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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Hot RFID Topics Revealed at RFID Smart Labels USA
The replacement of the silicon chip in RFID tags was just one of the hot topics covered at the recent RFID Smart Labels USA conference in Boston.
“There is huge interest in replacing the silicon chip in an RFID tag, and nowadays that is driven by more than cost” said Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechEx. “Various alternatives being developed across the world are showing critically improved performance such as edible tags on meat, and tags that work at exceptional distances without a battery, even terahertz performance. Some are exceptionally thin and, of course, that cost saving of up to 90% is vital for really high volume tagging of postal and consumer items which can never be achieved using silicon chips.”
Conference attendees heard from companies such as Kovio, Sologie and Sun Chemical about the possibilities of using printed electronics technologies in RFID tags as an alternative to the silicon chip. Kovio’s keynote presentation covered nano-silicon printed RFID, and explained how they intend to commercialize it by year-end, and enable it to conform with the most popular RFID specification, ISO 14443. They will be working with Cubic Corporation to launch RFID tickets as their first product.
The tremendous progress being made with UHF was also covered. The benign radio regulations in the USA have led to UHF being the first choice there for most RFID applications beyond cards, tickets and passports. An analysis of RFID in South America by Ernesto Castagnet, a Professional Industrial Engineer from Argentina, revealed that the same is now true there.
Delegates also heard from companies such as Cambridge Resonant Technologies and Magellan Technology about how they are improving the cost, power consumption, range, multitag reading, and other parameters of HF RFID by up to ten times.
“HF is by far the most popular RFID frequency with over 50% of RFID expenditure going that way” commented Peter Harrop. “This is why we’ve published a comprehensive new report, HF RFID – The Great Leap Forward which details the unprecedented advances in HF which will hit the market in the next two years, as well as some earlier inventions entering the mainstream at the same time.
Heidi Graham of Toppan Printing presented on the Japanese market for RFID, which is the third largest market after China and the USA. In Japan, the hot topics are more often HF-related, including global leadership in RFID-enabled mobile phones, and other applications the West has scarcely contemplated. The conference also revealed how Korea and China are huge adopters of RFID, and what will come next in these important markets.
A session on Active RFID documented the move to 2.45 GHz solutions, and reported on the growth in the adoption of Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS), notably in US hospitals for both people and assets. Here there is no territorial difference in the frequencies used – the same pattern of a wave of traditional active RFID being overtaken by a wave of RTLS adoption, and then a wave of Ubiquitous Sensor Networks, soon to be arriving in the marketplace. Blue chip companies such as Boeing and BP described their significant adoption, including 3D tracking of personnel for evacuation using Ultra Wide Band UWB, the fastest-growing, highest performance type of RTLS which uses a spread of microwave frequencies. At the other extreme, the slow adoption of Battery Assisted Passive BAP RFID looks to be invigorated by the new printed and thin film batteries, where Enfucell and Cymbet exhibited exciting advances.
The RFID Smart Labels USA conference is part of a global series of RFID events hosted by IDTechEx, and which also includes RFID Europe and the Active RFID & RTLS Summit USA.
About IDTechEx
IDTechEx provides global, independent analysis, and market and technical research on the development and application of printed and thin film electronics, RFID and allied technologies. Services include global research reports, consulting and events dedicated to these topics.
www.IDTechEx.com
IDTechEx Conference Dates 2008:
Printed Electronics Europe 2008, April 8-9 www.IDTechEx.com/peEurope
Photovoltaics Beyond Conventional Silicon USA 2008 June 17-18 www.IDTechEx.com/pvUSA
RFID Europe 2008, Sept 31- Oct 1
Printed Electronics Asia 2008, Oct 7-9
Active RFID & RTLS Summit 2008, Nov 4-5
Printed Electronics USA 2008, Dec 2-5
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