The RFID Reader

Canadian Tagged With RFID Technology

Apparently, there is a 29 year old male entrepeneur Amal Graafstra living in Canada who has had RFID tags implanted into his hand.

With the use of these tags, Graafstra is able to open his front door using one chip. Using another chip, he can even log onto his computer.

Graafstra feels that RFID technology is perfect for him, because he “does not want to be without access to things that he needs to get into”. He feels having a chip implanted into his skin will still allow him to enter his house even after his keys and clothes have been stolen.

The chips are quite affordable costing only $2 and interact with computers and other electronic devices. The reader for these chips usually run about $50 which is inexpensive for this type of technology.

This is just one of many uses for humans being tagged with RFID, other uses can be seen especially in the banking and healthcare industries.

RFID Tagged Luggage?

RFID is becoming very popular in such a way that a few of the European airlines are considering using this technology to tag luggage.

In an articles appearing on cheapflights.co.uk, there is new legislation that will increase the amount people will be compensated for if the airline loses their luggage. The cost is now £814 (1,440 USD ) which is expected to result in £678 billion (1Tlrn USD) a year for the average amount of claims that are submitted.

Since the airlines will be paying almost triple than what they have paid before, this will be a big incentive for many of them to start using RFID tags to keep track of the bags they handle.

Walmart's Chinese Suppliers Reluctant To Use RFID

Even though Walmart has successfully been able to persuade many of its suppliers that using RFID technology is beneficial in the long run, the US retailer will have a hard time persuading its Chinese suppliers that RFID technology is better for them as well. Not only will this be beneficial to Walmart’s Chinese suppliers, but to Walmart as well who receives approximately 50-70% of their dry goods from China.

RFID tags are wireless frequency tags that allow companies to tag and track their products. However, according to a recent survey completed by Fusion Consulting, many companies in the southern part of China are not aware or did not understand the benefits of RFID technology in the retail market.

According to Stephen Wong of EPCglobal Hong Kong, one of the main reasons why companies in South East Asia are slow to embrace RFID is due to the availability of cheap labor in China. However in western society, RFID technology has reduced labor costs leading to increased profits.

NCR To Use RFID Technology

The NCR Corporation has announced today that it will use RFID technology to tag and tracks the products that the products it produces such as printers, software, and RFIT tags.

Vice President John Greaves sees this as a step in the right direction, "NCR is deploying RFID throughout its own supply chain to help realize the operational efficiencies our RFID solutions are delivering to our clients across multiple industries. We fully expect to realize measurable supply chain benefits in the short term for our own organization as a result of this process deployment."

Based in Dayton, Ohio the company is made up of 28,500 people. NCR expects to complete its RFID tagging by the end of 2006.

AT&T To Undergo RFID Trial

In an article appearing on CRMbuyer.com, similar to Walmart adopting RFID technology, telecommunications giant AT&T plans to begin a 3 month trial on using RFID in the new year.

The article stated:

“AT&T is planning a wide-sweeping RFID trial in the beginning of next year, the first such service initiated by a U.S. telecom operator. The 90-day trial will involve a half-dozen customers, ranging from the retail and financial sectors to manufacturing, and possibly even a government office, said Eric Shepcaro, AT&T vice president of business strategy and development.”
During this trial AT&T will conduct a certification program to vendors it plans to partner with. The full text of the article is available on the crmbuyer website.

TNT Express Expanding To China

The RFID technology company TNT Express is expected to continue its expansion into China with its software that will help a laptop manufacturing plant tag and keep track of tis inventory.

"There is the potential for reduced shrinkage, reduced error rates and reduced labor costs [by using RFID to replace existing bar code scans" stated the project leader Sybren Tuinstra "It's not a question of if we deploy RFID but how much we deploy, how fast we deploy it and how much capital we invest."

In the beginning, TNT helped tagged and keep track of approximately 2000 laptops. The company is now expected to use “M” tags with better antennas, to increase the efficiency of keeping track of tags. This will increase the reading rates from 87% to 100%.

TNT Express Expanding To China

The RFID technology company TNT Express is expected to continue its expansion into China with its software that will help a laptop manufacturing plant tag and keep track of tis inventory.

"There is the potential for reduced shrinkage, reduced error rates and reduced labor costs [by using RFID to replace existing bar code scans" stated the project leader Sybren Tuinstra "It's not a question of if we deploy RFID but how much we deploy, how fast we deploy it and how much capital we invest."

In the beginning, TNT helped tagged and keep track of approximately 2000 laptops. The company is now expected to use “M” tags with better antennas, to increase the efficiency of keeping track of tags. This will increase the reading rates from 87% to 100%.

RFID Used To Tag Children In Japan

An interesting article appearing on the rfidjournal.com website stated how the authorities in Yokohama City, Japan will tag school children in an effort to study of RFID technology can monitor their safety to and from school.

The software that is being used to monitor this is AeroScout I-Safety, which involves having the child wear a bracelet with a 2.4 GHz RFID tag. According to Josh Slobin, marketing director, “The tags do not carry any information about the child. There is no data being transmitted that is potentially insecure.” Slobin later went on to say, "The information about the child resides on the software side of the system. There is no data being transmitted that is potentially insecure. That means no one could access the child's name or other personal information simply by using an RFID interrogator to capture the tag's data.”

The only thing that the bracelets will be able to tell is the correct address of the child. It will also give the child the ability to press a button and notify their parents if they need help.

Is RFID the Next Big Thing?

Tom Yager wrote a scathing piece calling RFID technology overrated. Essentially he believes anything that is a passive technology is useless because it can't learn. He also believes that other active technology devices can have more features than their RFID counterparts:

A passive RFID tag is incapable of learning, logging, or sensing the world around it, or doing anything on its own. If the tag is separated from the reader, or the reader is separated from the back end, the system is going to miss something. Active RFID, which can incorporate sensor-like capabilities, requires a battery or other source of power. When you cross that line, you’re not in RFID-land anymore. You’re just sending and receiving wireless data, the cost rises and smarter solutions are within reach.

Just because something can have more features does not mean more features is better. Tom couldn't be more wrong in comparing RFID to sensors, as Anita Campbell writes:

It does not matter whether RFID has the capability to pick up and sense environmental detail, like a sensor. That has nothing to do with the nature of its power to increase business productivity. RFID is about "identifying" not about "sensing."