RFID
February 7, 2006 Scientists at Philips Research have created a fully functional 13.56 MHz RFID tag based entirely on plastic electronics. In contrast to conventional silicon-chip-based RFID tags, a plastic electronics RFID chip can be printed directly onto a plastic substrate along with an antenna without involving complex assembly steps. This could pave the way for the packaging industry to replace existing barcodes by a low-cost RFID tag that provides individual packages with a unique item-level identification code – something not feasible with current barcode technology. Read More
July 15, 2005 RFID is an important technology for the future and with major purchasers such as the US Department of Defense and America’s largest retailer Walmart mandating the use of RFID by its suppliers, the clock is ticking to embrace the new technology for many suppliers and indeed, for everyone in retail, logistics and supply chain management to assess the technology. This week Baltimore based Barcoding Inc. released several RFID kits that will allow companies to comply with the Wal-Mart mandates as well as investigate the technology for future use in their own supply chain. Currently there are three main reasons why companies are purchasing RFID technology: they are complying with customer mandates, they are evaluating the technology for their own use, or they are preparing for the future. Barcoding Inc. has created three kits, each addressing one of these reasons. There’s also a useful downloadable 10 page overview of RFID. Read More
January 21, 2005 Radio Frequency Identification Devices (known as RFID's) are set to usher in a new world of consumer convenience. But beware the 'silent stalker' that accompanies this technology. You may need an electronic jammer to shield your privacy. An RFID attached to your windscreen (E-tag) lets you automatically pay road or bridge tolls but in parts of the USA it can also buy a fast-fill from Mobil or a Big Mac at a McDonald's drive-through. Now, micro devices, no bigger than a grain of sand, can be implanted in passports, driver's licences and credit cards to transmit your ID. Embed them in products and they transmit (the equivalent of) a barcode - able to be read at a distance. Read More
January 19 2005. A new RFID-enabled pen will be shown for the first time next week at the Paperworld exhibition in Frankfurt. Jointly developed by Dutch company Allwrite and Fisher SpacePen using SOKYMAT RFID tags, the pen offers a number of benefits other than the ability to write on paper. The idea behind the pen is that the RFID tag in it gives the owner a unique ID and can hence be used in a number of very useful ways. We're not so sure how useful it will be. Read More
Truancy just got harder for recalcitrant students in Japan with the trial of chips that track students' whereabouts. Electronic giant Fujitsu collaborated with a suburban Tokyo private school Rikkyo Elementary to launch a trial where RFID tracking chips were attached to 40 students' backpacks. Read More
In one of several master strokes unveiled at CEBIT, Nokia's forthcoming Mobile RFID Kit, the first integrated solution targeted to the mobile productivity of vertical markets will become a textbook example of convergence. Read More
