ProScan Enterprise Mobility, a member of the ProScan Group, announced the ratification in the government gazette on 5 June 2008 of both the European ETSI and a portion of the USA FCC frequencies for the use of RFID identification systems, which heralds a significant move forward in the rapid adoption of this technology in South Africa.
The acceptance of both standards to cater for RFID identification systems means that South African companies can benefit from technologies that have been developed globally.
According to Owen Behr, Product & Development Director at ProScan Enterprise Mobility, South Africa falls under ITU Region 1, on which the European ETSI standard is based.
"We are extremely pleased that both standards are ratified, as the ETSI standard presents certain restrictions, whereas the American FCC standard allows for high performance and maximum utilisation of RFID technology. In fact, this means that South Africans benefit from the best of both worlds in the RFID arena, as enterprise can pick and chose a standard to suit their specific application, budget and environment.
"The defining of SA regulation with respect to the spectrum reallocation to cater for RFID systems removes the uncertainty and hesitancy previously experienced in our market place, where enterprises were postponing their investment in RFID implementation, unsure what technologies would be covered under the new legislation."
ProScan is the sole value added distributor for the Intermec range of RFID products, which is already compliant with both ETSI and FCC standards.
"We are in the process of applying for ICASA approval on the Intermec RFID product range for both the ETSI and FCC frequencies, but this is a mere formality," says Behr.
"The RFID range includes the Intermec IP30 portable reader, the PM4i labelling printer and RFID tag encoder and the IF61 fixed position portal reader."
RFID
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. There are three distinct technologies in use currently, namely active, active backscatter and passive backscatter.
Of these three technologies, the most popular one is passive backscatter and this is also the technology that EPCGlobal has endorsed. There are several methods of identification, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag).
RFID is complementary to the industry's current bar code-based tracking systems, allowing companies to automatically track inventory throughout an entire supply chain. RFID automatic data collection typically does not require line of sight or manual scanning as do most bar code based systems. For example, information from RFID-tagged cases on a pallet can be read automatically using fixed, mobile or handheld readers rather than requiring individual bar code scanning.
With passive backscatter RFID technologies, the RFID tag uses the antenna to collect enough RF energy to power up the chip, which then generates and reflects the identification information to a reader. The reader converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be passed on to computers for further processing.
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