Savi rolls a lucky seven in the global RFID marketplace, standardizing on air interface protocol
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 3/1/2007 7:00:00 AM
Every country has its own tech standards, a situation that inhibits global adoption by requiring RFID solution vendors to seek regulatory approval on a country-by-country basis from governmental agencies.
But global adoption of active RFID based on the ISO 18000-7 standard took a big step forward last December when Savi Technology licensed rights to an initial group of seven vendors to use Savi's patented technology in development of products under their own labels.
Active RFID implies the RFID tag as its own transmission power, supplied by a built-in battery. This gives it wider read range over passive RFID, where the tag is dependent on being powered passively from the reader.
ISO 18000-7 specifies the air interface protocol between the active RFID tag and reader, and is based on patented intellectual property developed by Savi.
"It's an indication that the ISO 18000-7 standard for active RFID also is becoming the de facto standard," says Michael Liard, a director with Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based ABI Research. "Active RFID is a burgeoning opportunity in the market, and Savi's licensing of the technology shows appreciation for the fact that they themselves can't build every device out there."
Savi says it's a two-phase licensing program, with the first seven licenses granted in the initial Quick Start phase of the program that concluded December 31, 2006. Additional licenses are available, but at increased cost.
"We invested in the intellectual property and want to protect it, but we also want to broaden the marketplace," says Bob Kramer, CEO of Savi Technologies. "There is room in the market for both [active and passive] technologies, depending on the problem you're trying to solve. Getting the initial companies to sign licensing agreements is affirmation that active technology is set to take off."
According to says Erik Wood, VP of government and avionics for Hi-G-Tek—which will use Savi intellectual property in development of its own products, primarily targeting transportation—"We see the ISO 18000-7 standard as a globally accepted platform for accelerating the adoption of our sensor technologies. It will enable us to penetrate markets much faster than if we had tried to do it one-on-one."
ODIN secures RFID patent
ODIN Technologies announces a patent for technology that powers its EasyReader RFID software with embedded intelligence for automatically optimizing antenna placement. ODIN says the built-in feedback mechanism, described as "RFID physics in a box," speeds deployment and boosts performance. It also was central to the company's ability to outfit 71 Department of Defense distribution facilities with fully operational RFID implementations in fewer than 131 days last summer.
"You don't need a degree in physics anymore, for we've taken that knowledge and embedded it in the software," says Patrick Sweeney, president and CEO. "The automatic feedback mechanism determines the right location for antennas based on radio-frequency properties, optimizing deployment, and making it easier to implement RFID."
NCR offers turnkey RFID
NCR's RFID Retail Compliance package is a low-cost RFID solution tailored for smaller manufacturers seeking to meet retail RFID mandates. The solution, based on NCR's TransitionWorks development platform, is comprised of application software with installation wizards for overall solution configuration; RFID printer; bar-code scanner; and a starter supply of EPCglobal Gen2-compliant labels.
NCR assembled the solution in partnership with Symbol Technologies, TAGSYS, and WaveTrend Technologies.
"We've tried to make it economical and painless for everyone, especially small manufacturers and distributors," says Terry Massey, director of sales & marketing for NCR automated identification and collection (AIDC) solutions. "Companies can license the software and appropriate hardware in a bundle and be up and running and in compliance with mandates in a matter of hours."
The concept behind the package design was to make it work with the ease of an appliance, says Massey, adding that the extensible solution moves beyond mandates to serve multiple internal process needs. "TransitionWorks is a development platform especially designed for AIDC solutions," he says. "It takes into consideration multiple data carriages, including bar code and biometrics."
Report issues top three IT concernsabout RFID investments
Technology integration across the supply chain now takes precedence over tag and infrastructure costs, says a recent report out of Boston-based Aberdeen Group, called Total Supply Chain Visibility with RFID.
"The top three concerns changed dramatically between April 2006 and November 2006," says Russ Klein, senior research director. "Concern over integration costs rose from 45 percent to 69 percent. This is specific to the supply chain, where integration is a big differentiator. Without it, you have point solutions, but no end-to-end visibility."
Those bearing the brunt of the integration burden are the transit carriers. "The distribution companies spend more on RFID, and it takes them much longer to recover their investments," says Klein.
DHL unveils unique sensor tag
Global shipper DHL is pioneering an RFID sensor tag that DHL claims will improve monitoring of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals shipments. The long-tag, as DHL terms it, enables placement of the sensor especially close to the product, sending temperature readouts to the Gen2 UHF RFID tag over a serial connection up to 30 inches in length. The tag permits continuous precision product monitoring and data readout at any time or point during transit without having to open a container.
"With this new technology it's possible to do quality temperature checks at different points in transit rather than just at the end, which affords greater control over the process," says Dr. Keith Ulrich, head of technology and innovation management for the Bonn, Germany-based company.
IBM partnered with DHL for long-tag development. The technology will be generally available to DHL customers by mid-2007.
IBM addresses multi-enterprise data sharing
IBM says its WebSphere RFID Information Center enables efficient, reliable, and safe sharing of RFID data among trading partners and government custom authorities. The data repository, based on the EPC Information Service (EPCIS) standard, facilitates management of the anticipated accelerated growth in data volume incumbent on making RFID widely strategic.
"IBM's focus is to provide users with an on-ramp to this new network where you can communicate events to partners," says Chris Clauss, director of sensor information management for IBM's Software Group. "The question is how to share information whereby you know who you're sharing it with, and can limit access to what you want them to see."
Initial focus is on supporting pharmaceutical chain of custody to curtail trade in counterfeit drugs.
Process improvement a bigger driverthan mandates
A major surprise in a survey of 275 manufacturing companies conducted by Cambridge, Mass.-based ChainLink Research is the fact that more companies are driven to implement RFID to obtain process improvements than to comply with mandates. Additionally, very small companies—those that might not even have an ERP system—plan to implement the technology on par with the plans of midsize companies.
"I expected the majority to be driven by mandates, but we found that to be the case for only about a third of the respondents," says Bill McBeath, chief research officer, ChainLink. "More than 40 percent are seeking process improvements, with about 25 percent seeking both."
Areas targeted for process improvement on the shop floor include enforcing proper sequencing, process routing, manufacturing or recipe instructions, tool tracking, and batch and lot tracking.
Single wireless infrastructureto power multiple Nissan SCM apps
Complaints of slow or delayed ROI are cited as major barriers to more widespread RFID adoption, with multiple-scope deployments identified as a prime strategy for achieving a quicker return.
Nissan North America is right on the mark with its deployment of multiple WhereNet Corp. active RFID applications at its Canon, Miss.-based assembly plant to reduce cost of ownership by managing the implementation as a single project. The automaker will use the WhereSoft Yard Management system and the Vehicle Tracking and Management System to boost production velocity, throughput, labor productivity, and vehicle quality.
"Nissan is doing it smart. It's the first company to deploy both products simultaneously, leveraging the common infrastructure so they don't have to do it twice," says Gary Latham, WhereNet's director of industry solutions for automotive. The scope of the implementation also attests to Nissan's project management prowess, he adds.
