From Tester to Intelligent System: Why Upgrading to Tagsurance® 3 is Worth Considering?

Quality control in RFID production has moved beyond standalone testing — and so has Voyantic Tagsurance system. Upgrading from Tagsurance 1 or 2 to Tagsurance 3 means stepping from standalone testers into an integrated production system that improves speed, scalability, data visibility, and long-term reliability. If your operations are evolving toward multi-lane, high-speed, digitally connected manufacturing, this upgrade could redefine how efficiently you run your RFID production.

Voyantic released Tagsurance 3 system a few years ago as the next step in this evolution. The key difference compared to Tagsurance 1 and 2 was architectural. Earlier generations were standalone test devices. Tagsurance 3, in contrast, is designed as a complete production system — one that not only tests tags, but coordinates devices, manages production data, and supports modern integration requirements.

At the same time, Tagsurance 3 is built for the long term. The platform is continuously developed, with new features and enhancements released regularly through controlled software updates. This ensures that the system evolves alongside industry requirements rather than remaining fixed in time.

The first- and second-generation testers have served reliably in simpler environments. But as production lines grow more advanced, many manufacturers are asking: what would upgrading to Tagsurance 3 mean in practice?

• Simpler Integration: Less engineering effort. Faster deployment.
• Production Intelligence: Lot management, yield tracking, trigger logic.
• Higher Speed and Sensitivity: Better quality at higher throughput.
• Industrial-Grade Stability: No Windows-related surprises.
• Digital Readiness: Full REST API and remote visibility.
• Scalability: From single lane to 12 lanes without architectural pain.
• High-Speed encoding: Both performance testing and encoding can be performed using the same setup.

Voyantic Tagsurance 1 and 2 test devices vs. Tagsurance 3 system

Test Devices vs. Complete Production System

Tagsurance 1 and 2 performed reliably in simple setups. However, modern production environments are rarely simple. As soon as additional devices—such as markers, punchers, visual inspection systems, encoding units, or multiple lanes are introduced, integration becomes significantly more complicated. Machine PLC modifications are often required, and when several devices per lane are involved across multiple lanes, reliable integration becomes challenging for many machine manufacturers. In multi-lane systems with multiple devices per lane, this often results in long integration projects, higher engineering costs, limited scalability, and increased risk of unstable integrations.

Tagsurance 3 introduces a fundamentally different architecture. It is designed as a complete production system rather than a single tester. It integrates easily with virtually any machine without requiring changes to the machine’s PLC code. It supports multiple devices per lane and can handle up to 12 lanes, including markers, punchers, inspection systems, and other equipment. This results in:

• Shorter integration times
• Fewer engineering efforts
• Flexibility and scalability
• Reliable integrations.

Tagsurance 3 is built to support your digitalization strategy. It also features a comprehensive REST API that enables clean and modern integrations. In contrast, Tagsurance 1 and  2 provided only a limited serial-port command interface.

Production Intelligence and Integrated Capabilities

Tagsurance 1 and 2 focused on testing tags but did not manage production at a system level. Tagsurance 3 introduces true system intelligence, including the following system-level capabilities:

• Software-based trigger control: pattern trigger for avoiding double triggers, possibility to set repeat and simulate trigger for recognizing missing labels
• Lot management
• Support for IO-only devices (e.g., optical inspection)
• Digital IO outputs for yield control and lot handling
• A platform architecture that enables cloud-based features

In addition, Tagsurance 3 enables encoding using the same system setup. The integrated encoding solution eliminates the need for separate devices and standalone processes, simplifying machine architecture and reducing integration complexity (see the system example image below).

From Windows PC to Industrial Embedded Platform

Earlier Tagsurance versions relied on Windows PCs, which introduced certain operational challenges and risks. Windows updates could occasionally cause disruptions, system security depended heavily on individual PC configurations, and visibility was limited to the local machine. In addition, there was no structured user privilege management, and data handling focused primarily on single-tag logs rather than broader production insights.

Tagsurance 3 software is embedded in the hardware and gives standard API interfaces and a browser-based user interface. This modern architecture provides:

• Controlled updates
• Industrial-grade stability
• Secure system architecture
• Remote visibility
• Admin credential management
• Structured production data: Single tag data, production / lot data, production run data (yield, capacity, lane speed and more).

Tester Performance Upgrade

Tagsurance 1 and 2 use the UHF tester version Tagsurance UHF. The minimum power level of this tester is –10 dBm, which can be too high for modern high-sensitivity inlays. As a result, marginal tags may not be detected early enough in production.

Tagsurance 3 uses the newer UHF tester, Tagsurance SL UHF, with several benefits over the previous tester version:

• The minimum transmit power level of –25 dBm is matched with modern IC sensitivities.
• The Tagsurance SL UHF also operates at a higher speed than earlier generations, typically the speed is doubled.
• Tagsurance SL UHF is a power over Ethernet, simplifying the installation.
• For ease-of-use, all connectors, leds and plates of the Tagsurance SL UHF are in the front panel.

For HF testing, Tagsurance 3 uses the Tagsurance HF 2 tester. It is backward-compatible with the previous Tagsurance HF version and offers Power over Ethernet (PoE) for simplified installation.

In summary, the higher receiver sensitivity, robustness, and accuracy, combined with higher speed, ultimately mean higher quality at higher production capacity.

Tagsurance 1 or 2	Tagsurance 3
Tester only: Integration with a single tester was manageable, but adding devices or multiple lanes quickly made integration complex, often requiring PLC changes and resulting in unreliable multi-device setups.	Complete system: Easily integrates with any machine without PLC changes, supports multiple devices per lane, and scales to multilane production (up to 12 lanes).
No system level features	Advanced system-level functionality, including software-based trigger control, lot management, IO device support, digital outputs for yield control — and a platform ready for further feature expansion.
Windows-based software with occasional update disruptions, PC-dependent security, mainly single-tag and lot log data, local visibility only, and no structured user privilege management.	Embedded software with browser-based GUI, controlled updates, secure architecture, structured production data (tag, lot, run-level), remote visibility, and role-based admin access control.
APIs: Limited serial port command interface	API: Comprehensive REST API (all features in GI are using the same API)
UHF tester: Tagsurance UHF, minimum power –10 dBm (may be too high for modern high-sensitivity inlays), with standard testing speed.	UHF tester: Tagsurance SL UHF, minimum power –25 dBm and up to twice the testing speed compared to Tagsurance UHF.
HF Tester version: Tagsurance HF	HF tester: Tagsurance HF and Tagsurance HF 2; HF 2 is backward compatible and supports Power over Ethernet (PoE).

Ready to upgrade? Get a quote by contacting sales@voyantic.com or your local Voyantic sales representative.