initiative—the Aikri 42x, based on Qualcomm QRB4210 system-on-chip—has recently been launched. Edge and artificial intelligence (AI) solution development is becoming increasingly challenging to customers, the companies explain, due to several factors, such as a lack of prior experience, limited access to high-performance edge and AI chipsets, supply chain complexity and fledgling ecosystem.
Edge Labs will help innovators navigate such challenges while increasing the adoption of edge AI, using solutions from Qualcomm across security, safety, healthcare, robotics, cameras, displays, optical inspection and other IoT applications. The facility will have a dedicated solution architect and engineering team to develop application-specific solutions, including training sales and field application engineers specifically on Qualcomm Technologies’ products. It will offer design services to enable lower risk and faster time to market for customers through eInfochips.
“We are excited to expand our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and establish Edge Labs, an Arrow center of excellence,” said Kirk Schell, the president of Arrow’s global components business, in a prepared statement. “Combining Arrow’s strength in engineering and supply chain with Qualcomm Technologies’ innovative products will help customers accelerate their design and speed to market in robotic, edge appliance and machine vision applications.”
“Edge AI is the next big engineering frontier and we’re thrilled to expand our strategic collaboration with Arrow Electronics to strengthen the development and proliferation of IoT technologies and serve a more diverse and global customer base,” added Dev Singh, Qualcomm’s VP of business development, in the statement. “Edge Labs COE customers will have the ability to unlock new and unique edge AI use cases thanks to Qualcomm Technologies’ leading-edge platforms and unified SW stack.”