Source: www.IDTechEx.com

The IDTechEx Knowledgebase of over 3,500 RFID projects in 109 countriesillustrates how this market of over $5 billion is rapidly diversifying. For example,ruggedised RFID tags have long been sold in volume for opening your car door ata distance and for industrial laundry. However, in the last six months, most ofthe sellers of disposable UHF labels used in the retail supply chain and on airbaggage report a rapid increase in requests for ruggedised versions. Thatusually involves the capability of working on metal in addition to the abilityto withstand mechanical, chemical, thermal and electromagnetic abuse. Such tagsare therefore often referred to as on-metal tags and most of them rely on thickplastic, with some employing clever electromagnetic materials as well.

Apparel and Ruggedised tags

Compare the use of disposable tags for retail apparel with tags fitted for lifein laundry. In both cases it is done simply for stock control. The next phaseis to combine the best features of both in order to provide many other paybacksand consumer benefits. Tagging of rented apparel and linen is carried out byover one hundred commercial and dedicated laundries in military establishments,hospitals, casinos and so on. It is well established. Over 150 million itemsare laundered by industrial laundries across the world and some items, such asuniforms, are replaced and re-tagged within one year. New versions of laundrytags take the form of small buttons and colour matched discs.

Disposable apparel tags

In addition, we now have a clearly demonstrated business case for disposabletags on apparel in the retail supply chain. Over 200 million of thesedisposable apparel tags are being fitted this year and one hundred times thatnumber is in prospect in ten years time. About 60 retailers and their suppliersare now copying this and wondering why they did not do so earlier, such are thebenefits in profit and customer service.

The next stage - washable, woven RFID

Emboldened by the success of Marks and Spencer in the UK and many others, impressive fashion and retail groupings in Germany, Italy and Japan are now trialling the many other potential benefits that can be realised if we move beyondRFID simply for stock control of apparel.

This calls for testing to establish which potential benefits are worthwhile. Wemust create an affordable tag that is neither the disposable apparel tag oftoday nor the heavy, ruggedised laundry tag but something combining thebenefits of both, typically in a light weight, thin, woven designer labelfitted for life. Will it be UHF as with current retail labels or HF as withlaundry tags. As required, if RFID enabled Near Field Communication phones areto be used for purchasing? When used in an open system where retailers sellmore than just own brand fashion, what standards and numbering system will beused? Unlike today's apparel tagging, there are technical, payback andsometimes privacy issues to be resolved with the next phase but the prizes are great for all in the value chain. It is little wonder that the famous brands fromArmani in Italy to the leading Japanese retailers are involved.

Great variety of needs for ruggedised RFID

An RFID tag in a designer label must withstand dry cleaning, washing machinesand irons. In other applications such as electrodes in refining and being setin concrete, ruggedised RFID tags are variously withstanding hot acid mist,extremely alkaline environments and more. Even UHF tags, traditionally amongthe most sensitive to metal and water nearby, are being used on metal computerequipment and in wet environments when specially made for the purpose. Infuture, about one percent of UHF tags will be made in this way and their premium price means that they will represent at least ten percent of the market. Enhancedsystems are often needed as well for these challenging applications and sensingmay be involved.

Europe's largest conference

At Europe's largest RFID conference, RFID Europe, in Cambridge UK 30^th September - 1 October, the most impressive users, developers and suppliers of ruggedised and apparel RFID will present their new advances and view of the future. That includes users of ruggedised and on-metal RFID such the US Navy, IBM, Container Centralen, Laing O'Rourke, Marshall Aerospace, Progressive Gaming, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, St Olav's Hospital, the Academic Medical Centre, the Air Transport Association and Transport for London. Richard Rees, one of the most experienced figures in the area of standards and system integration will give an overview. He is CEO of gold sponsor Scanology in the Netherlands which has an enviable reputation for the highest performing HF RFID systems and more to announce.

Silver sponsors

Silver sponsors include Impinj of the USA, the leading UHF chipmaker, now leading advances further down the value chain as well, and Omni-ID of the USA and UK, with a remarkable on-metal capability using special physics to give a very thin, small footprint, high performance UHF label. Then there is MBBS of Switzerland, which even puts its specially designed LF tags completely inside metal objects such as surgeon's tools, that are autoclaved and inside construction metalwork. It also has ruggedised HF tag systems. Silver sponsor LEONARD KURZ of Stiftung & Co. KG of Germany has a new HF tag manufacturing advance and Power ID of Israel, Cambridge based Conductive Inkjet Technologies and TRAAK Systems from Scotland are silver sponsors this year. Silver sponsor Sonitor Technologies of the USA & Norway will report its huge success with ruggedised Real Time Locating Systems in hospitals.

Other recent successes

The bronze sponsors such as Ekahau of Finland with ruggedised RTLS in hospitals, mining etc., CAEN RFID of Italy and Bemrose Booth of the UK are also promoting new ruggedised, high performance RFID so there is quite a trend here. For example, this year, CAEN RFID has succeeded in the simultaneous identification and location of metal products handled inside the Acciai Vender warehouse in Italy. It is a commercial and service centre for stainless steel. Another success this year has been using UHF ruggedised tags to track trucks in the Safe and Efficient Cargo project in Italy, sponsored by the Transport Department of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG). It traces the goods flows in the main logistic infrastructures and automatically manages the relevant documents, such as docking demands and boarding/landing requests by truck drivers passing through Trieste harbour.

The big picture

IDTechEx and the University of Manchester in the UK will be among those covering apparel RFID, including the global situation of over 60 suppliers and over 60 users and the forecasts. There are talks by the European Commission and the Information Commissioner's office on privacy issues and what to do about them. Indeed, IDTechEx prides itself on giving digested comprehensive analysis rather than commercials at these events. David Lyon analysing real world uses of EPCglobal around the world will be another example of this. There will be an investment summit, optional masterclasses, an exhibition and tours to local companies.

Source: www.IDTechEx.com