RFID: assets, forklifts, and the seventh cent

By Don Dingee Editorial Director

To get a firsthand look at the current state of affairs in the RFID market, I spent a couple days at RFID World in Dallas this March. I left having learned quite a bit – some things I expected, and some I didn’t.

One unexpected but welcome development for me was only hearing the name Wal-Mart four times during the show. Last year, it was apparent that many vendors had been running around in response to the Wal-Mart RFID mandate without knowing exactly what to do or how to do it, but knowing they had to do something. This year, most vendors seemed to have a more clearly defined sense of purpose, looking for ways to match technology to needs.

Several vendors sounded the theme that barcodes shouldn’t be replaced just for the sake of switching to RFID. RFID users should be looking for process enhancements creating value that would be difficult to deliver with barcodes. In fact, the bigger the existing barcode usage in a supply chain, the slower it’s likely to be replaced by RFID.

Tracking gets traction

One class of RFID applications tapping into potential for quick ROI is asset tracking. Some vendors are using longer-range active tags coupled with reader portals. Fluensee is selling their AssetTrack Express starter kit, which provides a $10,000 entry point for 250 tags, a reader, and asset-tracking software to help realize ROI right out of the box. “We’re looking at high-value, returnable, reusable assets that have as much as a 20 percent loss ratio without tracking,” said Tim Harvie, CEO of Fluensee.

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLSs) are also getting a lot of attention, combining RFID, GPS, and wireless networks like Wi-Fi. Robert Anderson, director at 3M Track and Trace Solutions, suggests, “While RFID shows where [an item] was yesterday, RTLS shows where it is right now.” Ekahau demonstrated how their example of small RTLS devices can attach to McKesson’s portable IV pumps using Wi-Fi to piggyback on a hospital’s wireless data network.

Intelleflex is using battery-assisted passive tags to redefine both asset and people tracking, creating managed readers using XML and Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) to build portals with up to 50 m range for reading tags in yards or entryways. Additionally, RF code has beacon tags and readers for locating assets. Zebra Technologies presented their WhereNet RTLS systems for use in Ford’s Kanban replenishment systems.

RFID hits the floor

The computer industry has portrayed the forklift upgrade negatively, but in the RFID space, it’s a good thing. I noticed several instances of smart forklift components with integrated RFID reader, wireless networking, and vehicle computer technology at work. Chris Kelley, director of RFID business development at Intermec, calls this the forklift of the future, showing an adaptable forklift backrest developed jointly with Cascade, as illustrated in Figure 1. PSION Teklogix, LXE, and others also exhibited RFID-enabled forklifts.

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Figure 1 (click to zoom)

Kelley described an interesting problem RFID transformation. “Say you have a unit load device flying from Los Angeles to Tokyo,” he said. “Tags on the ULD [Unit Load Device] must have comparable performance in different frequency bands because the readers at each end are different [to comply with regulatory differences in those countries] even though the process is the same.” In response to this dilemma, Intermec has concentrated on global-ready tags with capability in multiple frequencies.

Augusta Systems is fusing RFID into networks as one more available sensor type using their SensorPort, an edge appliance that can help bring data from the floor into the enterprise. Blue Vector is looking at upgrades for distributed processes, with an intelligent edge manager and network manager appliances running Linux and executing their Blox business rules. Comtrol offers their EdgeWare devices, integrating RFID with programmable logic controllers and various industrial Ethernet protocols.

The seventh cent and up

High-volume, low-cost passive tags are starting to appear. Companies such as Avery Dennison, STMicroelectronics, Printronix, Zebra Technologies, and others talked about passive tags starting at just under seven cents in volume and deploying in affordable inlays and printed labels for item-level tagging. But there is a difference between cheap and inexpensive – STMicroelectronics claims their inexpensive tags offer 40-year data retention.

For a bit more, smarter tags with nonvolatile memory and integrated microcontrollers with technology from Atmel, Impinj, SkyeTek, Texas Instruments, and others are targeting applications like cold chain and sensitive goods shipment by monitoring temperature, shock and vibration (integrating a MEMS sensor), and tracking information.

Supporting smarter tags, Virage Logic is delivering their NOVeA nonvolatile memory cores in a CMOS process (instead of an E2 process). These modules help add security in RFID tags and other applications. “With a multitime, programmable, nonvolatile memory solution, the key can be altered before the attacker can exploit it,” said Pat Lasserre, director of product marketing at Virage Logic.

At the other end of the cost spectrum, RF Saw has developed tags based on surface acoustic wave technology that offer a huge -200 ºC to +200 ºC operational temperature range, zero standoff reads, radiation-proof operation, and five-nines read reliability in harsh environments. Identec Solutions supplies these tags in harsh applications like tracking automotive components during assembly.

New and exciting

One ah ha moment for me was to seeing a few familiar names from the Web world. BEA, IBM, Tibco, WebMethods (just purchased by Software AG), and others are deploying their latest e-business technology strongly in the RFID application space. Another familiar name, Intel, entered the market with the UHF RFID Transceiver R1000 and reference platform reader designs. Companies such as ThingMagic and Motion Computing are using the R1000 chipset to build functionality into innovative, small reader designs.

I saw the Ergodex keyboard displayed in the back of the NXP booth; though it is not new, the realization that it uses RFID is. Keys containing tags can be laid out on a reader pad (which can be customized in all shapes and sizes) in any imaginable configuration and mapped with software to desired functions. This increases productivity by enhancing user comfort and reducing keystrokes for common operations.

Finally, another new-to-me company, SensorConnect, is taking an innovative approach. Most designers take data from large numbers of sensors and filter it to provide a view of just the exceptions. “This gives you the misuse cases, but not a holistic view of how things operate,” said Dr. Ray Huetter, SensorConnect CTO. “A holistic view helps optimize time, space, matter, and energy – this is reality.” SensorConnect claims it can harvest 400,000 read/write events per second and support models running in real time using advanced queries. The ability to view networks of sensors including RFID tags operating in real time can help pharmaceutical, retail, health-care, automotive, airline, and other industries with complex networks get the right item to the right location at the right time – efficiently.