RFID Deployment Problems

When working in environment with metal and liquid, what’s needed is not a high-power reader, but a low-power tag. A low-power tag requires less energy to wake up when interrogated by a reader.

For the dense reader problem, Generation 2 has modes where it anticipates dense reader deployments.

There is no interoperability testing going on for RFID. So, a dozen manufacturers can claim compliance with whatever the current standard is -- be it Class 0, Class 0+, Class 1 or Class 2 (Generation 2) -- but tags and readers from different manufacturers may not work together.

The world is heading to the Generation 2 standard, with products expected as early as the second quarter of 2005. Upgradable product path usually costly and not practical.

Homeland Security to Test RFID

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this week that it will begin testing RFID technology at three U.S. border-crossing points by July 31, after the technology is tested at a simulated port this spring.

Biometric signature of face and fingerprint are collected during visa application. RFID stores a read only unique ID for matching.

Tag Revenue Expected To Soar

RFID tag revenues are expected to jump to $2.8 billion in 2009 from $295 million in 2004, according to market researcher In-Stat. Major consumers are security, pharmacy, food and health. Wal-Mart alone consumes 10% of the quantity in North America.

Wal-Mart Suppliers Spend Minimum on Mandate Compliance

Wal-Mart's top 100 suppliers have collectively invested only about $250 million on radio frequency equipment to meet the retail giant's January 2005 mandate deadline. A study by AMR Research found that the top 100 suppliers 'do not view RFID as a strategic investment and have patched systems together just enough to meet Wal-Mart's compliance deadline.'

Wal-Mart suppliers individually have spent $1 million to $3 million on RFID-just enough to buy tags, readers, and basic software. To see significant benefit, though, they must integrate RFID into 'their applications, change existing software, and enable large volumes of data to be stored.' AMR estimates that such a shift would cost each supplier $13 million to $23 million.

RFID Wal-Mart

December 27, 2004
Wal-Mart RFID Rollout Delayed

According to the New York Times:

Wal-Mart's goal was to wring billions of dollars from the supply chain by using the tags to keep shelves filled with whatever consumers were buying, cut back on shipments of other goods and combat theft.

The mandate was soon defined in narrower, more practical terms as supplying tagged cartons and pallets, not individual items, to a limited number of stores through just three Texas distribution centers by the Jan. 1 deadline.

Wal-Mart said recently that more than 100 suppliers would be tagging bulk shipments to the three Texas centers next month. But only 40 will be tagging everything they send."

Proposed Frequency Allocation in HK for RFID

OFTA: Adoption of Performance Specification for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Equipment Operating in 865 - 868 MHz and/or 920 - 925 MHz Bands [Dec 2004]
OFTA Paper on RFID

Understanding the Key Issues in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

An introductory whitepaper on RFID from Symbol
Understanding the Key Issues in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)