RFID Survey Reports Lack of Man Power

The talent pool of RFID professionals is shallow and could impact the successful adoption of the technology by companies keen to comply with the expectations of major retailers, a recent industry report shows, writes Simon Pitman.

Eighty per cent of companies participating in the survey said they do not believe there are sufficient numbers of professionals skilled in RFID to hire from today - the report from the Comupting Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) finds. Two-thirds of organisations (66.7 per cent) said training and educating their employees in the technology is one of the biggest challenges they will face in order to succeed in the RFID market.

"We believe the market needs hundreds of systems integration companies with RFID capabilities; and hundreds of thousands of individuals knowledgeable in this technology to meet current and future demand," said David Sommer, vice president, electronic commerce, CompTIA.

Sommer presented the findings of the CompTIA survey in a presentation today at the RFID World 2005 conference in Dallas, Texas.

CompTIA says it is working with a cross section of major players in the RFID market to address the skills shortage. Product manufacturers, distributors, system integrators, education and training providers, and end-user customers are active in an effort to craft a vendor-neutral professional certification of RFID skills for individuals working with the technology.

The survey of CompTIA members found that customer adoption of RFID solutions is relatively modest. A significant number of companies - 71.4 per cent - said their customers have not implemented RFID solutions. For those organisations with customers that implemented RFID solutions, responding companies said that fewer than 20 per cent of their customers have done so.

Similarly, 80 per cent of the responding companies said either they have yet to go past the investigation stage of RFID implementation; or have done no investigation at all. Just 16 per cent have implemented one or more RFID pilot projects for themselves or their customers.

Survey respondents said their customers come from a variety of industries, including services, government, manufacturing, retail, health care, communications, and financial services and real estate.

When asked if they see their company offering RFID products and services in the next three years, 37.3 per cent of organisations said they definitely will; and 39.2 per cent said they would consider it if there is interest from their customers. Companies expect to offer hardware installation and maintenance services (82.1 per cent), software implementations (61.5 per cent) and other services (51.3 per cent).

The majority of respondents to the survey were value-added resellers and solutions providers (33.3 per cent); consultants and systems integrators (21.6 per cent); and manufactures (19.6 per cent). Two-thirds of the companies have annual revenues of up to $25 million; while 22 per cent are companies with annual revenues of $100 million or more.

So far companies in the US have been quickest to take up on the technology. In the manufacturing sector a lot of this movement is being driven by companies trying to comply with RFID requirements implemented by major retailers such as Wal-Mart.

This action has prompted many major players in industries such as the food and beverage industry, as well as the cosmetics and personal care industry to introduce the technology as a key part of their supply chain. Following on from this movement in the US, these companies are also starting to implement RFID systems to their operations in Europe, but at a slower pace.

Source: The Navigtor

In-Stat: Wi-Fi RFID tag market to double annually

Market research firm In-Stat reported there were 135,000 shipments of Wi-Fi RFID tags in 2006 and the market is set to double each year until 2010. This would result to more than 2.1 million units in three years.

According to In-Stat, shipments under the AeroScout brand accounted for the majority of Wi-Fi RFID tags shipped in 2006 and the key application areas for growth are health care, heavy manufacturing, transportation and logistics.

"Historically, one of the key weaknesses of this market has been the short battery life of asset tags," said In-Stat analyst Daryl Schoolar in a statement. "G2 MicroSystems, the only tag-specific chip vendor, has made strides in overcoming this weakness, with multiyear battery life now a reality."

Source: EE-Times

RF switch enables seamless enterprise mobility

In order to become 802.11n compliant, Motorola Inc. has introduced what it claims the industry's first RF wireless switch that bridges the gap between Wi-Fi and RFID, future RF technologies and indoor and outdoor wireless networks. The enterprise-class RF switch supports location, management and security services. The RFS7000 can accommodate Motorola and third-party vendor services, providing seamless enterprise mobility indoors to large businesses requiring a WLAN.

It is capable of supporting 256 802.11a/b/g access points and enables a new switch clustering concept, providing redundancy and high-performance scalability for up to 3,000 access points, Motorola said.

The RFS7000 is part of Motorola's end-to-end enterprise WLAN product suite, which comes under the company's MOTOwi4 portfolio of wireless broadband solutions and services that complement IP networks.

The RF switch's "locationing" capability enables real-time tracking of Wi-Fi devices and active tags. With this service, businesses have the ability to locate employees for safety or track high-value and mission-critical assets. In a healthcare setting, locationing services could be used to track crash carts, transfusion pumps, defibrillators, and portable X-ray and dialysis machines. Locationing can also be used to find and track inventory for customers.

Motorola's integrated management suite, comprised of a LAN planner and mobility services platform, is a set of tools to help enterprises centrally plan, deploy, manage and secure their RF infrastructure and environment, said the company. The integrated wireless intrusion protection system solution detects and locates rogue devices, protecting the network against denial-of-service attacks. The sensor-based system also provides compliance reporting and advanced forensics, as well as monitors, detects, protects and prevents intrusions to a wireless network.

Source: EE-Times

Epson invests in RuBee asset-tracking RFID tech

Epson Electronics has entered a "strategic" investment with Visible Assets Inc., an asset tracker specialist and one of the main backers of wireless RuBee technology.

RuBee technology is a low-frequency network protocol for tough to track goods. They work underwater and in underground environments that obstruct higher-frequency RFID signals. RuBee tags can be made as thin as 1.5mm and operate for as long as 10 years using a coin-sized lithium ion battery.

Last year, the IEEE started work on developing a standard—dubbed 1902.1—for the protocol, whose backers in the retail sector include U.K.-based Tesco and Germany's Metro Group, as well as technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Sony, Panasonic and Motorola.

Visible Assets is using its patented technology to offer supply chain and asset visibility platforms to retailers.

"This investment will provide both companies with new commercial opportunities in many markets," Epson Electronics America (EEA) CEO Toshio Akahane said. "EEA and our parent company, Seiko Epson Corp. in Japan, plan to offer RuBee-enabled silicon devices, as well as using the technology in a wide variety of products."

The RuBee protocol works with both active radio tags and passive tags that have no battery. A controlled reading range of 1-100ft and an integrated clock ensure high security and privacy.

Source: EE-Times

RFID meets robotics: a twist in mobile supply tracking

New hospital system uses robots to track and transport medical equipment

February 26, 2007 -- Aethon Inc. today announced a system that uses robots to monitor the movement of medical equipment tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and fetch it when needed by nurses or other hospital staff.

The new mobile asset utilization system is designed to locate, deliver and recover hospital equipment using RFID tags and two robots, the company said. The system includes a robot called Homer that constantly roams the hospital pinging for RFID tags on hospital equipment to track locations. A second robot, called Tug, delivers clean equipment and returns used equipment to a central location.

The Tug robot is already used at 75 hospitals as a courier to deliver and recover equipment, according to Pittsburgh-based Aethon.

The system is designed to keep track of large numbers of hospital equipment such as IV pumps, wheelchairs and respirators and to ensure staff can access them when they are needed, said Aldo Zini, Aethon's president and CEO.

"A lot of hospitals are beginning to realize that to get the true value out of an asset-tracking system so they can actually improve asset utilization and decrease costs you have to do more than locate assets," he said. "You need to be able to locate it, retrieve it and deliver it to its proper location."

Zini said that many asset-tracking systems used in hospitals today require the installation of an expensive infrastructure of antennas and receivers to triangulate the location of RFID-tagged equipment.

Aethon's system uses the robot's single antenna to track the location of tagged equipment and does not require that more equipment be installed, he noted. In addition, the Homer robot can read multiple third-party RFID tags, Zini said.

The company said it does not require hospitals to sign site licenses but instead offers per-tag pricing.

Skill Shortage Hits RFID Growth

Radio frequency identification is significantly hampered by the shortage of IT professionals who are trained in the technology

The IT industry is facing a shortage of professionals well-versed in RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, and this could affect the adoption of the technology, warned a senior official at Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

According to Michael Mudd, the industry body's Asia-Pacific director of public policy, there are fewer than 1,000 qualified IT professionals available worldwide who understand and know enough to deploy and service RFID technology. Mudd was in town for the RFID Connect Asia held here last week.

For instance, Mudd said, compared with the "hundreds of thousands" of technicians who are certified by CompTIA or other IT vendors such as Cisco Systems, and skilled in fixing PCs or servers, the current number of available RFID skilled workers is "very low".

In an interview with ZDNet Asia, he noted: "It's probably one of the things that's keeping back the deployment of the [RFID] technology."

Companies do not simply consider the cost of buying the technology when they look at deploying RFID, he added. "It's [also about] the cost of maintaining, training, servicing [and] replacement of spare parts," Mudd said.

"The RFID skills shortage must be addressed to help drive down implementation costs and make a better ROI (returns on investment) case", he said.

Mudd cautioned that the skills dearth can prove to be the next biggest inhibitor of successful RFID deployment after customers cross the implementation hurdle.

According to preliminary results of a CompTIA survey conducted in February this year, which polled 56 members from the industry group, 69.6 percent of the respondents indicated that there is an insufficient RFID talent pool. Some 64.7 percent also believed that the lack of skilled individuals will affect the adoption of RFID.

Mudd said: "RFID is not yet a plug-and-play technology. Each deployment is unique, and within each deployment, any number of variables can affect its success or failure."

"Most of the [RFID] skills that are lacking are in the areas of understanding how the physics of radio frequencies work, and how to tag items so that they are readable," he said.

He noted that to execute any RFID initiative successfully, there needs to be trained and certified professionals with knowledge and experience in radio frequency engineering and design, supply chain management, logistics, warehouse management, and familiarity in RFID products and standards.

According to CompTIA, the industry body has worked with over 20 organizations with "leadership positions in RFID technology" to develop an industry-accepted credential that validates a technician's knowledge and skills in the areas of installation, maintenance, repair and upkeep of hardware and software functionality of RFID products. For instance, the CompTIA RFID+ is a vendor-neutral certification that addresses critical skills related to the installation, maintenance, repair and troubleshooting of hardware and software functionality of RFID products.

RFID Passive Tags Track Cars

A South African company, iPico Holdings, "has developed and tested RFID passive tags and readers that can be used to monitor vehicles at a read distance of 17 feet traveling at speeds of 160 mph.

The tags are attached to the windshield inside the cars while the readers are placed on the roadside or on bridges. When an equipped car passes in front a reader, at a speed not exceeding 250 kph, the unique 64-bit ID of the tag is read. The readers, which cost about US$1,000, can detect up to 7,200 vehicles per minute. The tags cost currently 60 cents each -- for an order of 5 million tags. The technology will be used to control traffic and speed, but also will enable immediate traffic ticketing or toll collection.

Here is the Funda

South African RFID chip and reader design firm iPico Holdings announced the commercial availability of its Electronic Number Plate (ENP) RFID technology. The company says its technology is already being deployed in a pilot in South America.

IPico’s new UHF ENP technology uses the company’s existing EM4222 passive chip design already used for supply chain management and tire-tagging applications. For its ENP system, however, the company redesigned the tag so it could be attached to the inside of a vehicle’s windshield and developed readers for roadside placement.

Using RFID in electronic vehicle identification promises to support a range of applications both for government and local authorities and for businesses. The technology is being considered for electronic vehicle licensing, traffic, speed and cross-border control and traffic ticketing, as well as for existing operations such as road toll collection and fleet and parking management.

Will this technology really work?

The company maintains that when used with its readers, the ENP tag can be read at distances that allow readers to be placed at the roadside or on bridges over roads. In July, the company demonstrated the technology at an automotive test track operated by Gerotek Test Facilities in Pretoria. Four Smart cars, a DaimlerChrysler line of very small vehicles sold in South Africa as well as in Europe and Asia, were each fitted with two ENP tags to simulate eight vehicles.

The system was tested as the cars drove closely together at both at low speed (80 kph, or 50 mph) and high speed (120 kph, or 75 mph), says iPico, and all the tags were read each time they passed roadside readers. In addition, an ENP tag placed on the inside windshield of a Mercedes Benz C55 model was also succesfully read while the car traveled at speeds in excess of 250 kph (160 mph).

OK, it works for one car, but does it also work to control thousands of cars?
according to the company, its system can read up to 200 tags per second; on a continuous basis, the system can read an average of 7,200 tags per minute. These volumes can be read either by a single reader, by a single reader that has an array of up to four antennas, or by multiple readers in close proximity (say four readers covering four lanes of a highway) that are connected with iPico’s DIMI (Device Information & Management Interface) middleware platform.

IPico has started a test program in a non-disclosed country in South America, and says that 5 million tags have already been ordered. In the future, the tags will also contain more information, such as the vehicle license plate, which will permit to detect stolen cars.

Source : www.primidi.com

Rugged RFID antenna suits baler, compactor applications

Tyco Electronics has expanded its RFID solutions product family with the introduction of a line of ruggedized RFID antennas for use in baler and compactor RFID applications.

The M/A-COM MAAN-000210-AT0000 is a linear polarized antenna with a high-density polyethylene radome that is said to provide superior protection from constant abrasion. It also has a neoprene gasket to prevent liquids from infiltrating the antenna.

The M/A-COM MAAN-000210-AT0000 antennas operate with a typical gain of 2.5dB. The antennas have a beam width of 130° at 3dB, and a typical Voltage Standing Wave Radio (VSWR) of 1.5:1. Multidirectional conduit access holes and a removable connector access panel are available for more efficient installation. The connector housing is removable for use in National Electrical Manufacturer's Association (NEMA) enclosures.

The M/A-COM MAAN-000210-AT0000 is a customized antenna. Price and delivery quotes can be obtained directly from Tyco Electronics' M/A-COM sales channels.

Source : EE-Times

Motorola, Avery team to deliver RFID solution

Motorola Inc. and Avery Dennison Corp. announced a strategic relationship under which Avery Dennison RFID will supply EPCglobal Gen 2 RFID tags to Motorola, increasing the speed of RFID deployments and product availability to large markets.

The agreement aligns Avery Dennison's cost effective inlay manufacturing capabilities with Motorola's hardware and tag design expertise. Motorola will now be able to more quickly fulfill the growing demand for its portfolio of custom RFID tags, including its high-performance airline baggage tag and durable tags for asset tracking. In addition, by working together on RFID solutions, both companies will be able to optimize RFID systems for real world deployments.

"Together, Motorola and Avery Dennison can build on successful customer engagements with an even stronger reader-and-tag solution," said Joe White, vice president of RFID marketing and business development for the enterprise mobility business, Motorola Networks & Enterprise. "Motorola's broad portfolio of intellectual property in EPC RFID tags and readers, combined with Avery Dennison's expertise in high-volume inlay manufacturing, will provide Motorola customers with a reliable supply of quality, high-performance RFID tag products."

"By working together, Avery Dennison and Motorola will enable customers to better manage their assets and enhance their return on investment in RFID," said Bob Cornick, vice president and general manager of Avery Dennison RFID.

Motorola plans to start shipping Avery Dennison-supplied Gen 2 tags in 2H 2007.

Source : EE-Times

NIST issues RFID security guidelines

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued guidelines for RFID. NIST's report on RFID security was released last week as it urges everyone using the technology to evaluate security and privacy risks and use best practices to mitigate them. The institute said it released the report to meet some of its responsibilities under the Federal Information and Security Management Act of 2002, which requires federal agencies to secure information technology systems.

NIST also said the report is likely to benefit other types of organizations as well.

"The goal of our report is to give organizations practical ways in a structured format with checklists and specific recommendations to address potential RFID security risks," said NIST's Tom Karygiannis in a statement.

The document focuses on asset management, tracking, matching and supply chain uses. It recommends the use of firewalls to separate RFID databases from other IT systems and databases. NIST also urges users to encrypt radio signals, authenticate approved users, and block tag signals with metal shields to prevent unauthorized skimming of information. The report states that auditing, logging, and time-stamping should be used to detect security breaches and it urges users to establish tag disposal and recycling procedures for disabling the devices and destroying data.

"RFID tags, commonly referred to as smart tags, have the ability to improve logistics, profoundly change cost structures for business, and improve the current levels of safety and authenticity of the international pharmaceutical supply chain and many other industries," Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology Robert C. Cresanti said in a prepared statement. "This important report lays the foundation for addressing potential RFID security risks so that a thoughtful enterprise can launch a smart tag program with confidence."

The 115-page report covers several aspects of RFID technology, including applications, requirements, middleware, networks, economics, environment and durability.

Source : EE-Times