RFID Journal LIVE! 2023 will feature end-user companies discussing RFID’s use in various industries, as well as exhibitors offering tagging solutions for multiple applications. To learn more, visit the event’s website.
Presented here are recent news announcements in the radio frequency identification and Internet of Things industries.
Xerafy Offers RFID Tags with Metal Plate for Industrial Assets
Xerafy, a provider of RFID-based tagging solutions, has launched its XPLATE series of tags for asset tracking and identification in harsh environments. The XPLATE tags, the company reports, enables the accurate identification of critical assets so businesses can optimize operations and boost efficiencies. With industrial asset tracking and identification becoming increasingly vital, Xerafy reports, the tags feature a proprietary design offering multidirectional long-range performance. The tags are encased in an IP68-rated waterproof and weatherproof casing, and are available in stainless steel or aluminum metal for stamping, embossing and laser marking.
“At Xerafy, we understand the challenges that our customers face in tracking their mobile assets in harsh environments,” said Michel Gillmann, the company’s CMO, in a prepared statement. “That’s why we have designed the XPLATE series of RFID tags to offer a new generation of metal tagging with wireless identification. With its customizable metal plate and all-weather RFID, the XPLATE series is the ultimate solution for fixed and mobile asset management, providing our customers with peace of mind and improved operational efficiency.”
The XPLATE series offers a read range of 10 meters (32.8 feet) on metal and a wide reading angle, the company indicates, providing multidirectional accuracy from below and above. It can be mounted via welding, rivets, screws or adhesives, and it contains an Impinj M750 tag chip. Samples of the XPLATE tags are available for order via Xerafy’s authorized partners. The XPLATE series is intended for such industries as oil and gas, mining, construction and transportation, as the tags can track critical assets like pipelines, heavy machinery and vehicles.
Litmus Adds Digital Twins to Industrial Data Platform
Litmus, which provides an industrial edge data platform, has announced the availability of digital twins for users of its Litmus Edge and Litmus Edge Manager solutions. This, according to the company, offers manufacturers a means of collecting, contextualizing, normalizing and analyzing data with visual representations of digital twin models.
Litmus has designed a flexible infrastructure that supports assets, sites or digital twins, as well as use case-driven twins for energy monitoring, predictive maintenance, production optimization and quality control. With digital twins, the firm explains, manufacturers can model collected data, enable visualization and simulations, and make decisions in real time. Litmus Edge with digital twins gives users the ability to integrate production data, static metadata, machine learning data, analytics and a user’s own application data, in order to solve challenges in industrial data operations.
“Our core intellectual property was our ability to collect data from any industrial source, normalize and contextualize it, and analyze it at the edge in real time,” said Vishvesh Shah, Litmus’s director of product management, in a prepared statement. “Digital twins is a logical extension of our solution, because it helps customers scale up in a repeatable way with smart digital twin models.”
Vatsal Shah, Litmus’s co-founder and CEO, added in the statement, “The OT and IT stack is getting more dynamic and complicated. Realizing the potential of digital twins at scale in the industry now requires an integrated approach that extends beyond the factory floor, across the enterprise, with various cloud, consortium-driven or legacy asset frameworks.” Digital twins were first released to a limited customer group in early 2022. Customers that have purchased the Litmus Edge Scale package will have access to digital twins at no additional charge, Xerafy reports.
iDTronic Intros New RFID Reader Modules
iDTronic, a supplier of embedded reader modules, has developed and released three new UHF (840 to 960 MHz) RFID modules: the M650, the M620 and the M600. Based on Impinj‘s E310 and E710 reader chips, these modules were developed to meet Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) requirements. Regardless of the application environment, whether tracing assets in industrial processes or identifying merchandise at a retail store, the company says the modules offer flexibility and reliability.
The modules feature a compact form design, a reading rate of more than 900 tags per second and RF outputs of 30 to 33 dBm, enabling them to be used for industrial automation. They can be integrated into machines, devices or assembly lines, iDTronic indicates, and they support EPC UHF Class 1 Gen 2 (ISO 18000-63) protocol tags, as well as most UHF transponders available on the market.
With four antenna ports, the M650 module provides stable operation in harsh environments. The four-port module is based on the E710 chip, and it is compact in size, low in power consumption and high in stability, the company claims, as well as resistant to electromagnetic interference and good at heat dispersion. The module is suitable for such industries as warehousing, logistics, apparel and production lines. Users can read multiple UHF RFID tags in a crowded environment, and the M650 complies with both European and U.S. regulatory requirements.
This M620 provides developers with control via a software development kit, allowing complex tag operations to be executed using pre-configured commands. It is intended for use in RFID tag printers, automated teller machines, anti-counterfeiting equipment and warehouse-management tools, and is designed for handheld RFID readers or tag-writing devices. According to iDTronic, it features high sensitivity, an anti-conflict mechanism, multi-tag reading and an MMCX antenna interface. The module features the E710 reader chip, enabling read rates of up to 900 tags per second.
Finally, the M600 is intended for surface-mounted device (SMD) production processes, and the company offers this UHF module on tape and reel upon request. SMD components are suitable for surface-mount technology placement systems, and are used for the precise placement of integrated circuits on printed circuit boards, as well as for industrial, medical, automotive, military and telecommunications equipment.
Digital Twin Consortium Presents Business Essentials Education
The Digital Twin Consortium (DTC) has announced its “Successful Digital Twin Business Essentials” class, provided by the originator of the digital twin concept, Michael Grieves. The course will take place on June 19, 2023, at Universal Orlando’s Loews Royal Pacific Resort. The consortium drives the awareness, adoption, interoperability and development of digital twin technologies. Through a collaborative partnership with industry, academia and government expertise, the organization says it is dedicated to the overall development of digital twins.
The class is designed for companies evaluating, investigating and planning short- and long-term digital twin use case projects, the organization explains, and it will provide information about the basic principles, concepts and enabling components of digital twin technologies. Attendees will apply strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and financial analyses to digital twin projects, and the speakers will explain how to develop use cases.
According to the DTC, the class will lay out digital twin concepts in management- and board-level terms. It will describe the digital twin model, its related technologies and its potential evolution; define digital twins’ value, as well as strategic and financial evaluation implications; identify digital twin use cases and value; and help attendees assess and evaluate digital twin project proposals, as well as identify organizations’ readiness and requirements.
“Without the backing of executive management, digital twins, a key enabler of digital transformation, are unlikely to achieve their full potential,” said Dan Isaacs, the Digital Twin Consortium’s general manager and chief technology officer, in a prepared statement. “By taking a holistic approach, digital twins can provide transformative business outcomes. Highly technical projects, which includes digital twins, can be problematic if management doesn’t fully comprehend them. Project proposals must clearly and concisely explain the technology, its potential benefits, and the business value in terms leadership understands.”