Recent developments in RAIN RFID technology, markets, and global regulations have made the RAIN RFID an even more interesting technology. I believe that with the RAIN RFID a traditional industry such as tool manufacturing can join the digital revolution. In this blog, I will explain why it is a good time for the tool industry to adopt the RAIN RFID technology and how to get started.
Matching the transponder antenna well to the chip impedance has always been the cornerstone of a well-performing UHF tag. For antenna designers, it is lightly frustrating that each chip brand and model seemed to have their unique impedances, therefore various versions of the same antenna are needed for different chips models.
On the other hand, from the chip designers’ point of view…
中文版 Chinese version During this COVID-19 pandemic, as most airplanes are stuck on the ground and several large airplane orders have been canceled, aerospace is probably not considered the hottest market for RAIN RFID. However, eventually, this situation will pass, and more airplanes will be built. When that happens, the aerospace industry will be more ready than ever to use RAIN RFID, due to recent standardization work. Back in 2015, I wrote about the aerospace industry as the pioneers of RFID: “The aerospace industry realized that they need standardization for flyable tags as early as 2006. That is when a group of experts in the...
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In a recently published success story, Mr. Kevin Kuo, Technical Manager of a Taiwanese RAIN RFID and NFC tag manufacturer SAG discussed the improvements they have seen in production after taking the Voyantic Tagsurance HF system into use. He mentioned the improved capability to detect tags that are not working as specified, and also 200% increased production capacity. In this article, I explain more in detail some backgrounds enabling the improvements.
中文版 Chinese version As RAIN RFID matures both technologically and businesswise, tagging requires scalable and flexible processes. I recently heard James Goodland, RAIN RFID Solutions Manager at NXP stating: “Going forward, the RAIN-ability of an item will be more likely integral to product design, rather than just added on an item” This implies a steady flow of new players and end-users getting into our industry, and the RAIN technology vendors need to be ready to support and help them out. Beginning with this, the first of blog series with NXP® Semiconductors, Voyantic will address technical issues that should be considered when adopting RA...
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中文版 Chinese version At RFID&WIoT Tomorrow 2019, Erik van Noort from Avery Dennison stopped by a Voyantic booth. He introduced a recently launched ShieldSense™ RFID blocking material. The material is for reader zoning and aimed to help system integrators in building better RAIN RFID systems. After sharing some ideas, we decided to write an article explaining the reader zoning and how to use Voyantic Tagformance to check not only if the zoning works, but how well the zoning works. In this piece, we introduce the ShieldSense™ material with the Tagformance test results. What Is Reader Zoning? Reader zoning is a common cha...
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中文版 Chinese version Dear Santa, It’s great to start a letter by recognizing that 2019 has again been a truly astonishing year. Not only the tide of RAIN business has been positive, but also the talent pool is headed in the right direction. Take an example, Mr. Sipi Savolainen, a veteran of UPM, Smartrac, and Walki, made a 1-year detour to now find himself back in RAIN business at StoraEnso. We’ve also been fortunate to hire new talents to further expand our own team in Finland. 2019 Cleared Many Issues off the Slate In my letter to you a year ago I called f...
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The Finns drink more coffee than anyone else in the world. If you read more, you’ll see what it has to do with NFC.
In the past year, I have given half a dozen presentations aimed to label printers and converters considering entry to smart label manufacturing. Just recently I introduced RAIN RFID to a group of printing professionals from Thailand and elsewhere in East Asia and South-East Asia in ASPT 2019 popup event in Bangkok. Many printing companies are thinking about how to replace declining ink-on-paper business, and smart labels are a good option popup.
中文版 Chinese version NFC (Near Field Communication) seems to be in a positive growth phase at the moment. One reason for the positive trend is Apple’s gradual opening of NFC in their mobile phones, which means that soon nearly every smart phone in the market will be equipped with NFC capabilities. And it’s about time; the NFC Forum has been advocating the technology for the last 15 years. In the RFID industry, NFC is often thought of as rebranding and repackaging of several HF RFID technologies that have been around for decades. However, the most valuable thing about NFC is the abst...
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中文版 Chinese version I recently visited an NFC forum meeting where I listened to industry presentations and discussed with many NFC industry experts. User experience, user expectation, and physical level interoperability of various NFC devices came up frequently. This prompted me to finish this article, a draft version was written already while ago. I tested a few smartphones for NFC tapping user-friendliness and dug a bit deeper on the factors affecting the user experience. Three NFC Application Types When I think of NFC, I think of three very different application types and different experiences with them. Smart card: Think of a hotel ...
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