RFID
Hardware
Most companies
producing RFID Hardware (readers and transponders) provide
proprietary software for their products and forbid users to
independently adapt it to their needs. Few companies possess the
skills and experience required to successfully integrate RFID
Hardware with enterprise software applications and data across the
supply chain. RFID Hardware, including identification tags,
controllers and tag readers, is being installed by Micromation and
integrated with Micromation-developed Intelligent Gate Controllers,
guard control monitor software, gate controller software and
servers.
One of the most
pressing challenges involves the operation of RFID Hardware,
particularly how the tags transmit their data to readers. Certain
physical conditions in the average warehouse and shipping
environment, such as the presence of metal, liquids and competing
radio transmissions, can interfere with RFID
signals.
RFID Hardware
currently consists of two products, tags and
readers:
Tags:
An RFID tag is
a part of RFID Hardware, is an electronic bar code. A tag is usually
a chip attached to an antenna and housed in a plastic case.
Originally, the chip's responsibility was to simply transmit a
unique number in response to a reader's transmission. Today, tags
contain memory and can retain a large amount of information about
the product to which they are attached. Tags also can be programmed
to have a life of their own. That is, they can announce their
location when they have been moved, and provide information, such as
temperature or pressure, from devices to which they are
attached.
In the past,
tags were big, expensive, and read very slowly. A trucker could have
a tag the size of a hockey puck fastened to the bottom of his rig
and when he parked at a gate, after a minute, the system would read
and open the gate. There was no reason to produce small or quickly
read devices. Today, a small and inexpensive RFID tag can sit on the
dashboard of a vehicle and be read at 70 miles per hour on a toll
road. Tags the size of four US quarters stacked together send
information from the cones of Russian and American missiles. Some
tags are paper-thin, the size of a US quarter, and can be read by
the handful.
Readers:
Readers are a part of RFID Hardware, are used to identify the
location of assets in virtually real time. Readers can be as simple
as a loop around a doorway to record tagged items arriving at or
leaving the premises. When attached to an asset, a tag, upon motion
or upon tampering, transmits at predefined intervals a unique
identification code to a network of transceivers, or readers. These
readers pass the message transmissions to the server software for
decoding. The asset's movement is then graphically displayed in
virtually real time and stored.
RFID Hardware
Products include:
- Read/Write
devices.
- Portable Data
Capture Devices:
Some of
Portable Data Capture Devices are:
- XP600: Palm
Pilot Reader: Apex designed sled to be used with the Palm m125,
m130, m500, m505, and i705 PDA. Converts the standard Palm device
into an RFID reader. Allows for easy software development with
standard Palm OS development tools.
- XP700:
Read/Write: Designed around the IPAQ series WIN CE PDA or other
manufacturer's equivalent. (i.e. Sony, Toshiba, Casio, etc.) Incorporates portable
DP150 reader to convert a standard WIN CE PDA into an RFID
reader.
