RFID Labels Deliver
Big Thing Come in Small Packages
Paper or plastic labels that talk may sound far-fetched to those who have spent the past 25 years using bar code technology, the standard means of identifying and tracking a product on its journey through the supply chain. But a new generation of paper-thin intelligent labels that offer two-way data communication (read and write capabilities), based on proven radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, promises something of a revolution for manufacturing. That’s because the components of RFID that read and write are shrinking in size. They are becoming small enough and thin enough to fit smoothly between the face sheet and liner of a standard bar code label so thin that they can run through bar code printers and be printed with traditional bar code information. Intelligent labels look virtually identical to standard bar code labels, but the difference in performance and capability is huge. Intermec, one of the leading companies involved in label, printer, and RFID technologies, recently released its Intellitag® series label and printer, part of a system-wide solution.
Memory Device Within
What is an intelligent label? It is a device that can transmit and store data, built into a pressure sensitive label. And while it looks like a typical bar code label and can be printed in the same manner, it differentiates itself with electronic elements: an RFID chip, antenna, and substrate.
The chip, which can be the size of a pinhead and about the thickness of paper, is a memory device. This dynamic wireless memory is like a tiny PC floppy disk, where data can be stored, retrieved, and changed. The Intellitag chip contains 1,024 bytes of memory. Attached to the chip is a miniature radio antenna, which, when energized by an external scanner or interrogator, permits the chip to receive, store, or transmit information. One advantage of this type of chip is that it is passive and requires no batteries. It is powered by the external radio waves of the scanner or interrogator.
Depending on the application, those radio waves can operate in multiple frequencies, including 13.56 and 915 MHz and 2.4 GHz. Performance capability and memory capacity can differ based on the frequency used. There is no single frequency that works best for every customer application because performance requirements determine the frequency selection, explains Otto Argadine, engineering manager and project leader for Intermec’s identification systems.
What’ s the Difference?
Several important differences separate bar code labels from intelligent labels. Most important, standard bar code labels contain fixed information: if the contents of a bar-coded package change, anew label must be generated and affixed. However, intelligent labels are dynamic in that the information they contain can be changed up to 100,000 times at any point along the supply chain route. Due to the dynamic nature of the intelligent label, the information can change as it goes from supplier to manufacturer to seller to consumer.
Bar code readers can typically read one bar code at a time. Smart label readers can read multiple labels at one time, and with Intellitag technology, up to 50 labels per second. Furthermore, intelligent labels need no special orientation since the radio frequency portion of the label transmits information that can be read from 5 cm (2 in) to 12m (40 ft) away, depending on the technology used in the label.
RFID Means Possibilities
Many of the traditional industrial applications that have used bar code label systems for years warehousing, distribution, logistics, inventory control, and asset tracking will keep using bar code labels. But at some point in the near future, they will be adding the RFID component to the label. That will speed data collection and the transfer of information, thus making a wider variety and larger volume of information available to participants throughout the supply chain. Intermec Intellitag labels will add new layers of information, productivity, and trace-ability to virtually every stop along the supply chain.
The real question is not whether these intelligent labels will bring efficiency to the supply chain, but rather how a company can apply the technology in innovative and creative ways to further business goals.
