Confidex UHF SteelWING Label

RFID Canada is introducing a new RFID Mount-on-Metal Label called the SteelWING

This RFID label is a Gen2, ISO 18000-6C, UHF label with a read range of up to 10m (32ft). It has been designed to overcome the challenges of metal asset tagging. A high performance, compact structure and cost-efficiency are achieved with SteelWING’s innovative patent pending design. The light-weight tag has adhesive background and it can be directly attached on metal surface – without any extra spacer material.

The SteelWING is a “metal-friendly” RFID label that when in contact with a metal surface the operational performance improves.

The SteelWING can also be attached to other materials and operate with only slightly reduced performance compared to metal surfaces. Wide-band SteelWING is equipped with NXP G2XM IC, which has extended user memory. The SteelWING Micro is manufactured by Confidex.

More information can be found here: http://www.rfidcanada.com/products/passive-hf/ultra-high-frequency-inlaystags-labels/uhf-steelwing-label/

About RFID Canada
RFID Canada is Canada’s largest supplier of RFID and NFC Inlays, Labels and Tags and Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID and NFC Readers.

With 25 plus years of industry knowledge and understanding the development of specialized solutions for companies across diverse markets and applications. RFID Canada has successfully implemented applications in Animal Identification, Document Tracking, Traceability, Asset Tracking, Work-in-Process, Stock Replenishment, Personal Identification, and Sporting Events in a wide range of industries including Agriculture, Manufacturing, Transportation, Supply Chain and Distribution, Retail, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Libraries, Government and many others.

For more information, contact:
Christine Parris
RFID Canada
RFID/NFC Business Development
(905) 513-8919 X30
christinep@rfidcanada.com
Follow us on twitter @rfidcanada

About Confidex
Confidex is the world’s leading supplier of high-performing contactless ticketing and RFID tag solutions and services to make supply chains, transactions and authentication of goods and people more efficient and secure.

Accelerate NFC

OTA Ventures announced today that its new AccelerateNFC incubator program will exhibit next week in San Francisco, at the NFC Solutions Summit 2013 presented by the Smart Card Alliance and NFC Forum.

The AccelerateNFC incubator program is designed to nurture, mentor, advise and help fund NFC-based start-up companies to fill the void in technological and application development that will enable and support businesses to drive the growth and adoption of near field communication (NFC). Robert P. Sabella, co-founder and mentor of the AccelerateNFC program along with other mentors, will be attending and exhibiting at this year’s NFC Solutions Summit.
According to Sabella, “The Smart Card Alliance and NFC Forum are two of the strongest advocates and drivers of NFC adoption. The annual NFC Solutions Summit is the premiere showcase of leaders in the NFC value chain and ecosystem. While we continue to see growth in the adoption of NFC, we find there is no support system for less experienced entrepreneurs in the industry. AccelerateNFC is poised to provide this support system and welcomes participation from the thought leaders who will be at the Summit.”

Randy Vanderhoof , executive director of The Smart Card Alliance, added, “We are happy to welcome the AccelerateNFC incubator to the show this year and are very supportive of what they are doing. There is a real need for continued awareness and innovation in order to drive NFC adoption and this program answers that need.”

The AccelerateNFC program will begin taking applications immediately, with up to five selected participants announced October 15. Then beginning November 1, participants will begin a 12-week, intensive program that delivers mentors’ deep collective expertise in go-to-market strategy, product development, distribution and fundraising, all of which can help rocket a company into the national marketplace. The inaugural program will culminate in a showcase and product launch at Austin’s South by Southwest event in March 2014.

United States Patent and Trademark Office Logo

The 1st patent (US-based) that used the term RFID (radio frequency identification) was granted in the year 1983 by an American inventor Charles Walton. Although many individuals actually contributed and assisted to the invention of RFID technology, Charles Walton was awarded 10 patents for a number of RFID related devices. His 1st RFID patent granted began in seventies with the design for a “Portable radio frequency emitting identifier”. The abstract of the patent stated the following, ‘An automatic identification system wherein a portable identifier, preferably shaped like a credit card, incorporates an oscillator and encoder so as to generate a programmable pulse position-modulated signal in the radio frequency range for identification of the user. The identifier can be made to generate the identification signal constantly or can be made for stimulated transmission responsive to an interrogation signal. The identification signal can be preset or can be programmable by use of a programmable memory.’ The entire ‘Portable radio frequency emitting identifier’ patent can be viewed here.

Some state that Mario Cardullo’s device, filed on May 21, 1970 and issued in 1973, was the first true ancestor of modern RFID, as it was a passive radio transponder with memory and covers the use of RF, sound and light as transmission media. The patent abstract of Mario Carullo’s transponder apparatus and system states the following: ‘A novel transponder apparatus and system is disclosed, the system being of the general type wherein a base station transmits an “interrogation” signal to a remote transponder, the transponder responding with an “answerback” transmission. The transponder includes a changeable or writable memory, and means responsive to the transmitted interrogation signal for processing the signal and for selectively writing data into or reading data out from the memory. The transponder then transmits an answerback signal from the data read-out from its internal memory, which signal may be interpreted at the base station. In the preferred inventive embodiment, the transponder generates its own operating power from the transmitted interrogation signal, such that the transponder apparatus is self-contained.’ The entire ‘ transponder apparatus and system’ patent can be seen here.

In 1945 Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool for the Soviet Union which retransmitted incident radio waves with audio information. Sound waves vibrated a diaphragm which slightly altered the shape of the resonator, which modulated the reflected radio frequency. Even though this device was a covert listening device, not an identification tag, it is considered to be a predecessor of RFID technology, because it was likewise passive, being energized and activated by waves from an outside source. (1)

It is also said that an early demonstration of reflected power (modulated backscatter) RFID tags, both passive and semi-passive, was performed by Steven Depp, Alfred Koelle, and Robert Freyman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1973. (2) The portable system operated at 915 MHz and used 12-bit tags. This technique is used by the majority of today’s UHFID and microwave RFID tags.

Based on the various patents and demonstrations around RFID-based technology, it is safe to assume that the early 1970s is when RFID started to take form.

References:
(1) Hacking Exposed Linux: Linux Security Secrets & Solutions, 2008
(2) Landt, Jerry (2001). “Shrouds of Time: The history of RFID”

The new generation of RFID vehicle tracking systems have solved the bygone problems via the strong identification and the flexible reading range of RFID products. Among various vendors, Daily RFID has newly released RFID vehicle tracking system to extend the usage of RFID technology in vehicle management.

As the high performance system, RFID vehicle tracking system can furnish many benefits to vehicle management via the large datum management. For example, the RFID reader DL920 existing in the RFID vehicle tracking system can be connected to remote computer through the USB and transmit the large data of parking management to be processed. Working from ISM 902Mhz to 928Mhz or from 920 Mhz to 925Mhz, the RFID reader DL920 can implement the highly automatic, accurate and real time information acquisition in parking management via assisting the RFID vehicle tracking system. In addition to the readers, the RFID vehicle tags are also indispensible and significant part in RFID vehicle tracking system. Available in UHF 860MHZ~960MHZ global frequency, the RFID vehicle tag signals the parking transceiver as entering or existing a parking lot and shows the read range of up to 9~15 feet to parking management. And the RFID vehicle tracking system will identify the vehicle accurately and quickly when RFID reader reads the information stored in the tag’s chip duly. In other words, by the RFID vehicle tracking system, the RFID tag can transmit the datum to the central computer for processing, archiving and reference, and then implement the secured parking.

Based on the RFID technology, the RFID vehicle tracking system becomes an efficient tool for vehicle control.  These advanced RFID vehicle tracking systems have fulfilled the vehicle tracking and management, therefore widely utilized in airports, gated communities, truck and bus terminals, employee parking lots etc.

RFID Canada -Confidex NFC IRONSIDE Tag

RFID Canada introduces a new NFC Tag called the Ironside Micro

This NFC tag can be read with any NFC enabled devices such as cell phones, tablets and fixed readers. It complies with the NFC Forum Type 2, has 144 bytes of memory and can be read up to 70mm. The small form factor, 27mm x 27mm x 5.5mm, can easily be mounted to indoor and outdoor assets.

The Ironside Micro™ is a ruggedized NFC Tag, is designed for harsh environments and to be uses for high impacts, chemicals and moisture applications. The Ironside Micro can be mounted on metal, has an exceptional level of robustness against the demanding requirements of industrial and tracking applications. Ironside Micro encapsulation is IP68 level and it requires only an area of approximately one square inch. It is also designed for extended chemical resistance.

The Ironside Micro is manufactured by Confidex.

Confidex NFC Tag Ironside Micro Picture

About RFID Canada
RFID Canada is Canada’s largest supplier of RFID and NFC Inlays, Labels and Tags and Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID and NFC Readers.

With 25 plus years of industry knowledge and understanding the development of specialized solutions for companies across diverse markets and applications. RFID Canada has successfully implemented applications in Animal Identification, Document Tracking, Traceability, Asset Tracking, Work-in-Process, Stock Replenishment, Personal Identification, and Sporting Events in a wide range of industries including Agriculture, Manufacturing, Transportation, Supply Chain and Distribution, Retail, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Libraries, Government and many others.

About Confidex
Confidex is the world’s leading supplier of high-performing contactless ticketing and RFID tag solutions and services to make supply chains, transactions and authentication of goods and people more efficient and secure.

For more information, contact:
Christine Parris
RFID Canada
RFID/NFC Business Development
(905) 513-8919 X30
christinep@rfidcanada.com

RFIDGS Logo

The Social Security Administration embarked on an IT Management initiative in September 2012, to automate inventory and audit processes for IT assets. The SSA’s goals were to reduce inventory cycle times, improve inventory accuracy and enhance security.

“We are pleased the Federal Government has selected us to provide a low-cost, cutting-edge and commercially proven RFID asset management solution that decreases operating expense while improving security. RFID applications promise to usher in a new era of cost savings and productivity for government agencies,” said Diana Hage, CEO, RFID Global Solution.

RFIDGS equipped the Social Security Administration with its Visi-Trac Asset Manager to support the agency’s IT asset management efforts. Quinn Solem, IT Service Management program manager, SSA, will speak at RFID Journal Live, also on May 1, 2013, on how the system was rolled out and business benefits the Federal government and other customers have experienced, such as 90% labor savings in conducting IT inventories.

Quinn Solem and Michael Offut, Program Managers of the Social Security Administration (SSA), who will share their recent RFID deployment experience at the SSA’s National Data Center at RFID Live today in Florida. Diana Hage, CEO, RFID Global Solution, Tom Manzagol, COO, and Stephen Schwartz, VP Engineering, and other executives will share best practices and case studies at RFID Live as well.

STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) announced that its Near Field Communication (NFC) controller is being used by NEC CASIO Mobile Communications in the exciting G’zOne CA-201L smartphone, based on Android. The phone is initially targeted to the operator LGU+ in Korea.

ST’s NFC controller IC supports all NFC use cases, and can coordinate multiple NFC secure apps stored in several secure locations, such as the SWP -SIM[2] and SWP-microSD Card or Embedded Secure Element. The corresponding NFC software stack from Stollmann E+V GmbH, running on the terminal host, supports all Google Android versions, including the latest Jelly Bean operating system.

“With the growing interest in mobile payment schemes, including NFC capabilities and a compatible Secure Element on our new phones was an important feature,” said Yoshifumi Sakaguchi, General Manager, Common Platform Development Division, NEC CASIO Mobile Communications, Ltd. “The ease of integration, excellent performance, and power profile of the ST NFC controller and secure element made it an excellent choice for our G’zOne CA-201L smartphone.”

ST’s NFC devices enable cost-effective solutions with state-of-the-art RF performance. The optimized device design delivers exceptional value for money. In particular, the RF unit design can decrease the overall system bill-of-materials and therefore minimize the PCB area required for integration. The devices meet the latest requirements in RF performance, ensuring optimal NFC user experiences and shortening time-to-market necessary for various application qualifications.

“We are very pleased to be selected for providing NFC functionality in the G’zOne CA-201L smartphone,” said Marie-France Florentin, General Manager, Secure Microcontrollers Division, STMicroelectronics. “Having quickly passed all necessary interoperability tests, including those for Korea’s T-money e-transport and -payment technology, and leveraging ST’s leadership in SIM Secure Elements hardware that aids interoperability, ST’s NFC controller in the G’zOne CA-201L smartphone will soon enable innovative contactless services to end users in Korea.”

Frick’s RFID Oxygen Generator Tag

Delta Airlines has selected custom RFID tags to address maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) needs for their flyable safety equipment. By using SmartMark RFID tags from Frick to streamline the audit process for safety equipment, Delta improved inspection time from approximately 10 man hours to less than 3 minutes. Delta maintains safety and compliance, while realizing significant time and cost savings, while capturing more data.

Frick’s SmartMark RFID Oxygen Generator tags provide Delta with valuable electronic data enabling just-in-time inventory management that was not previously available. According to Rick Lewis, business analyst for Delta, RFID technology drastically reduces the time and effort needed for safety and maintenance checks, which has lead to profound cost savings.

Previously, Delta personnel spent countless hours conducting tedious inspection processes to ensure that no safety items remained in service beyond their expiration date. Multiplying this by Delta’s entire fleet of more than 700 aircraft, that equates to a visual inspection of approximately 140,000 life vests and more than 40,000 oxygen generators a year. Using RFID, flight attendants can check an entire plane in less than sixty seconds.

“We developed a custom RFID solution to provide Delta a fast, accurate way to collect and manage data for critical life limited safety equipment,” said Brent Howell, Senior Business Development Manager, William Frick & Company. “The results are economically game-changing. In addition to improved inspection time, the solution gives Delta access to data that they had not recorded previously, allowing for better and accurate planning.”

The RFID tags used by Delta Airlines for aviation are AS5678 certified, as required by the FAA. The Delta solution incorporates RFID AeroCheck software to track and monitor the parts, reducing maintenance turnaround time by up to 99 percent, increasing the accuracy of safety checks, as well as enabling improved on-time performance for Delta flights.

RFID Oxygen Generator tags designed for Delta provide 15-foot read ranges and quick read times using a portable RFID reader. SmartMark tags are also available for application to life vest boxes/pouches, passenger oxygen masks, medical kits, and many other emergency equipment items.

(RFID World Canada) The inaugural NFC Bootcamp held in Toronto April 3 and 4, 2013 at the Marriott Downtown was an exciting event for all who attended.  The sold-out event attracted a wide range of participants from start-ups wanting to learn more about how the technology works to global organizations exploring how to leverage near field technology to further enhance their customer experience.

Host RFID Canada, and speakers from ABNote NA, Blue Bite, TapTrack, GaugeMobile and other thought leaders engaged the participants on the NFC ecosystem, uses and current implementations, as well as hands-on training on coding and reading tags and creating NFC-based campaigns.

According to one of the participants, “It was a great balance between geek tech talk and marketing and implementation. Something for everyone.”  Another noted, “It was a great and informative two days. The topics were relevant; the presenters were knowledgeable; and the length was perfect.”

The response and interest within Toronto was overwhelmingly positive, and NFC Bootcamp is now planning a return to Toronto potentially later this year. Please contact us if you are interested in attending a NFC Bootcamp in the future.

The speakers at the Toronto NFC Bootcamp were Robert Sabella from OTA Ventures,  Bob Moroz from RFID Canada, Jim Ellis from ABNote, Mikhail Damiani from Blue Bite, Tarek Luka from NFC thought leader, David Shalaby from TapTrack and Tony Vassiliev from Gauge Mobile.

Below are some pictures from the NFC bootcamp event:

Bob Moroz from RFID Canada presents at NFC Bootcamp Toronto 2013

Robert Sabella presents at NFC Bootcamp Toronto 2013

Robert Sabella from OTA Ventures and Mikhail Damiani from Blue Bite at NFC Bootcamp Toronto 2013

Presentation at NFC Bootcamp 2013

Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre RFID Tracking Card

The Issue:

How do you make the waiting room experience more palatable for chemotherapy patients waiting for treatment?

With this question in mind, Administrators at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto approached Bykart Software to help develop a solution that would allow them to track patient movement within the Centre and provide feedback to the patients so that they are better informed while waiting.

Who We Are:

Bykart Software Ltd. is a technology solutions provider for the health care industry. Its main product is CHARM, a Patient Information Management and communication system that optimizes a cancer clinic’s capacity to treat more patients with existing resources. It does this by automating processes to more quickly and efficiently facilitate approvals of chemotherapy between the chemotherapy unit, pharmacy and clinicians, and by improving scheduling and communication among care providers. CHARM uses an automated scheduling engine along with a patient management module, a protocol/regimen management module to optimize a clinic’s resources.

CHARM is currently in use at The Odette Cancer Centre and has been operational for almost 5 years.

Technology Partners:

RFID Canada was instrumental in the deployment of RFID technology at the Odette Cancer Center.  Bykart relied on the RFID team to lead in the selection of a solution that worked best for Odette’s requirements.

The Solution:

By adding a Patient Arrival and Tracking feature to Charm and linking it to RFID scanners throughout the clinic, patients are now able to check in on their own using an ID card with a RFID chip in it. The ID Card has a unique identifier so that patient names and personal information is kept confidential. Once their treatment area is ready they are notified via an airport style monitor in the waiting room (the number associated to their card appears on the board, not their name), that they are ready to be seen and where they need to go. Once they get to their treatment area they scan their ID cards into a RFID scanner that lets nursing staff know that they have started their treatment. Upon completion of the treatment they once again scan their card notifying staff that their treatment is done.

For Odette Staff, the system is able to track wait time metrics from time of check in through the entire treatment process. Based on reports developed by Bykart, Odette staff is better equipment to discover where bottle necks occur and how to eliminate them.

For Patients, the system gives them more information and control during the sign in process. Prior to the implementation patients had no idea where they were in the queue for treatment. Now they consult the information monitor and know exactly when their treatment will begin and where they need to go.

This solution would not have been possible without the guidance of RFID Canada. Bob and his team, Silvana Cantalini and Alan Marion, were involved in every step of the process from meeting with the client to working with our development team to ensure that they had the knowledge necessary to complete the coding portion of the project. The staff provided the technical assistance required to bring this project on budget and on time, at every turn their expertise provided the right answers at the right time.

Results:

Based on the success of a 6 month pilot project with 50 patients, the RFID cards are now being issued to all chemotherapy patients. In the 5 years since CHARM was implemented, the Odette Cancer Centre has experienced a 47% increase in throughput without adding staff or beds.

Contacts:

Bykart Software | Frank Vecchiarelli | frankv@bykartsoftware.com
RFID Canada | Christine Parris | christinep@rfidcanada.com

Here are some images from the project, including screenshots from the software interface:

Odette Cancer Centre Kiosk

Patient Appointment Status

Status Success Notification