David Savastano, Editor04.02.09
One of the most important challenges that RFID manufacturers have to overcome is developing products that combine performance at the right price point. Passive tags offer lower price points, but the read range is too limited for many applications.
On the other hand, active RFID tags offer excellent performance, but the price is prohibitive for many markets.
The goal of creating an RFID tag that offers excellent performance at a price the market will support has long been a critical goal. With the growth of battery-assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags for the consumer, life sciences and industrial markets, this potentially lucrative field may be within reach.
UPM Raflatac and Blue Spark Technologies believe they have developed a solution with their new collaboration for the emerging BAP RFID market. Utilizing a new EPC Gen2 BAP RFID chip developed by EM Microelectronic and batteries developed by Blue Spark Technologies, UPM Raflatac has been able to create RFID tags with a read range of up to 50 meters (154 feet).
Blue Spark is an industry-leading supplier of thin, flexible-printed battery solutions. Matthew Ream, Blue Spark’s vice president of marketing, said that this new BAP RFID technology fills a major need.
“In taking a look at the market and talking with systems integrators, we found that everyone has a file cabinet full of applications where passive RFID doesn’t work well enough and active RFID was too expensive,” Ream said. “There has been a big hole in the RFID price curve. On the low end, you have passive technologies, where a 4x6 Gen2 label costs 11 cents, with a read range of 10 to 15 feet in practice. On the high end, active and real-time location systems (RTLS) have up to a 300-foot read range, but cost anywhere from $35 to $100 a piece. There is a big hole in the middle in terms of price and read range.”
The leader in the HF and UHF RFID tag and inlay business, UPM Raflatac has long been interested in the possibilities of BAP technology, particularly for asset tracking and some industrial applications.
“We have been in the RFID market for 10 years, and have had our eye open for battery-activated technologies,” said Samuli Strömberg, vice president, marketing, UPM Raflatac, RFID. “Passive RFID has been somewhat limited with read range performance and read robustness e.g. on a case level tagging of non-RF- transparent materials. For some applications, you just need the extra range; additional read range performance is ideal for some supply chain applications and, for example, for some more demanding industrial applications. For example, in some applications one can use theadditional boost to influence the reader side, or for example, you might be able to use handheld readers for some applications where it previously would not have been feasible.”
Strömberg said that the availability of high-quality components combined with market awareness now make BAP systems possible.
“Now there are high quality batteries that are disposable and cost efficient, and integrated circuits are now available that can fully utilize features of the batteries,” he said. “With the batteries in place, we can add other features like sensors. There’s been some BAP RFID products introduced to the marketplace, and as a result it is easier to talk about products.”
“It was a matter of opportunity and focus,” Ream said. “UHF technology has been driving RFID. What Wal-Mart’s initiative accomplished was to spur a lot of innovation and product development in the UHF space. It also led to standardization with EPC Gen.2. Now the reader and tag technologies are readily available.”
Ream said that asset management will be one of the largest applications. “If you can account for 95 percent of your inventory, but are missing the last 5 percent, that is a major problem,” he said. “If you don’t have 100 percent visibility, it doesn’t make sense to deploy the system. We also see vehicle identification as another opportunity.”
The collaboration between UPM Raflatac, Blue Spark and EM Microelectronic proved to ideal for the development of the BAP RFID system.
“Entry into a new market requires the best possible partners to meet industry requirements and expectations,” said Strömberg. “Blue Spark and EM are very reputable companies.”
“The enabler for us was working with EM Microelectronic,” Ream said. “They are a phenomenal company with expertise in low power integrated circuits. We initially started discussions with EM Micro on early stage development of a BAP RFID chip, which would be very well suited to our battery technology. We started identifying companies that could further our technology and help us bring it to market. We struck up a conversation with UPM, who is very well known for the quality of their products, and developed prototypes. We are in development now, and hope to have a product to show in the next couple of months.”
Strömberg and Ream said they believe there is strong market potential for the BAP RFID system.
“This is sort of a door opener for us,” Strömberg said. “There has been a gap between read range, robustness, performance and price point, and this platform is now a gateway to these projects.”
“The market potential is tremendous. By combining low power integrated circuits, eco-friendly thin film battery technology and one of the leading RFID tag designers and producers, this becomes a great opportunity,” Ream said.
“The goal was to get the best in terms of pricing and read range,” Ream added. “With our work, we can attain a free space performance of 150 feet at a cost of $2 to $3. Now we’re getting into that sweet spot. There’s a pent-up demand for this type of product. This could really be a game-changer in the RFID industry.”
On the other hand, active RFID tags offer excellent performance, but the price is prohibitive for many markets.
UPM Raflatac and Blue Spark Technologies believe they have developed a solution with their new collaboration for the emerging BAP RFID market. Utilizing a new EPC Gen2 BAP RFID chip developed by EM Microelectronic and batteries developed by Blue Spark Technologies, UPM Raflatac has been able to create RFID tags with a read range of up to 50 meters (154 feet).
Blue Spark is an industry-leading supplier of thin, flexible-printed battery solutions. Matthew Ream, Blue Spark’s vice president of marketing, said that this new BAP RFID technology fills a major need.
“In taking a look at the market and talking with systems integrators, we found that everyone has a file cabinet full of applications where passive RFID doesn’t work well enough and active RFID was too expensive,” Ream said. “There has been a big hole in the RFID price curve. On the low end, you have passive technologies, where a 4x6 Gen2 label costs 11 cents, with a read range of 10 to 15 feet in practice. On the high end, active and real-time location systems (RTLS) have up to a 300-foot read range, but cost anywhere from $35 to $100 a piece. There is a big hole in the middle in terms of price and read range.”
The leader in the HF and UHF RFID tag and inlay business, UPM Raflatac has long been interested in the possibilities of BAP technology, particularly for asset tracking and some industrial applications.
“We have been in the RFID market for 10 years, and have had our eye open for battery-activated technologies,” said Samuli Strömberg, vice president, marketing, UPM Raflatac, RFID. “Passive RFID has been somewhat limited with read range performance and read robustness e.g. on a case level tagging of non-RF- transparent materials. For some applications, you just need the extra range; additional read range performance is ideal for some supply chain applications and, for example, for some more demanding industrial applications. For example, in some applications one can use theadditional boost to influence the reader side, or for example, you might be able to use handheld readers for some applications where it previously would not have been feasible.”
Strömberg said that the availability of high-quality components combined with market awareness now make BAP systems possible.
“Now there are high quality batteries that are disposable and cost efficient, and integrated circuits are now available that can fully utilize features of the batteries,” he said. “With the batteries in place, we can add other features like sensors. There’s been some BAP RFID products introduced to the marketplace, and as a result it is easier to talk about products.”
“It was a matter of opportunity and focus,” Ream said. “UHF technology has been driving RFID. What Wal-Mart’s initiative accomplished was to spur a lot of innovation and product development in the UHF space. It also led to standardization with EPC Gen.2. Now the reader and tag technologies are readily available.”
Ream said that asset management will be one of the largest applications. “If you can account for 95 percent of your inventory, but are missing the last 5 percent, that is a major problem,” he said. “If you don’t have 100 percent visibility, it doesn’t make sense to deploy the system. We also see vehicle identification as another opportunity.”
“Entry into a new market requires the best possible partners to meet industry requirements and expectations,” said Strömberg. “Blue Spark and EM are very reputable companies.”
“The enabler for us was working with EM Microelectronic,” Ream said. “They are a phenomenal company with expertise in low power integrated circuits. We initially started discussions with EM Micro on early stage development of a BAP RFID chip, which would be very well suited to our battery technology. We started identifying companies that could further our technology and help us bring it to market. We struck up a conversation with UPM, who is very well known for the quality of their products, and developed prototypes. We are in development now, and hope to have a product to show in the next couple of months.”
Strömberg and Ream said they believe there is strong market potential for the BAP RFID system.
“This is sort of a door opener for us,” Strömberg said. “There has been a gap between read range, robustness, performance and price point, and this platform is now a gateway to these projects.”
“The market potential is tremendous. By combining low power integrated circuits, eco-friendly thin film battery technology and one of the leading RFID tag designers and producers, this becomes a great opportunity,” Ream said.
“The goal was to get the best in terms of pricing and read range,” Ream added. “With our work, we can attain a free space performance of 150 feet at a cost of $2 to $3. Now we’re getting into that sweet spot. There’s a pent-up demand for this type of product. This could really be a game-changer in the RFID industry.”