Next-Tech News

The Argentine pharmaceutical distributor can track the buying and selling price of its medicines, as well as expiration dates, ensuring the drugs are properly billed, and that no expired products are shipped to customers.

The Nottinghamshire Police Department has deployed RFID-enabled cabinets to track the condition and usage of Tasers, as well as ensure that only authorized officers can access them.

Patrick G Soukiassian and M S Ramachandra Rao, Guest Editors of a special issue of J. Phys D: Applied Physics, put the spotlight on carbon-related nanomaterials

Physicists explain scanning-tunnelling microscope mystery

Physicists explain scanning-tunnelling microscope mystery

NXP selected to secure new German national identity card; Precyse Technologies closes $11 million in private funding; SPC joins Dash7 Alliance; Infinite Power Systems receives $20 million in venture capital funding; SimplexGrinnell, GuardRFID team up on distribution for RTLS, security solutions; Legic, Shanghai United Sea Trading partner on RFID locking systems; Raftar offers free RFID trial for medical device companies.

A real-time locating system has provided the U.S. General Services Administration with visibility into the location of each tagged carton, envelope or pallet.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This year, roughly 37 million higher-frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and asset management tags are expected to ship. But in 2014, such shipments will total almost 150 million, according to a new study released by ABI Research. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2010-2014 is more than 40%.

“The basic function of asset tracking is to answer the question, ‘Where has my stuff been?’” says practice director Michael Liard. “Asset management, based on Real-Time Location (RTLS) technologies, refines that question to ‘Where’s my stuff right now?’ Some new systems even add sensors, allowing the additional question, ‘How are my assets?’ Most industries need answers to these questions, but aerospace and defense, automotive manufacturing, commercial services, and non-CPG/industrial manufacturing are showing the fastest and strongest growth in the use of RFID systems.”

During the recent global recession, businesses have continued to realize that optimizing their Return on Assets (ROA) and eliminating unnecessary asset investment is critical. As a result, the adoption of RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and management solutions continues to grow at an impressive rate across verticals and regions.

A recent ABI Research survey of 80 RFID end-user organizations (excluding those with no interest in RFID, and those using it for item-level retail tracking or people tracking in healthcare) surprisingly revealed that 65% of respondents were piloting, deploying, or had already deployed an RFID-based asset tracking and/or management system. This was a higher percentage than those using RFID in its traditional areas of strength, access control and supply chain management.

Perhaps that should not be surprising after all, considering such systems’ stellar ROI performance, with many break-even points measured in months, not years. “Most people assume the savings will be in ‘soft money’: the ability to reduce employees’ time spent on this kind of work,” notes Liard. “But deployments that have been carried through to completion are delivering surprising returns in ‘hard’ money: lower CAPEX and less inventory ‘shrinkage’.”

In its “RFID and RTLS-enabled Asset Tracking and Management" study ABI Research provides detailed analysis and assessment of specific applications for asset tracking and asset management, focusing on passive UHF, active RFID, and RTLS-enabled solutions.

Results endorse use of FEM for modelling sophisticated geometries, such as nanoparticle arrays or nanoparticle aggregates

Close to conventional growth process could push LEDs closer to efficiency limits

Irradiating inter-electrode interface with UV beam during manufacture improves current flow in dye-sensitized solar cells

Visitors are issued plastic cards embedded with a passive 13.56 MHz RFID tag, used to activate more than 75 exhibits, and to enable a more personalized experience.

Affordable device could act as an electronic 'nose'

Affordable device could act as an electronic 'nose'

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) -- When you are setting the hotel industry standards for luxury and prestige, you cannot have guests complaining that their mag-stripe keycards have been demagnetized by their cell phones. For hotels with thousands of rooms, door lock reliability is particularly important.

That is why CityCenter in Las Vegas took action to make ARIA at CityCenter one of the first Las Vegas resorts to install an RFID guest room locking system with benefits that go far beyond eliminating keycard complaints. The hotels in the luxury complex are achieving levels of elegance and technological sophistication in guest service with an electronic locks system from KABA that will mark them as innovators well into the 21st Century.

Online locking delivers limitless guest service opportunities
“We singled out RFID technology for our new hotels because it eliminates the demagnetization problem we experienced at other properties,” said John Lowes, executive director of guest technology for MGM Resorts International. “We also recognized RFID’s virtually limitless potential to integrate with ‘smart room’ technologies. We implemented KABA Saflok Messenger lock system because KABA was able to put our hotel door locks system on a network that enables us to continually interact with rooms enhancing our guests’ experience.

The new RFID system at CityCenter’s ARIA Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel and Spa and Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas is part of the most advanced guestroom technology project in the world. All of the nearly 6,000 guest rooms and suites at CityCenter incorporate hotel door locks using RFID technology, which enables guests to unlock the door by flashing their key over a lock reader. Unlike mag-stripe keys, an RFID key cannot be demagnetized by cell phones or other articles in a guest’s pocket or purse and there is no need to move the key in and out of a slot.

When a guest unlocks his or her room at a CityCenter location, the Saflok RFID system communicates with a wireless network of technologies within the room. CityCenter collaborated with Control4 Corporation to develop an unsurpassed level of personalized guest automation. When a guest first opens their door Saflok sends a message via a Zigbee mesh wireless network to the Control4 in-room controller, which activates a ‘welcome theme’ if it is the guest’s first time in the room. Lights come up; curtains automatically part to showcase the spectacular mountain and city views, and the TV displays controls for guests to personalize.

According to Lowes, CityCenter’s implementation of Zigbee wireless technology is unique in the hotel industry. “KABA’s willingness to work with Control4 to integrate with CityCenter’s wireless Zigbee in-room network was integral to the decision to install Saflok. KABA was able to integrate to our single in-room Zigbee infrastructure which created hardware and management efficiencies. The alternative would typically have been for each vendor to install their own infrastructure.”

Guest room network aims to enhance CityCenter’s ‘green’ quotient
CityCenter is one of the largest sustainable developments in the world, with six Gold LEED certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council, and door locking technology plays a part.

Lowes cited other advantages CityCenter realized from its RFID system and in-room network.

• RFID locks are sealed with fewer moving parts which reduces maintenance.
• The battery status of all door locks and in-room devices is automatically monitored for efficient maintenance and virtually zero downtime when room systems are managed on a wireless network.
• Since CityCenter’s guest rooms and RFID door locks communicate over the property’s online network, guests can change rooms without requiring a new key. The front desk can remotely program any door to accept a guest’s existing key. This makes it possible for CityCenter’s properties to pre-key groups and even issue keys to early arrivals which may be activated when their room is ready.

A white paper from SUSS MicroTek

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silvertap, a Free Flow Wines brand and industry leader in wines on tap, is taking a leap forward in their production and inventory management technology. Silvertap is working with Mobile BIS to develop RFID technology-based mobile software that tracks and validates every step of the wine keg’s product lifecycle. From the warehouse to bars and restaurants around the world and back, every keg of wine in Silvertap’s pipeline is tracked.

“One of the largest sources of loss for the beer and wine on tap industries is loss of kegs,” Jordan Kivelstadt, Managing Partner of Free Flow Wines explained. “And with the software solution Mobile BIS has built using RFID technology, we’re able to keep accurate track of where our kegs are in the marketplace.” Kivelstadt also anticipates a dramatic increase in labor efficiency, improved sales projections and analysis for supply and demand, shorter turnaround of kegs, and enhanced customer service.

According to Mobile BIS President Michael Macho, Silvertap is at the forefront of the wine industry. “In an industry that has been historically reliant on less streamlined, manual organization methods, Mobile BIS is developing software solutions for Silvertap that dramatically improve the efficiency of their business,” Macho says. Mobile BIS has a number of other clients in the wine industry, including Boutique Wines Direct and Andrew Lane Wines.

The Silvertap software system is another in a series that is designed to work with the Psion Teklogix Workabout Pro handheld computer, running Windows Mobile. The adaptable Workabout Pro is a staple in warehouses around the world, helping users increase efficiency and improve job performance.

“We worked closely with Mobile BIS to combine its software with our durable Workabout Pro to provide Silvertap with an innovative, custom mobile RFID solution,” said Dave Peddemors, vice president, North American sales at Psion Teklogix. “Customers like Silvertap rely on our rugged handheld computers because they are able to withstand the most demanding conditions of the warehouse floor ranging from drastic temperature changes to daily abuse."

Step right up, my friends, and marvel at the EPC Gen 2 UHF passive RFID inlay hidden within a stainless-steel shell. You'll wonder: How does he do it?