Motorola's Worldwide Smartcard Solutions Division (WSSD) recently announced its BiStatix smart label technology, a powerful new solution that allows the creation of cost-effective smart labels. Utilising BiStatix technology, radio frequency identification (RFID) antennas can now be printed on materials including paper with conductive nonmetallic ink. These smart labels contain information that can be both read and modified through a wireless interface, making the BiStatix technology an ideal solution for the tracking and efficient routing of potentially billions of objects, including airline baggage, packages and parcels.
The BiStatix technology, based on a capacitively coupled design, represents a breakthrough in its use of antenna technology to create an advanced, cost-effective RFID solution. Because it uses only silicon and printed ink, BiStatix technology delivers a significant enhancement to earlier generations of RFID technology which required the incorporation of a costly metal coil and resonant capacitor into a card or tag.
Because of its cost-saving enhancements and unique design, BiStatix technology is well-positioned to help drive RFID's adoption in the marketplace beyond traditional solutions such as securing building access and tracking items in manufacturing facilities. The market is projected to grow more than 200% in North America alone by the year 2000 according to the Mountain View, California-based research firm Frost & Sullivan.
Motorola BiStatix tags can be read after being folded, crumpled and even ripped; they are fully disposable resulting in the first truly environmentally friendly RFID tag; and they can conform to surfaces that bend and flex making the BiStatix technology much more easily integrated into labels of all shapes and sizes. Additionally, BiStatix tags can be printed easily on paper and other nonconductive surfaces and integrated into existing printing processes.
Motorola BiStatix technology is also uniquely positioned to add value to existing applications such as bar coding. Unlike bar coding, BiStatix RFID tags can be read without a clear line of sight and are not rendered unreadable by the effects of moisture, dirt, dust or paint. In addition, bar code technology is 'read-only' while RFID technology is 'read and write', meaning that the data it contains can be changed, updated and/or locked.
"We see this technology as an extremely promising opportunity to expand the marketplace and help create new applications," said Francois Dutray, Vice President and General Manager of Motorola's Worldwide Smartcard Solutions Division. "Just as bar codes have become an essential element in our everyday lives, we expect Motorola's BiStatix technology to become an essential element of how companies cost-effectively and efficiently track items within their supply chains."
Expanding the market
In addition to package tracking, another in-dustry with the potential to realise a multitude of efficiencies through the use of Motorola's advanced technological capabilities is the airline industry. According to industry estimates, airlines route more than three billion bags a year using bar code technology and human intervention, which is required to manually route more than 40% of bags, many of whose bar codes become unreadable due to day-to--day handling. Because of these limitations about 2% of these bags get lost each year representing 60 million missing bags. Each of these instances cost the airlines as much as $200 to return or replace, costing the industry as much as $12 billion per year. Motorola also envisions BiStatix technology addressing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) Positive Passenger Bag Match initiative.
Because BiStatix technology can be seamlessly integrated with existing bar code technology for a nominal cost, the advancement has the potential to expand the RFID market considerably, allowing Fortune 1000 companies - including manufacturers, distributors and retailers - to improve their supply chain management processes. These companies now can take advantage of this new technology while maintaining their legacy bar code systems. The integration also provides for a migration path from bar codes to RFID for specific applications.
Additional potential applications include tracking high-priced retail products and reducing the counterfeiting of all types of public documents. More innovative applications include adding BiStatix tags to documents such as theme park passes, which could be programmed to allow access only on a certain day; vending machine cards which can be updated as they are used; and theatre and sporting event tickets which, for example, could incorporate loyalty information to provide instant discounts to season ticket holders.
For details contact Steve Crawford at Motorola WSSD at (0944) 1256 483188 or visit our website at www.motorola.com
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