RFid Blog

Intermec has bagged yet another major RFID deal this month. After reaching out an agreement with NASA to provide its RFID products for the test of this technology in outer space, Intermec is now selected by software giant Microsoft to supply its RFID hardware for the Microsoft Technology Centers in America.

The Microsoft Technology Centers has been widely recognized as the major research centers where enterprises and independent software vendor customers envisage, architect and evaluate technology solutions before using them in their IT environment.

Microsoft explains,

Intermec has a deep and broad understanding and its value to the retail, industrial, transportation and logistics customers, so they were a natural choice to bring technology to Center visitors.

As agreed by two companies, Intermec would provide its CV60 vehicle-mounted computers, IV7 vehicle-mounted RFID readers and IA33E RFID antennas for the deployment in real-world RFID scenarios at Microsoft Technology Centers in Austin, Reston, Va., Chicago, Boston, Silicon Valley and New York.

What could be the big thumb on RFID than this one? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it is testing the RFID technology to find out whether RFID tags can survive in outer space. The test will commence this summer.

The prime objective of the test is to determine the applicability of RFID technology in any future manned mission to Mars. As part of the trial, NASA will use Gen 2 Passive tags of Intermec, one of the leading RFID product makers in the world.

NASA-supported RFID project calls for introduction of more sophisticated RFID tags capable of resisting exposure to the extreme levels of ultraviolet radiation, atomic oxygen, hard vacuum and contamination in low earth orbit.

NASA says that if the test proves successful then RFID technology would be immensely used to monitor and manage inventory on a spacecraft.

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Soon Indians will also be able to use use their mobile phone as their wallet. Countries leading telecomm operators Hutch, Airtel and Reliance Communications are initiating global pilot project to offer mobile phone with an embedded credit card chip.

This RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based technology will let your cell work as a mobile-cum-wallet with phone working as a credit or debit card.

User will have to swipe their mobile phone through a ‘near field’ communications terminal placed in shops and pay their payments with a common phone bill.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India has approached the GSM Association, a global operator to use global systems for mobile communications technology. It will also give Indian’s the facility of international transactions on credit cards.
Cellular Operators’ Association, secretary general, TV Ramachandran, said that this project will be a ‘technology demonstrator’.
Never the less it will the first of its kind initiative in India.

Japan based NTT DoCoMo is already providing this wireless credit card service with a technology developed by Sony and Philips.

Via: Rediff

EPCglobal has introduced a new global standard, GS1 EPCglobal Electronic Pedigree Document that pitches for RFID technology creating electronic pedigrees to securely track the authenticity and chain-of-custody of pharmaceuticals and other items.

The new standard approved by EPCglobal also complies with all current US state requirements for pharmaceutical pedigrees and other track-and-trace documentation in other industries.

The newly introduced EPCglobal standard establishes a new framework for identifying goods and updating data linked with each item in the supply chain management.

The EPC numbers is cent percent secure to distinctively identify the object. It is now available for free download from the EPCglobal website.

Interestingly, the EPCglobal standard has been brought out just a few days after Federal court ruling that blocked FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration) electronic pedigree requirements in pharmaceutical sectors.

We don’t need to define NFC (Near Field Communications). Both RFID and NFC technology provide same services and function more or less similarly. The only distinguishing point of them is the reading range. In case of NFC, the range of reading is very close making it fit for contactless payments.

Mobile giant Nokia is developing its next handheld device in RFID line. Dubbed as Nokia 6131 NFC, the handheld device enables you to make payments and share information.

The clamshell-style phone has a music player, MicroSD card slot, FM radio,1.3 mega pixel camera and Bluetooth.

It is equipped with NFC components above its display to make a payment easier than before. You just need hold a part of the device near the payment reader to make a payment.

As of now, Nokia is joining hands with Cingular for trailing the device in America. The phone will be shipped during the first quarter of this year for $340.

Zebra Technologies Corporation is all set to get hold of WhereNet Corp, a global provider of active RFID products and wireless solutions to track and manage enterprise assets, for nearly $126 million in cash.

The decision to acquire WhereNet has eventually paved way for Zebra to actively involve in active RFID technology. Zebra has been dealing with passive RFID and barcode technology since inception.

Edward Kaplan, CEO of Zebra considers that active RFID is a natural complement to passive RFID and bar coding, two main areas of company’s business. He added that WhereNet would function as a separate business unit of Zebra.

The deal is likely to close up by the end of this month. It is subject to WhereNet shareholder endorsement and termination of the H-S-R waiting period on January 13, 2007. Zebra anticipates WhereNet to increase its sales from $36 million to $50 million in 2007.

Lockheed Martin-owned Savi Technology, a leader in active RFID solutions for supply chain management has created a maturing market for the RFID industry by registering a good number of companies for its active RFID technology.

The RFID leader has licensed its active RFID technology to seven major companies under the licensing program. These companies are Apogee Total Solutions, Convergence Systems Limited, Graphic Industries, Inc., Evigia Systems, Hi-G-Tek, Identec Solutions and Impeva Labs.

Bob Kramer, CEO of Savi Technology acknowledges,

Broad participation in our ISO 18000-7 licensing program is a sign of a maturing market for active RFID, and a confirmation that standardization will continue to turbo charge this market place.

The licensed companies will have access to Savi’s intellectual property for active RFID products, which are based on the ISO 18000-7 active RFID air protocol standard. The ISO 18000-7 addresses air protocol standards operating at 433.92MHz, and has been supported in nearly every major trading country worldwide.

The licensing program is very important to reap the benefits of RFID technology in supply chain asset tracking and other applications.

This is entirely a new way of tracking humans and animals. US-based Somark has developed visible or invisible ink tattoos that can be embedded into the human skin and tracked by RFID readers placed in a little distance. Animals can also be tracked in this way.

The company had tested its Biocompatible RFID ink product on cattle and laboratory rats and came out successfully. It now finds the real benefits of injecting and reading a tattoo within the skin of animals.

Ramos Mays, the chief scientist at Somark claims,

This proves the ability to create a synthetic biometric or fake fingerprint with Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink and read it through hair.

The company plans to implement this technology in livestock industry initially to facilitate identify and track cattle, then on laboratory animals, dogs and cats, prime cuts of meat and military personnel.

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) has acquired two major projects from Honda Italia Industriale and Pliant Corporation to develop RFID software and chips for asset tracking and detect tampering.

Honda Italia Industriale, a division of Honda Motor Co. and global leader in the two wheels worldwide market would implement RFID technology and infrastructure of IBM to transform and innovate the production processes at its plant situated in Atessa, Italy.

With IBM RFID solutions, Honda Italia aims at improving efficiency and accuracy in managing its large motorcycle and scooter production in Italy.

Schaumburg, Ill-based Pliant has implemented an RFID platform pilot program of IBM to track shipments between the two technical centers and consumer sites and detect tampering in its stretch-wrapping products.

The company is adopting IBM software to keep track of RFID-marked cargo-everything from cereal boxes to diapers. The RFID solution makes Pliant to use handheld devices to track products and identify potential tampering in real-time.

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We all are aware of the fact that our brave fire fighters and cops have to endanger their own lives to save ours. They have to jump in blazing fires and some do not make it out of it.

To help such brave men SurvivalTag will be used. This uses RFID tags to keep track of all the individuals who are in the fire saving lives. This will also enable the team leader to keep track of all the members of the team.

The device is also useful for all other members of the squad who can tell the exact position of their mates who are in fire. This will help the firefighters to get the exact position of their team in case of dense smoke.

RFID Ltd is also working on some improvements and is planning to add some sensors that can transmit the heart rate and the respiratory developments of the fire fighters.

Via: ubergizmo