Dear All,

I had spent a lot of time in getting a free RFID reader simulator sw
in the past for developing an RFID application. In due course,
developed my own simulator, willing to share the application with new
comers to RFID / those who are interested.

The simulator is an win32 application which simulates an UHF reader,
displays random tags-id's at regular interval ( user defined ) in auto
mode.

You can write your own code to connect to the simulator using a TCP
socket, capture tag-id's, filter process and store or use the program
to just see the tag-id's. The setup file can be downloaded from
www.chennaibpo.com/rfid_setup.zip (3 MB)

Regards

Mohan Raju

The contact information for the below position and for other RFID-related
positions may be found on the RFID Talent and Career Center...
http://www.rfidtribe.com/home/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=66

*********************************************************************


Position Title: Project Manager - RFID

Location(s): San Fernando, California, United States

Company: Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC)

Date Posted: January 10, 2007

Description:
Are you looking for a great place to work, with an enthusiastic staff,
entrepreneurial environment, and excellent benefits?  Your search is over!
Backed by 50 years of experience, Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC)
located in San Fernando, California, is a manufacturer of identification
wristbands and solutions for the healthcare and crowd control markets.  We
are the global leader in wristband identification, delivering innovative and
reliable solutions to organizations and governments in over 100 countries
worldwide.


We currently have an immediate need for a dynamic individual to fill the
position of Project Manager - RFID to plan and manage all project activities
associated with the development and launch of RFID applications.  In this
challenging role, the Project Manager will be the primary interface to the
customer during the development and launch of project and must manage all
logistics issues across multiple projects.


Following are just a few of the responsibilities of this position:


1. Create and execute project master schedule between customer and vendor
partners and revise as appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements.


2. Travel to customer site to assess scope of project, meet key customers
and vendor partner contacts, and refine master project schedule.


3. Manage day-to-day operational aspects of each project and scope.


4. Prepare and distribute meeting notes to the entire development and
installation team.


5. Holds regular status meetings with project team.


6. Monitor and track costs beyond the scope of the original contract, and
follow-up on billing activities.


PDC serves a variety of markets, including healthcare,
entertainment/recreation, law enforcement, and deathcare. We are the
industry leader by size, breadth of product and innovation, and the pioneer
in the development of automatic identification solutions. These include
PDC's revolutionary bar code and radio frequency identification (RFID)
wristband systems, which provide total accuracy, superior security, and
streamlined operations.



Precision Dynamics Corporation offers a competitive salary, profit sharing,
401(k), an annual bonus package as well as excellent benefits including
medical, dental, vision, long term disability, vacation pay, holiday pay,
and sick pay.  PDC also provides a work environment that encourages growth
and career satisfaction. Our friendly staff creates a great environment to
work in which makes PDC a great place to call home.

IEEE RFID 2008 - REGISTER EARLY and SAVE $$


April 16-17, 2008 is when the International IEEE RFID 2008 is being held at
The Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.

Co-located with the RFID Journal LIVE! 2008 tradeshow, this is the 2nd
annual IEEE conference for technical and policy challenges of RFID and
sensor technologies.

Registering by January 18 saves significant dollars for RFID Tribe members.

Technical Co-sponsors include RFID Tribe, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT
ARLINGTON and IEEE Region 6 as well as these IEEE Societies: Antennas &
Propagation; Circuits & Systems; Communications; Electron Devices;
Engineering in Medicine & Biology; Industrial Electronics; Instrumentation &
Measurement; Intelligent Transportation Systems; Microwave Theory &
Techniques; Professional Communication; Reliability; Social Implications of
Technology; Systems, Man, and Cybernetics; and Vehicular Technology.

The Technical Program Review Committee is now reading, evaluating and
comparing submissions from more than 280 authors in 25 countries. This peer
review process will select only the very best papers on the most current
academic and industrial RFID research, innovation and applications for
presentation at the conference.

The Standard IEEE RFID 2008 ConferencePass remains $300 for Members and $450
non-members until March 8. This pass includes:
-2-day IEEE technical conference and technical proceedings CD-ROM
-RFID Journal LIVE! Opening Keynote and Reception (April 16)
-RFID Journal Live! Exhibit Hall Access (April 17-18).

The Combo Pass increases $100 on January 19. The ComboPass includes:
-2-day IEEE RFID 2008 technical conference and technical proceedings CD-ROM
-RFID Journal LIVE! Opening Keynote and Reception (April 16)
-RFID Journal LIVE! Exhibit Hall Access (April 17-18)
-RFID Journal LIVE! Keynote, General and Track presentations, all meal
functions & breaks (April 18)

The Combo Pass increases again on March 8.

Go to www.ieee-rfid.org/registration.php for the complete registration fees
and deadlines chart.
Register here: http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/

Booking your hotel accommodation early will enable you to take advantage of
discounted hotel rates. If appropriate, you might even consider becoming a
member of IEEE, the world's largest engineering association.

For more information on IEEE RFID 2008 go to www.ieee-rfid.org/2008

Boeing Approves Intelleflex Chip, Weighs Higher-Memory Fujitsu Tag

With the silicon needed for a 64-kilobit parts tag finally ready, the company is getting closer to achieving its vision for a parts-tagged plane.

By Mary Catherine O'Connor

Jan. 14, 2008—Though dogged by delays, Boeing's initiative to employ passive RFID tags to track the maintenance and repair history of parts for its upcoming Dreamliner 787 family of airplanes may be ready for takeoff by mid-2008, according to Ken Porad, program manager of the automatic-identification program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group.

In December, Porad says, the company tested the latest samples of an integrated circuit manufactured by Intelleflex, a semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, Calif. The results, he explains, show that the chips meet the memory and performance requirements Boeing set forth in an April 2006 agreement with the firm. Under the terms of that contract, Intelleflex agreed to produce a chip for an EPC Gen 2-compliant passive RFID tag with 64 kilobits of memory. The chip prototype, according to Porad, is the fourth Intelleflex presented to Boeing; the first three had unspecified problems, delaying progress by more than a year.

Though the chip design has been finalized, Porad says many other hurdles must still be cleared before suppliers can begin tagging Dreamliner parts. First, he must demonstrate to his superiors at Boeing that passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology is "at an acceptable level of maturity." He then intends to conduct a test to show that "the Boeing production system can accommodate RFID-tagged parts without disruption."

This, Porad says, will entail tagging a selected part, then sending the tagged part through production, from the point of receipt at a Boeing production facility, through quality-assurance testing and the build cycle, after which the tagged part will be integrated into the body of a plane. Since Porad hopes to conduct this test during the second quarter of this year—after tag converters build the Intelleflex chip into sample RFID tags designed for parts-tagging—he says it will likely be conducted on a 777 airplane, since the Dreamliner will not yet be in production at that time.

If the test shows that the tag does not negatively impact the production process, the next step will be for Boeing to issue specific directives to its suppliers. "The directive will say what is to be tagged, and by when," Porad says, "and how much memory each part tag needs." In October 2005, when Boeing first stated its intention to begin using RFID tags attached to Dreamliner parts as a means of tracking their lifecycle history, the company said it wanted suppliers to apply passive UHF tags capable of holding 64 kilobytes of memory to parts. However, no such tags existed.

Months later, when none of the proposals for the 64-kilobyte chips needed for the tags fit into Boeing's aggressive timeline—it wanted complete 64-kilobyte tags by the fall of 2006—the airplane manufacturer said it would downgrade its tag memory requirements by a factor of eight, to 64 kilobits, a request Intelleflex indicated it could meet. A tag with 64 kilobits of memory or less, he notes, would suffice for parts or onboard equipment that do not generate long, detailed maintenance and report records and, therefore, do not require high-memory tags to hold that data. "You wouldn't need to put an Intelleflex [64-kilobit] chip on a fire extinguisher," Porad states. For such items, Boeing is considering tags with 512 bits of user memory—more than conventional Gen 2 tags used for supply chain applications, but considerably less than 64 kilobits.

On the other side of the spectrum, however, are aircraft parts with very long in-service histories, and for these Porad would still like to use tags with 64 kilobytes of memory. That's now a possibility. This week, Fujitsu announced that it has developed a 64-kilobyte passive UHF tag, compliant with the EPC Gen 2 standard, that will become available later this year. Porad says Boeing knew Fujitsu has been developing the tag, and that it was nearing completion since Fujitsu has been communicating its progress to Boeing. Fujitsu reports that it has also been in discussions about the tag with other companies in the aviation industry, but declines to name them.

Unlike Intelleflex, Fujitsu is manufacturing both the chip and the full RFID inlay and housing. According to Porad, Intelleflex has contracted tag makers Confidex and Brady to convert its chips into full RFID inlays, as well as package those inlays into a rugged housing that complies with the FAA-approved Aerospace Standard AS5678, passed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) late last year.

The Fujitsu chip uses FRAM memory technology, which has a faster data capture rate than EEPROM, the memory type used in the Intelleflex 64-kilobit chip. That, in addition to its higher memory capacity, will make the Fujitsu tag more attractive to Boeing, Porad says, though its price (not yet been announced, but which will most likely be higher than that of the 64-kilobit tags) and its weight (13.6 grams) could make it inappropriate for tagging some parts, depending on their quantity and sensitivity to weight.

Airbus, Boeing's top competitor, is actively utilizing RFID for tracking parts shipments and for tracking large plane components, but it has not yet initiated any program to attach tags to parts for lifecycle tracking. The firm told RFID Journal, in the fall of 2007, that it has no immediate plans to ask suppliers to tag parts for the A380, the A350 or any of its legacy planes, claiming the technology is not yet mature enough for such an application. Nonetheless, it is working closely with suppliers to understand how in-service parts marking could be most successfully deployed. Airbus and Boeing have also collaborated on tag data standards.

Source: RFID Journal

Wal-Mart Sets Deadline For Sam's Club Suppliers To Use RFID

Wal-Mart says it'll charge suppliers to its warehouse stores a fee of $2 for every pallet not tagged with RFID starting Jan. 30.

By Mary Hayes Weier
InformationWeek
January 17, 2008 09:58 AM

Wal-Mart is stepping up pressure on suppliers to comply with its three-year-old RFID mandate. The retailer says it will charge a $2 fee for each pallet not tagged with RFID that comes into a Texas distribution center for its Sam's Club warehouse stores beginning Jan. 30.

Wal-Mart also has told suppliers that in less than three years, all Sam's Club products passing through 22 distribution centers need to be tagged with RFID at the selling-unit item level.

The charge going into affect this month is to cover Sam's Club's cost to affix tags on each pallet, said a Wal-Mart spokesman, since the retailer needs to have every pallet tagged to meet inventory efficiency goals. The tag fee is "really designed as a short-term solution for those suppliers that may need a little more time to implement their own tagging solution," the spokesman told InformationWeek.

In 2003, Wal-Mart issued a mandate for all of its suppliers to tag their pallets and cases of product with RFID by 2005 to let both sides better track products in the supply chain and improve store inventory levels. Yet the retailer hasn't taken a strong-arm approach with the well over 15,000 suppliers that still haven't complied with RFID for products heading to its Wal-Mart stores.

Now Wal-Mart seems focused on turning its 700-store Sam's Club division into an example of RFID supply-chain technology in action, down to the item level, by 2010. It makes sense: Sam's Club has far fewer suppliers than Wal-Mart stores, and customers buy products by the case, the pallet, or individual packages that are larger (like a 48-count box of granola bars) than what's typically sold in retail stores. That makes the cost of RFID tags, at about 20 cents a piece, more digestible for Sam's Club suppliers. The division contributed $41.5 billion to Wal-Mart's $344.9 billion in revenues for its 2007 fiscal year.

Wal-Mart's been talking to Sam's Club suppliers for months about RFID compliance and sent them a letter dated Jan. 7 that includes a 21-month timeline to have RFID in place. The timeline is as follows:

-- Jan 30, 2008: pallet-level tagging for DeSoto, Tex., distribution center.

-- Oct. 31, 2008: pallet-level tagging for an additional four distribution centers, case- and mixed-pallet level tagging for Texas distribution center.

-- Jan. 30, 2009: pallet-level tagging for remaining 17 distribution centers, case- and mixed-pallet level tagging for an additional four distribution centers.

-- Oct. 31, 2009: case- and mixed-pallet level tagging for the remaining 17 distribution centers; selling-unit -level tagging for Texas distribution center.

-- Jan. 30, 2010: selling-unit-tagging for an additional four distribution centers.

-- Oct. 31, 2010: selling-unit-tagging for remaining 17 distribution centers

The pallet fee apparently came as a surprise to some suppliers. What's more, it'll rise to as high a $3 for suppliers who don't meet compliance by next year. "We started getting calls from people on Jan. 8 and 9 about this," said Jim Caudill, senior VP of marketing at RFID tag and software supplier Xterprise Inc. On Jan. 11, Xterprise began offering a service to help companies quickly ramp up. Suppliers can provide configuration requirements and order their RFID tags online from Xterprise, which will print and send them in overnight mail.

The letter was sent because "we had to provide a clear direction that stated precisely and exactly what we're asking of them, and the dates by which we expect them to be in compliance" said the Wal-Mart spokesman. "[Suppliers] have asked for that clarity."

All this has companies that came on early with Wal-Mart's RFID mandate, like Daisy Brand, smiling smugly from the catbird seat. The manufacturer of sour cream and cottage cheese started shipping RFID-tagged cases and pallets to Wal-Mart in the fall of 2004, and now all of its pallets and cases have RFID, including those headed to Sam's Club. Daisy says its investment in RFID has been a boon, helping it better manage the flow of its perishable products through Wal-Mart stores and ensure marketing promotions proceed as planned.

Using Wal-Mart's Retail Link Web site for suppliers, Daisy Brand's information systems manager Kevin Brown says he can track, by lot number, how quickly pallets of product make it to stores and when they're unpacked, since Wal-Mart has readers at its dock entrances and on its cardboard-case compactors. If a Wal-Mart store is scheduled to run a sales promotion on sour cream, certain information can ensure that the promotion is taking place as planned. For example, the destruction of a large number of cases suggests that the contents of the cases were used to to fill up the waist-high coolers typically used for refrigerated-product promotions. In fact, some in the industry speculate Wal-Mart will soon require any retailer running a promotion in its stores to use RFID.

Daisy already is in compliance with the Sam's Club mandate to have cases and pallets tagged for all distribution centers by October 2009. But Brown admits things get interesting at the item level compliance required in 2010. Since Sam's Club is a warehouse store, some individual selling units are the cases themselves, so that won't be a problem. "For inexpensive consumable items, it will get down to the value derived from tagging at the item level," Brown said. "I'm looking forward to learning more about their item-level plan as it evolves."

RFID industry experts say item-level tagging can help with "shrinkage" (which typically means customer and employee theft) and also aid in costly product recalls. Sam's Club participated in a few of those last years, including a recall of Cargill beef patties for E. Coli contamination in the fall.

The Sam's Club pallet fee should serve as a wake-up call to suppliers that Wal-Mart is still serious about RFID. And as Daisy Brand shows, RFID could prove beneficial far beyond complying with a customer's mandate.

Source: Information Week

Group,
      I was wondering if any of you had experience with or know of any
mobile RFID solutions.
      My requirements are:
         1.  Would consist of a handheld scanner, printer, PC.
         2.  Is mobile so that I can move this solution from plant to
plant.  No investment in infrastructure.
         3.  Allows me to commission item, case, and pallet labels,
then utilizes the handheld to aggregate item to case, and case to
pallet.
         4.  Although it runs on a PC, the underlying database meets
EPCGlobal standards (EPCIS) and can export data to corporate system.

I have so far seen OATSystem's solution and InstantEPC solution.
I was wondering if anyone has seen any other solution that can meet
our requirements.

Thanks!
Keith

Franwell has exactly the solution your looking for out of Plant City FL.  I've
worked very close with them in the past and they are great people to work with
and know RFID very well.

Call Steve Dean, Sales at (863) 583-0228 Ext. 227
Or Jeff Wells CEO at (863) 583-0228 Ext 223

Regards,

Curt

Curt McDowell
Home 951-695-4224


----- Original Message ----
From: ohiokz440 <keith.shumaker@...>
To: rfidtribe@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:16:10 PM
Subject: [RFID Tribe] Mobile RFID Labeling Solution

Group,
I was wondering if any of you had experience with or know of any
mobile RFID solutions.
My requirements are:
1. Would consist of a handheld scanner, printer, PC.
2. Is mobile so that I can move this solution from plant to
plant. No investment in infrastructure.
3. Allows me to commission item, case, and pallet labels,
then utilizes the handheld to aggregate item to case, and case to
pallet.
4. Although it runs on a PC, the underlying database meets
EPCGlobal standards (EPCIS) and can export data to corporate system.

I have so far seen OATSystem's solution and InstantEPC solution.
I was wondering if anyone has seen any other solution that can meet
our requirements.

Thanks!
Keith

Editor's note:

See a RFID Tribe member's request below. Please reply to the member only (unless
the information is useful to the entire group). In other words, do not hit the
reply button, thus attempting to send the reply to the entire RFID Tribe global
group. You may reply to the entire group if you can add some insight useful to
all.

No advertisements and no self promotion on the forum (as usual).  Advertising is
available through other means...
http://rfidtribe.com/advertising.html

The member's email address is below.

See the request below...

*************************************************************

I have a requirement pls help me out find the right solution.

I need a Long Range Reader based on anti-collision to read from a
distance of 6 meters all the Active RFID Tags placed in the front and
trouser pockets of different passengers sitting in a moving car  or
jeep (Bus if possible) at the speed of 2 km/hr passing through 6
meters wide gate.

I know my solution is very simple ACTIVE RFID with anti-collision, but
my question is that the Vehicles based on big metallic structures
would it not decrease the chances of RFID chips being read.

Please give me a Active / Passive TAG + Reader Combination with
RS485/232 connectivity.

Thanks
Farhan

farhandotcom@...

Editor's note:

See a RFID Tribe member's request below. Please reply to the member only (unless
the information is useful to the entire group). In other words, do not hit the
reply button, thus attempting to send the reply to the entire RFID Tribe global
group. You may reply to the entire group if you can add some insight useful to
all.

No advertisements and no self promotion on the forum (as usual).  Advertising is
available through other means...
http://rfidtribe.com/advertising.html

The member's email address is below.

See the request below...

*******************************************

Hello,

Does anyone have any reader for following applications :

- File Tracking and searching

   - A passive RFID tag would be attached to each box file. We have to provide a
hand-held reader into which we should be able to enter the file number. As we
scan the files with the reader, it should give a beep whenever we come close to
the desired file. A read range of 6-7 cms is sufficent.

- Laptop tracking while entry and exit from a factory

   - An active tag containing a laptop number would be afixed to each laptop.
When the laptop is carried through the factory's gate, the serial number written
to the tag should be picked up and displayed from a distance of 70-80 metres in
open air. The person carrying the laptop might have kept it in his bag or he
might be seated in a car which is moving slowly.

- Inventory control with passive tags

We will have passive tags on each bin. The tags will contain the quantity of the
item in the bin. Whenever items are added or removed from the bin, we want to
compute the new quantity and rewrit on the tag. Eg if the tag has a quantity of
100, I should be able to give the instruction say + 20 to the reader which
should increase the quantity on the tag to 120. I should not enter the quantity
120 but just 20.
Similarly, on removal, i should just type -15 and the tag quantity should get
updated to 105. The reader should also maintain a list of all the transactions
that have been keyed in with the item no or tag no eg

   Tag     Transaction  DateTime
   -----------------------------
    T1       + 20        Feb 2, 15:30
    T1       - 15        Feb 2, 17.35


- Inventory control with active tags

We want a solution similar to the above but the tags are active and we should be
able to read the tags from a distance and store the information in the reader.
There is no requirement to add/subtract to the tag.


We want hand-held readers which can be programmed and which can be used for
these different applications.

Rgds

atul gupta
guptafam@...
india

Editor's note:

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the information is useful to the entire group). In other words, do not hit the
reply button, thus attempting to send the reply to the entire RFID Tribe global
group. You may reply to the entire group if you can add some insight useful to
all.

No advertisements and no self promotion on the forum (as usual).  Advertising is
available through other means...
http://rfidtribe.com/advertising.html

The member's email address is below.

See the request below...

*****************************

Hi everybody,

I'm trying to impart RFID based Personnel Tracking System (Mustering
Management) for a Gas plant. Would anybody help me in finding suitable
product and vendor to implement this challenging system.

The system should cater for persons working in different areas of the
plant seggregated by the fence boundary. It should be based on long
range Active Tag system with visitors management, mustering and data
entry Web Application accessible accross LAN.

Regards,
M. Iqbal
mujahid.iqbal@...

Hi.

If I require secure 14443B (i.e. crypto between the card and the
reader), do I have to restrict myself to a single vendor for tag and
reader? Or, is there a reader that can read encrypted 14443B tags from
several vendors (well, more than one... ). Hate being locked in to a
single vendor.... Hmmmm.... Any ideas?

Thanks!

Below is a good article in RFID Journal regarding tool tracking using RFID.
The solution is targeted for the construction industry and for professional
building contractors.

What struck me was the number of companies involved in the solution...
Ford - automobile manufacturer
DeWalt - tool manufacturer
Sprint - wireless network provider
ThingMagic - RFID systems provider
Yet-to-be-named - RFID tag provider

As with most RFID solutions, it takes a network of partners to provide a
solution.

Here are a few other tool tracking offerings...

Construction tool tracking
http://www.allaura.com/tool-tracking.cfm

Bosch Power Tool Tracking
http://www.industrial-embedded.com/articles/eckles/

Cribmaster tool tracking
http://www.cribmaster.com/rfid.html


See the RFID Journal article below.

Sincerely,

Mark Johnson

***************************************************

Ford Thinks It Has the Right Tool for the Job: RFID

For its 2009 F-Series pickups and E-Series vans, the company is offering its
Tool Link option, featuring a built-in EPC Gen 2 RFID interrogator for
tracking equipment and other assets used in the construction industry.

By Mary Catherine O'Connor

Feb. 6, 2008-You know that supply chain RFID mantra-the right product, at
the right place, at the right time? At the consumer-oriented Chicago Auto
Show, which opens this week, Ford is rolling out a new take on the
concept-the right tool, in the right place, at the right time-to contractors
and other building professionals who drive trucks and vans to work sites.

To that end, Ford has partnered with RFID company ThingMagic and toolmaker
DeWalt to develop Tool Link, an RFID asset-tracking application being
offered as a feature on Ford's 2009 F-Series pickup trucks and E-Series
vans.

The RFID application is one tool in the automaker's new Ford Work Solution
platform, which also includes an in-dash computer that-in addition to
running the asset-tracking software used in combination with a vehicle's
built-in ThingMagic Mercury 5e interrogator-serves up high-speed Internet
access via the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network. The computer also provides
GPS navigation.

"There has been a great collaboration between all parties involved to create
an RFID system that works well and is easy to use," says Edward Pleet, Ford
Work Solutions' business and product development manager.

Companies and individuals who buy the RFID-enabled trucks and vans will need
to place passive EPC Gen 2 UHF tags on their tools (or anything they wish to
track), then put them in the vehicles' beds and cargo holds, which are
fitted with RFID interrogator antennas. They'll then be able to use the
in-dash computer's touch screen, or a keyboard plugged into the computer, to
associate the number on each tag with the object to which it is attached.

Each time the vehicle's engine starts, the interrogator automatically reads
the tags of items placed in the bed or cargo hold, and the tracking software
can be set to display a list of all tags read. Users can also assign
specific tags to a group. If the interrogator picks up all tags within a
group, the computer will show that group to be complete, and if any are
missing, it will list the missing items. If it reads any tags not associated
with that particular vehicle, it will list those (by tag number) as well.
Drivers can also manually trigger the reader to scan the tags, which can be
done any time the engine is running or the vehicle's accessory system is
turned on.

According to Pleet, Ford developed the Tool Link application in response to
feedback from owners of its work vehicles, who said they wanted a means for
easily tracking the equipment they need to haul on a daily basis. "If
someone goes to a job site and forgets an important tool, they'll loose
valuable time," Pleet explains, "and in some cases they find that going to a
nearby store and replacing the tool actually costs less than traveling to
retrieve the tool."

Pleet believes tools will not likely be the only assets tagged. Users may
also tag essential items such as notebooks carrying important contracts, and
totes filled with nails or other fasteners. In addition, he expects that
some individuals will use their vehicles and the Tool Link application for
personal use. "On the weekends," he states, "we think professionals will
also use the RFID tracking system for keeping track of recreational gear for
sports, such as hunting or fishing."

Ford and DeWalt researched a number of auto-ID methods to develop Tool Link.
A bar-code system was deemed too labor-intensive because it would have
required drivers to manually scan the bar codes on tools, while active tags
were considered too costly to make the system marketable. The companies
found the passive EPC Gen 2 tags attractive from an ease-of-use and cost
angle. Metals tend to deflect UHF signals, generally making passive UHF RFID
tags difficult to read in metal-heavy environments, but the Tool Link
application exploits the metal comprising the vehicles' bodies.

"The [vehicle frame] becomes a metal container in which the signals bounce
around," says Ravi Pappu, cofounder and head of ThingMagic's Advanced
Development Group. "That's why RFID works well in this application. The
radiation is contained inside the vehicle."

As the signals are reflected off the vehicle frames and other metal surfaces
within the truck bed or van, this increases the likelihood that the RFID
antennas will capture the tag signals. The body of an E-Series van forms a
metal box around the tags, Pappu says, but even in the open bed of a pickup
truck, the floor and both sidewalls assist in ensuring that all tags are
read.

Pappu says users can place the tags directly on tools, or on the cases used
to carry drills, circular saws and certain other tools. Made with a tough
plastic housing to protect them from harsh environments, the tags will be
mountable through an adhesive backing, or through an eyelet and zip tie. If
tagging the tool itself could interfere with its operation, he notes,
tagging the case might be preferable.

Chris Allen, VP of DeWalt's Security Business Group, adds that while newer
tools are sold with a plastic carrying case, some older models have metal
cases. If a user wants to track these older tools, they would need to place
the tag on the outside of the metal case to ensure readability.

According to Pappu, ThingMagic is still working with a number of EPC Gen 2
tag makers to identify the one it will partner with for the Tool Link
application. Pleet says Ford is not ready to disclose pricing for Tool Link,
though he believes consumers will see a strong return on their investment
through the gained productivity and time savings the system will provide.
Tool Link will be available on 2009 E- and F-Series trucks and vans starting
this fall.

Source: RFID Journal

Group,

Can anyone help me?

I am implementing a RFID system and I need do put RFID tags in a paper
label, I receive the labels (about 15x2 cm) and the RFID tags the same size, and
I need an equipment to join them, in the back of the paper label

Do you know any equipment that can help me with this?



Thanks for your help



Paulo Araujo Costa

 
Hello,

We need large numbers of UHF disposable, EPC Global Class 1 tags with read/write in India.

Are there any reliable suppliers in India or outside ? What wud be the prices for continous requirements in thousands of numbers.

Thanks

atul

Does anyone know of a 125KHz chip/module for 3.3v ?

All the ones I see are for 5v....

Thanks