
RFID WORLD
Feb 07, 2010 01:57AM
Jun 12, 2009 06:47AM
Publisher of Geek's Atlas to Help Save Bletchley Park
The publishers of a book describing historical sites around the world famous for breakthroughs in technology, science and mathematics are to donate 50 pence for every book sold to Britain's struggling and run down Bletchley Park, home to the country's code-cracking and computing heritage.
Jun 12, 2009 05:05AM
Author of Digital Britain Blueprint Set to Leave Government
Lord (Stephen) Carter, the man brought in some eight months ago to beef up the U.K.'s communications and media industry policy and who is due to present his long awaited and much anticipated Digital Britain report next week, is set to leave the government soon after the document is published.
Jun 12, 2009 04:23AM
Innovision Blames Sales Collapse On "Delays"
Sales at near-field communications company Innovision Research and Technology plc (Cirencester, England) collapsed in the financial year that ended March 31, 2009 partly because of changes at a key customer, the company said believed to be NXP BV (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Nonetheless the company expressed optimism that 2010 would see chip projects brought to market.
Jun 11, 2009 04:28PM
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Intelligence at the Network Edge
Among the most compelling aspects of RFID is its ability to extend intelligence to the edge of enterprise networks. RFID allows for individual items to have a unique identifier and can identify many items at once. Hence RFID can collect large volumes of actionable data each second from immense numbers of RFID-tagged items as they move across conveyors, through dock doors and even off of store shelves. As part of a network, RFID systems enable the first step towards integrating that valuable information into enterprise systems and processes where it can be analyzed and used to trigger decisions and actions.
How RFID Works
A RFID system has several components including chips, tags, readers and antennas. In its simplest form, a small silicon chip is attached to a small flexible antenna to create a tag. The chip is used to record and store information. When a tag is to be read, the reader (which also uses an antenna) sends it a radio signal. The tag absorbs some of the RF energy from the reader signal and reflects it back as a return signal delivering information from the tag's memory.
RFID Range
UHF RFID systems communicate using frequencies around 900MHz with a maximum read range of 10 meters (approximately 30 feet) under ideal conditions. This makes UHF RFID a promising solution for reading pallets and cartons off of conveyors or in portals from a distance. But this capability does not in any way preclude UHF from near field and near contact applications as UHF systems can be easily tailored to meet lower range requirements. This can be accomplished by reducing power at the reader, reducing the size of the reader antenna, and/or reducing the size of the tag antenna.
RFID Tags
RFID tags are designed and produced in a variety of shapes and sizes, dependent on application requirements. As UHF RFID has a large maximum read range to begin with, using extremely small tags for such applications as near field item level tracking (where tags may reside under bottles caps or behind product labels, for example) is promising. Applications such as pallet or case level tracking of commodities on conveyors or passing through portals, and read from a distance, typically require larger tags.
RFID Readers
RFID readers are generally composed of a computer and a radio. The computer manages communications with the network, allowing tag data to be communicated to enterprise software applications such as ERP systems. The radio controls communication with the tag, typically using a language dictated by a published protocol such as the EPC Class 1 specification. This particular protocol, one of several in use, is the most common language used by tags in supply chain applications.
