Tags get tougher

Intermec has announced a new RFID tag that will be able to withstand extreme temperatures down to -40 and up to 121 degrees Celsius as well as exposure to hazardous chemicals materials.

The tags are also reusable, can be mounted on metal, plastic and wood surfaces, and are compliant with the latest EPCglobal and ISO standards.

Industry Week says the fact that the tags are reusable and can survive a variety of climates and tough industrial environments means companies will be able to use a single tag to track a whole range of new components and finished goods through production and the supply chain.

Savi Technology has announced the release of two sensor tags that reduce damage to goods vulnerable to environmental conditions by monitoring the temperature and humidity of shipments moving through the supply chain, RFID Solutions Online reports.

In addition to RFID components that locate goods in the supply chain, the ST-673 and ST-674 tags contain sensors that monitor temperature and humidity changes. Users can set acceptable temperature and humidity ranges. If the collected data is outside the acceptable condition range, the tag sends a real-time alarm to an RF reader, which passes the notification on via the Internet.

The sensor readings can also be recorded to a periodic event log, which can be used to prove environmental conditions were kept within acceptable ranges or identify the time and location that unacceptable conditions occurred.

The 2006 World Cup soccer tournament will feature RFID-based electronic admission tickets at the 12 venues in Germany, reports Contactless News.

Royal Philips Electronics won a contract to provide many of the chips for the 3.2 million paper tickets after organisers decided on RFID to improve access control because the technology offered greater ease of use and security than a barcode solution.

The RFID chips will make the tickets difficult to counterfeit and will help keep people from passing on their tickets to others once they are inside the stadium. Although the tickets will not carry personal information, the control systems will not allow a single ticket to be used for more than one entry to a game.

Thailand is backing a plan to develop software locally to be used with RFID to track the country`s Jasmine rice production from producer through to consumer that will also potentially include information about the milling and transport of the rice.

TMC Net says the plan to ensure food safety to rice consumers around the world and promote one of Thailand`s most important agricultural products will involve the modernisation of Jasmine rice production and its supply chain.

To enable the effective application of the technology onto Jasmine rice production, government agencies have been studying the crop`s production process, supply chain and distribution as well as its logistics cycle with the help of country`s universities.