Trolley Scan announced in Johannesburg that it has crossed another major technical hurdle in the development of small, efficent, low cost UHF transponders - key elements in radio frequency identification technology. This technology allows computer systems to identify at speed the labelled goods in the presence of a reader; to be used for example, in the supermarket for scanning the contents of a supermarket trolley without the need for unloading.
Says Mike Marsh, MD of Trolley Scan: "The holy grail of RFID is to produce simple, small, efficient transponders that are easy to mass produce and offer good operating range. The technology for low power operation of transponders is one of the most important developments in passive UHF RFID. In the same way that recent developments allow smaller cellphones with longer operating life: the efficient use of RF power by transponders allow low power passive transponders to operate over long range despite low energising fields."
"Trolley Scan have produced for commercial consumption their latest transponder which is smaller than the common credit card in size, needs just 250 microwatts of radio energy to operate, and where its antennas can be produced using simple manufacturing processes such as printing directly onto the packaging with a printing machine using conductive ink."
The company's Ecotag development achieves some major breakthroughs. A typical efficient UHF antenna will be 160 mm long. However, the market needs shorter antennas that are closer to the sizing of goods being labelled. Shortening a 160 mm antenna to 80 mm results in only 3% of the efficiency being left. Marsh says that the impact of shortening antennas is of great concern to the UHF RFID producers as the challenge is to increase efficiency in order to get greater coverage and range. Trolley Scan has developed an 80 by 33 mm flat antenna that recovers this lost efficiency as well as increasing the performance of the chip, allowing a transponder that now needs only 250 µW of RF energy to operate, making it one of the most energy efficient transponders available.
Despite its excellent performance, Marsh says the credit card-sized version is produced in a single plane and is ideal for production using conductive inks applied with a printing press. The new Ecotag credit card sized version now can operate at ranges as far as 9 m.
Trolley Scan has commenced commercial production of this device and it is available immediately to users worldwide
For more information contact Mike Marsh, Trolley Scan, 011 648 2087, info@trolleyscan.com
Altron celebrates 60th birthday with a call to rebuild Johannesburg Altron Arrow
News
Altron is celebrating its 60th birthday by honouring Johannesburg’s heritage and encouraging business, government and civil society to come together and respond to our President’s call to rebuild Johannesburg.
Read more...DoorBell with built-in AI Ajax Systems
Access Control & Identity Management Products & Solutions Smart Home Automation
Ajax Systems has announced the release of Ajax DoorBell, which features built-in AI, an IR sensor, and app control, seamlessly integrating into the Ajax ecosystem to ensure efficiency and security confidence.
Read more...Kaspersky KATA 7.0 for targeted attack protection
Information Security Products & Solutions
] Kaspersky has announced a major update to its Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack (KATA) including enhanced network detection and response (NDR) capabilities with deeper network visibility, internal threats detection and other critical security features.
Read more...Benchmark in long-range surveillance Duxbury Networking
Surveillance Products & Solutions
Duxbury Networking says the long-range, high-resolution monitoring AXIS Q1809-LE bullet camera has been enhanced further with integration into Milestone XProtect to set a new standard for forensic-level image clarity, intelligent event detection, and enhanced security management.
Read more...Electronic News Digest
News
A brief synopsis of current global news relating to the electronic engineering fields with regards to company finances, general company news, and engineering technologies.
Read more...Jemstech to produce PCB assemblies for Kamstrup Jemstech
News
Jemstech is pleased to announce that they have successfully concluded a supplier agreement with Kamstrup A/S in Denmark, a leading supplier of intelligent metering solutions in the global market.
Read more...New appointments at Hiconnex Hiconnex
News
Hiconnex, a leading provider of electronic components and solutions, has announced key appointments to support its continued growth and commitments to its clients.
Read more...FoundriesFactory service more affordable for smaller OEMs
News
Foundries.io has announced a new, tiered pricing scheme which reduces the cost of its highly regarded FoundriesFactory service for OEMs in the development phase of a new edge AI or Linux OS-based product.
Read more...Bosch sells product business to Triton Bosch Building Technologies
News & Events Products & Solutions Facilities & Building Management
Bosch is selling its Building Technologies division’s product business for security and communications technology to the European investment firm Triton. The division is set to focus on systems integration business in the future.
Read more...DMASS 2024 results
News
The semiconductor business faced a severe downturn, with a 31,9% decrease compared to 2023 and a 30,3% drop in Q4 2024 compared to the same period last year.
printer friendly version