Cattle give RFIDs field trials

The EM4569 RFID from EM Microelectronic is currently in field trials in North America. The RFID has been adopted by several tag manufacturers and used as a safe and efficient alternative to other forms of branding or marking cattle.

For cattle in England, one identification tag is required, allowing each cow to be tracked throughout its life. Many farms also use a second tag to identify age and medical history. While identification tags are not required by law in the United States, they are a very important management tool.
In addition to its consumer-friendly price, the EM4569 has unmatched performance in terms of detection range. “In a recent field trial using long-range animal readers, the EM4569 embedded in an ear-tag format was read at a distance of up to one metre, considerably more than other conventional RFID tags,” explains Mougahed Darwish, president of the management board of EM Microelectronic. “Additionally, the EM4569 is compliant with ISO 11784/5 and has bi-phase RF/32, making it very functional in the animal world.”

The EM4569 is a passive RFID circuit with long reading range, specifically for use in animal identification. Its features include bumped enlarged pads for direct antenna connection to save space and mounting costs.

Intended for use in electronic read/write RF transponders, the new circuit is a 125 kHz, 512-bit contactless identification CMOS RFID IC. Several data rate and data encoding options are available at a decreased level of power consumption. The RFID IC also increases reading distance, making it suitable for animal identification (ISO 11784/5).

The EM4569 is the enlarged-pad version of the EM4469, says EM Microelectronic; the enlarged pads allow direct antenna connection via bumps deposited on the enlarged pads, so the customer can directly solder the wire of the antenna onto it without the need for pcb support. Such pads also decrease the cost since the IC requires fewer handling operations.

Source : EM Micro Electronics

German Meat-Tracking Project Focuses on Lasers and RFID

A group of university researchers are developing a system designed to ensure the freshness of meat distributed throughout the supply chain.

Jan. 2, 2007—A few months ago, Germans were horrified when government authorities announced they had uncovered 110 tons of rotten meat at several wholesale warehouses in Bavaria. Some of this meat was more than four years out of date, and may have been exported to other European Union countries. The manager for one of the involved wholesalers hung himself as the scandal received widened coverage.

However, an RFID project funded by the federal government in Germany may help eliminate future abuses of this kind. Not long before the news erupted, five research institutes launched a project to develop an RFID-based system using laser beams to recognize and record meat freshness

The FreshScan project, funded with €3 million from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), is being coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Micro-integration (IZM) in Berlin, which focuses on assembly and packaging technologies. No commercial partners are participating at the current time.

Established in mid-2006, the three-year project FreshScan project is still in the conceptual phase. The participants are developing a two-component system. The first part consists of a semi-active RFID tag with temperature sensors to document the condition of meat, from slaughter to sale, and record temperatures on a continual basis. The second is an RFID reader integrated with an optical detector—a device utilizing a laser to analyze and record the meat's condition in the tag. "The reader measures the light spectrum in which chemical changes can be detected," says Rolf Thomasius, an IZM researcher involved in the project.

Other partners consist of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut für Hoechstfrequenztechnik (FBH), which is developing the optical detector; the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Food (BfEL), which is defining those chemicals and positions in the radio spectrum that should be monitored by the system; the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim (ATB), which is determining how best to read the signals and define the freshness parameters; and the Technical University of Berlin (TU), which is designing the software needed to run the device. In addition, two professors are studying the chemical makeup of meat samples as they age. Fraunhofer's IZM is coordinating the results of the research conducted by these partners, and is building a demonstration model.

To determine the meat's freshness, the system will use technology often found in telescopes or satellites. One potential technology researchers are testing is Raman spectroscopy. This involves pointing a laser beam at the meat and measuring the beam's absorption and reflection, which change as the meat's chemical properties (i.e., the freshness) change.

The processing site will tag the meat's packaging, and the sensor on the RFID tag will measure temperature, moisture and light incidence at different intervals, recording this information on the tag. This mobile "freshness scanner" will be used at different points to determine the meat's condition.

No vendors have yet been chosen for the project, and standards remain unclear at present. However, Thomasius says the tags used are likely to be 13.56 MHz and comply with an ISO standard. Additionally, the designers are working out the type of power on which the tags should rely. When the project is finished, the demonstration model will still need some more development before it can be brought to market.

"Our goal is to create a very close prototype at the end product, so that we can launch the system shortly after the research project ends," he says.

According to Thomasius, one focus of the project is to create a tag that is smaller and thinner than 2 millimeters and can last at least one year so it can be reused. Since the project is noncommercial at this point, researchers are not focusing on the cost of the components.

Source : RFID Journal

Microchips tag stray Delhi cows

The authorities in the Indian capital Delhi have turned to microchips to tackle the growing problem of stray cows roaming the streets.

Delhi has about 40,000 cows roaming the streets

A court had earlier ordered authorities in south Delhi to offer a reward of $45 to anyone delivering a stray cow.

The authorities then sell the cow to a new owner but they are concerned people might take advantage by bringing back the same cow for the reward.

A $11 microchip in the cow's gut will now show a cow already brought in.

Protected

Commissioner of the local municipal corporation, Rakesh Mehta, said the chips would allow resident welfare associations to determine whether the cow brought to the local authorities was a stray one or not.

"Otherwise, people can sell their own cows for quick money," he said.

Following the earlier Delhi High Court order, a number of cows and buffaloes have been brought to the authorities by people eager to receive rewards.

Cows are revered as sacred among Hindus and are protected by law.

There are nearly 40,000 thought to be roaming the streets of the Indian capital.

Officials say unauthorised dairy farms are one of the main causes.

They say stray cows pose a serious traffic hazard.

This week a woman broke her arm after a cow being chased by residents slammed into her.

Source : BBC News, New delhi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4141296.stm