RFID Gazette

ScoringSystem has launched an Internet system, ScoringAg.com, that allows produce retailers to access product-specific data. It will provide information on agriculture worldwide so complete that the company terms the service "field-to-fork" supply chain monitoring. The data is provided in real-time utilizing a mapping technology called PIDC (Premises IDentification Code) for tracing the produce. PIDC defines areas not even covered by the ISO standard or international organizations. Using the technology, handlers can be accurately identified throughout the supply chain. Each company utilizing the system will have their own online account. According to FoodNavigator.com:

PIDC records activities and actions performed on the animals, fish, or crops at each location – even in the middle of a packing plant, or on board a factory ship, or in the middle of a farmer’s field, and all the way to the retailer and consumer.

Read more: Internet System Locates Food Handlers Along Supply Chain

Venture Development Corporation conducted research to understand what companies utilizing RFID expected from the technology's middleware. Their input is essential to marketers, considering that the overall RFID market reached $1.7 billion in 2004 and is projected to grow 36% annually through 2008. The research revealed that although "middleware" is a vague term, its desired functions are not. End users across the board wanted five essential functions: a standard interface, data filtering and transport, infrastructure management, support for host platforms, and support for legacy systems. Ultimately, however, precise wants depend on the company and the type of industry it is in. Mike Laird, analyst at VDC, explains that these desires will continue to develop and mature with RFID itself. According to Frontline Solutions:

"Right now, core products are meeting the basic needs of data aggregation and data filtering and routing," Liard said. "As users better understand the business value of RFID, they'll be calling for more features and functionality."

Read more: RFID Middleware Market Needs Clarification

In Japan, Kokuyo's Doko line of cell phone services now offers tracking alerts. The service is a follow-up to various other RFID applications already offered in Japan that permit parents, schools, and hospitals to monitor children, the elderly, and patients. The new cell phone feature sends an email alert to the user when the trackee travels beyond a predetermined boundary. Japanese culture has been far more accepting of the monitoring capabilities RFID offers than American culture. What's yet to see is how helpful, or perhaps misused, the technology will end up being. For now, it seems rather affordable. According to MobileMag.com:

Koyuko has the price set at $270 for the basic unit and $14 per month for services.

Read more:Mobile Phones Become Tracking Agents

Texas Instruments has begun shipping Gen 2-based RFID chips to retailers and consumer goods companies. Previously, the company opted out of supplying Class 1 & 2 protocols. The Gen 2 is expected to provide more consistent read rates and interoperability--hastening the adoption of the technology. TI has already been producing RFID chips for use in prepayment cashless systems and car-entry systems for several years. Now it will be providing RFID technology used by such retailers as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. The company will be producing more than one million units by next month. According to InformationWeek:

"Gen 2 also allows readers in a warehouse that has 50 dock doors, for example, to co-exist without interfering with each other when RFID tags on cases and pallets pass into their domain," says Enu Waktola, EPC retail supply-chain marketing manager at Texas Instruments RFID Systems.

Read more:Texas Instruments Enters RFID Market for Retailers

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in China recently discussed the importance of creating a national strategy for RFID development at the International EPC/RFID Summit in Beijing. Currently, government departments are finishing a white paper on RFID policies. No details have been released about the policies. Government officials note that with the strong influence of Walmart, which obtains over $100 billion in goods from China, a national standard is needed to protect China's economic interests and national security. Currently, agencies within the country utilizing RFID have varying plans and standards. To impliment an appropriate system, China must establish sufficient bandwidth. According to CRMBuyer:

The internationally dominant 860-960 megahertz band has been set aside for telecommunications, radio broadcasting and aerospace uses in China.

Read more:China Eyes RFID to Track Goods

SCM Solutions in South Africa will launch the new SAW tag on July 1st. Saw, which is an acronym for "Surface Acoustic Waves" is a product of the US-based company, RF SAW. The new-generation tag will provide many benefits over its predecessor. The Global SAW Tag system has demonstrated better readings on metal surfaces and liquid containers as well as further reading ranges of up to 30 meters. Moreover, the new generation system of RFID can measure tag position, temperature, speed, and direction. SCM director, James Briggs, explains the physics of the system makes it superior in many ways to previous. According to IWeek:

“A SAW tag operates successfully with short bursts of signal from readers emitting extremely low transmit power, while an integrated circuit tag requires a large uninterrupted signal from the reader to power the tag,” Briggs explains.

Read more:New RFID Tech to be Launched

The Korean government has decided to invest $800 million in research and development of RFID technology. Thus far the government has tested the technology for monitoring beef imports, luggage in several airports, and army ammunition inventories. Korea plans to deploy tracking in businesses and homes--even creating refrigerators that track food inventory. Production will begin next year in Songdo. The city is to receive funding from 2005 to 2010. Daeje Chin, Minister of Information and Communication, claims that the RFID industry is as important as the mobile phone industry proved to be. According to Silicon.com:

Chin said: "This will be very important for us in the next 10 years. The handset business is very big but RFID will be as important..."

Read more:Korea Dishes Out $800m on RFID

Sear's Atlanta returns center has been processing merchandise for the past year using RFID. Although still reviewing the data collected thus far, Sears has reported a notable contrast between shipping processes utilizing RFID and those that do not. Operator productivity has increased substantially. In the Atlanta center, RFID tags are attached to each pallet and both active and passive RFID technologies are used to track the pallets and reduce placement errors. All six of Sear's returns centers are scheduled to be fully equipped with RFID by next year. Sears is also to begin testing RFID from its distribution centers next month. According to InformationWeek:

Active RFID tags, which take direction from radio-frequency signals bouncing off antennas on the ceiling, direct a forklift operator on where to place a pallet. The system replaces the need for an operator to get off a forklift to scan products with a bar-code reader.

Read more:Returns to Sender: RFID Reduces Errors For Sears

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved on-ground RFID use for planes. Prior to approval, tests were run by both Boeing and FedEx. Neither companies reported any adverse effects on airplane equipment due to the technology. The implementation of RFID is hoped to improve the tracking of cargo, passenger baggage, and aircraft components. Usage will not apply to in-flight planes, as there is concern signal interferences may result. According to FCW.com:

The FAA RFID team's next step will be to develop guidelines for the use of active and battery-assisted RFID devices on commercial planes. Officials are estimating that research and studies to implement a policy will be completed by early 2006.

Read more: FAA Gives Go-Ahead to RFID

Standardization is arguably essential to cutting costs and enhancing interoperability of RFID technology worldwide. U.S. officials stand behind this position. Their goal is to see such committees as EPCglobal and the International Organization for Standardization create standards that do not conflict with each other. Experts argue that setting standards will prove evermore important as the RFID industry grows. Caution, however, is extended to policy makers. Some experts claim that decisions based on privacy fears could hurt the technology's development. According to FCW.com:

"Our approach in the department is to favor the development of standards that are market-oriented with industry input," said Dan Caprio, deputy assistant secretary for technology policy and chief privacy officer at the Commerce Department.

Read more: U.S. Officials Favor Global RFID Standard