TROLLEYSCAN SMASH ANOTHER UHF RFID TECHNOLOGY BARRIER
- PASSIVE TRANSPONDER SYSTEM CAN BE READ AT 11 METERS
RANGE EVEN WHEN ATTACHED TO METAL
JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA 22 FEBRUARY 2004
Trolley Scan announced in Johannesburg that
they have crossed another major technical
hurdle in the development of long range, efficent,
low cost, passive RFID systems.
Trolley Scan have developed and put into production the most sensitive passive single chip UHF RFID system ever developed. With this system, it is possible to read the credit card sized Ecochiptag(TM) tag at an amazing 11 meter range when the transponders are attached to metal objects.
Said Mike Marsh, MD of Trolley Scan-"The holy grail of RFID is to produce simple, small, efficient transponders that are easy to mass produce and offer good operating range. The most frequent asked question is how well RFID systems work in the presence of metal - Well the current answer now is 11 meters!"
The major advancement achieved in the past month have been the development of a new generation of super sensitive reader to match the requirements of the extremely low power Ecochiptag transponders that are now available.
Mike Marsh said "Trolley Scan have had to develop a new generation of reader that differs significantly from the
standard backscatter receiver used for passive RFID in
the past. With Ecochiptag RF power requirements dropping
to less than 200uW, the reflected backscatter signal from
the transponder was becoming so weak that it was not
detectable 10 meters away in the presence of the energising
signal at the same frequency using conventional backscatter
receivers. Our new receiver will serve future generations
of Ecochiptags for sensitivities between 200uW and 50uW
which are under development.
The new receiver is able to detect transponders from as
close as 2 centimeters out to 11 meters with no adjustment.
This dynamic range and sensitivity allow us now to develop
portable readers that will need simpler antenna systems
suitable for mobile use."
Trolley Scan provide RFID systems to users in 27 countries. Complete systems can be ordered via their website.
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About new generation Reader design
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Passive RFID works by the reader sending out a low power
beam of energy which dissipates with distance travelled;
part of which is collected by the transponder and
converted to power to operate the transponder; the transponder
using some of this energy to send back its identity data
on the same frequency as the energising signal.
The reader has to be able to detect the data from the transponder while in the presence of the energising signal which is powering up the transponder. The two signals differ is strength by up to 1 billion times (90dB).
In the past, the transponders needed higher powers to
operate and would send back stronger signals that could
be detected with a receiver comprising a quadrature mixer,
amplifiers, vector adder and threshold detector.
As the operating power of the transponder has decreased
with technology developments, longer operating ranges
are achievable and less power is available for the
transponder to use for sending back its identity data.
This leads to much weaker signals being received at the
reader.
About EcoTag technology
-----------------------
The Ecotag development achieves some major breakthroughs. The credit card sized version is a technology breakthrough allowing both very efficient transponder operation while allowing small transponder antenna sizes.
A typical efficient UHF antenna will be 160mm long. However
the market wants shorter antennas that are closer to the
sizing of goods being labelled. Shortening a 160 millimeter
antenna to 80 millimeters results in only 3% of the efficiency
being left. The impact of shortening antennas is of great
concern to the UHF RFID producers as the challenge
is to increase efficiency in order to get greater coverage and range. Trolley Scan have developed an 80mm by 33mm flat antenna that recovers
this lost efficiency as well as increasing the performance of the
chip, allowing a transponder that now needs only 200 uWatts
of RF energy to operate, making it one of the most energy efficient transponders available in the world.
Despite its excellent performance, the credit card sized version is produced in a single plane and is ideal for production using conductive inks applied with a printing press. This is an important development as eventually for volume application of RFID, the antennae are going to be made directly on the packaging.
The new Ecotag credit sized version now can operate at ranges as far as 11 meters, even when attached to metal.
EcoTag technology is protected by a series of patents granted in the
US, Europe and other countries.
About Trolley Scan (Pty) Ltd
-----------------------------
Trolley Scan have proven to be a major creative
force in the development of UHF RFID
technologies. These developments have been
protected by patents which have been offered to
the global manufacturing industry to impliment.
Founded in 1995, the staff of Trolley Scan have
a pedigree that goes back to 1990 when the first
low cost RFID protocol was developed by the
founder while working for a South African
government research organisation, culminating in
1994 in the demonstration of a supermarket
trolley containing 38 items being scanned
automatically in a supermarket in Pretoria. In
1998, the founders of Trolley Scan developed an
entirely new set of protocols for UHF RFID which
they have been actively promoting. They also
have addressed the situation of the 3
dimensional scanning of goods, and
have developed a very low power RFID version
which they commercialise under the EcoTag
trademark.
Trolley Scan are based in Johannesburg South
Africa.
Trolley Scan licence their patents and technology to companies around the world who wish to produce this technology. Trolley Scan have already provided systems using this technology to users in 27 countries.
About UHF RFID
---------------
RFID systems comprise of a transponder that is
attached to the goods to be identified and a
reader that converts the information in those
transponders to a computer compatible format for
processing. The transponder can comprise of a
simple antenna and a small integrated circuit
that can be produced at low cost. Operating in
the 860 to 930 MHz (UHF) band, the transponder
can be identified meters away from the reader,
can be identified in a group with up to 1000
other transponders when being read, and can be
identified very quickly. In view of the system
using radio waves for energy and information
transfer, it is not necessary for the
transponder and reader to be in line of sight.
Potential use of these systems is extensive, from herd animal tracking, library books, pallets, warehousing, bank and postal bags, asset tracking, airline luggage, vehicle monitoring (access and parking), to intelligent buildings (tracking files, documents and assets moving around an office to minimise finding time).
The ultimate goal is to use these transponders with their inbuilt anti-shoplifting features to replace the barcodes labelling goods in a retail store allowing filled supermarket trolleys to be scanned in seconds in unmanned self service checkout aisles.
Trolleyponder and EcoTag are registered
trademarks of Trolley Scan (Pty) Ltd
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