In Denmark, dairy farmers are finding new uses for RFID and Real Time Location System (RTLS) technology: to locate individual animals within herds and to analyze those animals’ movements in order to predict which are entering heat and which are ill. With this information, the farmers can better schedule insemination of those that are ovulating and remove sick animals from the herd in hopes of treating the illness. The results: more successful pregnancies, better farm production, and increased profits (http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/5083/1).

The system is comprised of active, ultra-wide band RFID tags and readers. The tags emit a series of extremely brief signals (lasting billionths of a second or less) at frequencies between 6 and 8 GHz. As the pulses are emitted, the RFID readers calculate the tags’ locations by using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and angle of arrival (AOA) techniques. Because of the pulses’ brevity, the signals are less affected by interference from objects and other RF noise than most conventional RFID RTLS systems—thus improving accuracy and reliability.

In addition to using the technology to monitor which animals are ill and which are in heat, some dairy farmers are using RFID to ensure that cows are milked multiple times each day. These farmers use robotic, automated milking machines, over which RFID readers are mounted. The readers catch the signal emitted by the passive, ISO-compliant 134.2 kHz RFID tag attached to each animal’s ear, letting farmers know that the animal has been milked. If the data captured by the system suggests that a specific cow hasn’t been sufficiently milked, the farmer can use the system to track the cow to its exact location—a chore that used to take hours to complete.

With the system, Danish farmers are realizing a savings of  $60 to $67 per animal, per year. On larger farms, this could translate to annual savings of nearly $40,000.

Looks amazing doesn’t it?  The problem is RFID may begin to take away whatever anonymity we have and is in complete violation of our privacy rights.

For business its great, you can track just about everything and its going to transform the supply chain of every multi-national corporation.  They will have an abundance of fantastic information to analyze.

My problem is what happens when we start tracking people. President Bush stated the use of  RFID would help in tracking people who enter America on temporary work visas and don’t leave.   Now image how this could be abused when this same technology will go into our new drivers licenses and passports.

Entrepreneurs may take this to the extreme and develop “radio-opaque” sleeves to protect whatever anonymity they think we should be entitled to have.   Even this won’t do much for us, because imagine if phones (iphone for example), our credit cards, debit cards, SIN Cards, Health Cards, Gift Cards and even our money was tagged!

Perhaps it could be great to help against the trafficking of drugs  if every single dollar note were traceable.  And perhaps if it is taken to a public referendum where the propaganda will be its a fight on terror and drugs.   Majority of the people will let this go because of the simple mentality “I don’t have anything to hide.”  Too bad the main lobbyist behind RFID technology are big corporations.  In 1999 Proctor and Gamble, Gillette & MIT partnered together with the objective to try to track every item ever produced and shipped in the world.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 10 years with this technology.  Imagine how much smaller these chips will get! I’ve read forums where they are discussing RFID is the size of a grain of sand.

Enjoy the videos below! You may have seen the IBM commercials a few years ago.  Also there is a good book called “Spy Chips” by Katherine Albercht, great read!

Son of Five Rivers

If you want to know someone real well, just look through their trash. Most people don’t really want to get to know someone bad enough to inspect their garbage, but a growing number of retailers want to very badly.

Most people don’t know this, but Walmart, for example, used to regularly send hundreds of their employees into targeted neighborhoods on trash day to dig into trash barrels and inventory everything they found. They used that information to find out what products that neighborhood consumed and how often they consumed them and could then develop useful marketing strategies. The problem that Walmart faced using that method of information gathering was that many of the employees used for that purpose were regularly beaten up or even killed while just trying to do their jobs.

Actually, Walmart never did that, but they wanted to! Ah, but now they can do it and most people will gladly share that information.

How is this going to happen? SMART TRASH! That’s how!

All products made and sold in the United States could have a radio frequency identification (RFD) tag on them. Your kitchen trash receptacle would have an electronic scanner with WiFi capability built right into it. Every time you throw something away, it will be automatically scanned as it goes into the trash can.

Here is where the genius part of this plan comes in:  To get people to actually put up with this invasion of their privacy, they will put a completely new and different face on it by calling it a recycle program.

Manufacturers will be required to make their product packaging using recyclable materials. Practically everything that could fit into your kitchen trash will be recyclable and scanned. The incentive for people to participate and make sure that each item that goes into their trash gets scanned is that they will receive cash back for their trash! No beep… no $.

Retailers like Walmart will help subsidize the cash back program, not because they are concerned about recycling and our environment, but because they will have not only access to a list of every single product that we consume and how often we consume it, but our names and addresses too!

How clever!

Since its introduction to the supermarket 35 years ago in Troy, Ohio, Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode technology has ushered in extraordinary economic and productivity gains for shoppers, retailers, and manufacturers alike. The technology has provided an estimated annual cost savings of $17 billion to the grocery sector alone.

And about ten years ago, writes Regina Ciardello in the latest issue of Vertical Systems Reseller, technology enabled the introduction of self-checkout devices, which further enhanced the shopping experience. The fact that progress continues will be demonstrated at the Retail Solutions Providers Association’s (RSPA) Convention & Expo taking place this month in Las Vegas. To set the stage for the show, VSR asked a variety of vendors, VARs, and distributors for their thoughts about important questions facing the retail channel and found that responses from the three very distinct groups were in tune with each other.

When asked about the top POS retail hardware trends, RFID barcode printers, RFID scanners and mobile POS terminals were at the top of the list submitted by Mahendran Ramanthan, president of Retail Technology Experts, a Miami-based solution provider.

When it comes to software trends, many respondents said that integration was top of mind. “We’re seeing phenomenal levels of integration between disparate apps, or complementary applications,” says Atkinson of CAP Software. “This benefits both VARs and retailers.”

Respondents cited encrypted card readers among the top retail POS peripherals, noting that they are “truly becoming a necessity in the merchant’s eyes.” Encrypting customer information and account data at the card reader significantly minimizes security threats and encrypted card readers play a big part in enabling merchants to take an active role in security and work toward PCI DSS compliance.

Ericsson’s vice-president of systems architecture recently predicted that in a few years, every new cell phone will be enabled with near field communication, a two-way bi-directional RFID communication link that will allow phones to work as a tag or a reader.

The RFID chips inside the mobile devices, explains Melina McClean of Barcode.com, will be placed in a secure environment on the SM card, where secure elements can be downloaded. The technology would make it possible for cell phones to also become the keys to a residence or car, credit cards, or concert tickets.

Mobile phones with RFID chip also could become a means of fraud detection via mobile user location data and IP mapping to decipher whether a transaction is taking place in the vicinity of the cardholder. Another example of how this technology could be used is by creating real-time traffic maps by analyzing the speed of the mobile phones, creating dynamic travel information for GPS services. While RFID chips in cell phones are not currently being implemented in such ways, it is only a matter of time before they are in all cell phones and facilitating new applications.

British company Packaging Logistics Services (PLS) (www.packaginglogistics.com) has a two-pronged service approach: It leases out plastic pallets and reusable containers to customers, and manages pallets and containers used by other companies. Now, PLS has deployed RFID technology to achieve more transparent tracking throughout the supply chain. In keeping with its service roster, PLS is also using the technology to help its customers set up RFID tracking for their own assets throughout the European supply chain (http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/5043/1).

The RFID solution includes ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags being attached to PLS’s fleet of pallets and containers. The tags are attached to the corners or edges of reusable packaging, and any tags affixed to individual containers or pallets are encoded with a unique Global Reusable Asset Identifier (GRAI) number. To read the tags, RFID interrogators have been installed at the company’s four European depots, as well as at the dock doors of PLS’s depots and third-party warehouses. In some cases, handheld readers are also used. The system’s back-end software system receives the RFID reads and transmits that data to PLS or its customers.

PLS plans to tag all of its assets within a year, and install RFID interrogators at its four depots and about 16 third-party warehouses. Additionally, PLS signed an agreement with one its customers, a global beverage manufacturer, to apply RFID tags to that company’s plastic pallets to allow for tracking from DC to retailer. The customer will be able to track the location of its assets by linking retail orders with specific pallet or container RFID numbers.

Phoenix is the sweatiest city in America.

“Stranger In Moscow.”

Sydney and the light rail.

Augmented reality in London.

The ghost in the field, and RFID chips.

What will happen when London is flooded?

“Berlin” in Paris.

Interracial couple denied marriage license in Louisiana.

Soft robots and DARPA.

Moscow’s mayor promises a winter without snow.

Paris Syndrome and Jerusalem Syndrome.

San Francisco and the 1906 earthquake.

Rebuilding New Orleans.

from here.

“City Of Blinding Lights.”

A possible glimpse at our future space cities.

America’s most expensive cities and most impoverished cities.

FOX promises to air all 13 of the already ordered Dollhouse season two episodes.

Speaking of which, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s The Cabin In The Woods being held back a year to be switched over to 3D.

“Magnetricity” observed for the first time.

A map of your future mega-cities and megaopolises.

“When the lights go down in the city…”

Sensing the immaterial-material city.

Cities underground and cities tsunami-resistant.

City Of Shadows.

The ruins of Chernobyl, over 20 years later.

“Cities In Dust.”

GTA IV: Inherent Vice City.

“Silver City” and “Sad, Sad City.”

Why all cities are haunted.

The mind of a city (and how our brains are similar).

The cityscapes of François Schuiten.

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem.

The city is a battlesuit for surviving the future.

Phantom City: See the city that could’ve been.

“…when we reach the city.”

“I have come to wound the autumnal city.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

“I’ll take the coral reefs as my metaphor. Though hardly so beautiful. If the essence of life is information carried in DNA, then society and civilization are just colossal memory systems and a metropolis like this one, simply a sprawling external memory….”

-a quote from Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence, a movie that I was watching the other day and just first stirred the pot on several thoughts I had locked up. Thoughts about human beings and boxes we live in.

Warren Ellis had created a comic book character years ago called Jack Hawksmoor, the “king of cities.” Jack was a normal human who had been abducted by city-empathic aliens from the future and repeatedly operated on and “upgraded” to have city-specific powers for use with fighting some unknown future threat that was coming.

Jack Hawksmoor, the King Of Cities.

Hawksmoor, who’s name was inspired by both Spring Heeled Jack and Nicholas Hawksmoor, couldn’t survive for very long outside of an urban environment, but when he was in any city, he had powers specific to that city, including things like superhuman strength and agility, but also psychometry and the ability to control and alter architecture and infrastructure. I don’t think the character was ever utlized by successive writers to his full potential, but I do remember in one story where Hawksmoor had to fight a powerful villain, he made sure that the fight took place in Mexico City, the larged city in the world, to maximize his abilities.

Quarantined in utopia.

“There’s no one to know. There’s nothing to do. The city’s been down since you’ve been gone.”

Climate change and warfare.

“Black And White Town.”

Scientists create “sexual tsunami.”

12 sexist vintage ads.

What’s left of the Roman city of Dougga.

Futurism vs. Science Fiction.

Futuristic steampunk urban recycling.

The little town that Los Angeles killed.

Speaking of which: Future Los Angeles.

Future Chicago.

Future New York.

The saddest blow job story ever.

“History Of A Boring Town.”

Russell Brand not capable of monogamy.

10 most amazing ghost towns, including Prypiat.

“Everything In It’s Right Place.”

Scientists develop “brain to brain communication.”

As time progresses, the future will literally devour the past: WW2-era statue with added cell tower.

“Last Stop: This Town.”

At the 375th Medical Group, Scott Air Force Base Medical Center (www.scott.af.mil), tracking assets throughout 2,000 rooms in different buildings proved a significant challenge. Specifically, the Illinois-based Medical Center sought to keep better track of the information technology equipment used to give patients medical and dental services. To increase the speed and efficiency of tracking such equipment, Scott AFB Medical Center turned to RFID technology.

Crucial to designing a system was ensuring tag readability, deciding on the type of mounting surface, and achieving the appropriate aesthetics—especially for tags affixed to mobile devices. In the end, the Medical Center chose to use EPC Gen 2 passive handheld RFID readers and passive, semi-passive, and active RFID tags, as well as a web-based software that integrates with automated technologies. This allows the Medical Center to create and access up-to-date asset and inventory reports.

Prior to deploying the RFID solution, Medical Center often struggled with finding relocated and/or misplaced assets. This caused the required periodic audits to be incredibly time-consuming. Additionally, because the audits were completely manual—involving the reading of serial numbers and updates in spreadsheets or other enterprise systems—achieving 100 percent accuracy was nearly impossible.

Today, RFID tags are used to identify specific rooms and assets, and the system allows Medical Center staff to conduct physical searches of batches of assets when it is time for their replacement. Based on the benefits that the RFID solution has given the Medical Center, it is likely that the system will soon be extended to track new assets and locations.

Pachube é uma plataforma que armazena, compartilha e descobre, em tempo real, sensores, energia e informações do ambiente de objetos, dispositivos e construções ao redor do mundo. É uma das pioneiras plataformas que permitem a chamada “internet of things”. A internet das coisas é uma rede de objetos com capacidade a acessar a internet conectados a um serviço que promove a interação entre eles. Utilizam tecnologias de RFID ou rádio freqüência, sensores e smartphones. Com eles podemos monitorar ambientes, acessar sensores e compartilhar as informações em tempo real, conectar aparelhos e mensurá-los, incorporar gráficos em sites, conectar outros usuários e compartilhar estatísticas, vê-los através de mapas ou lista e uma infinidade de outras aplicações que vem por aí.

Artigos Relacionados

• Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Internet of Things (readwriteweb.com)
• Hacking A Pacemaker Remotely To Kill It’s Wearer (dvorak.org)
• RSS goes real-time; is not dead (wisdump.com)
• IBM and The Internet of Things (readwriteweb.com)
• Technorati on the Authority Changes (blogherald.com)

Meron ako natanggap na email regarding the truth behind the implementation ng RFID. dont know if its true or not pero yung writer is mukhang isa sa developer ng RFID. below yung email…

ang istorya sa likod ng Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) scam

noong 2007, ang kontrata ng STRADCOM sa computerization ng LTO ay nagtapos na. Subalit dahil nakasaad sa kontrata na “HAWAK NILA SA LEEG” ang LTO, dahil sa pagtatapos ng kanilang kontrata ay dadalhin nila ang mga computer hardware at software, at ang ititira ay ang DATA lamang, nanatili ang STRADCOM sa LTO. Patuloy sa paninigil ng COMPUTER FEE kahit na ang DATA ng bawat sasakyan ay naka-encode na at wala ng dapat pang i-build up o i-data entry. Patuloy ang pagkulekta ng STRADCOM ng bayad, dahil walang kumukwestiyon, sa ilalim ng ilong ng mga motorista.

Sa kabila nito, ang pamunuan ng DOTC at ng LTO ay humingi ng mas malaking “PARTE”, ibig sabihin, patong, lagay, kickback, etc, dahil nga naman, tubong lugaw na ang STRADCOM dahil dapat tanggal na nga sila. Syempre pa, medyo nagpakipot ang pamunuan ng STRADCOM at nagmungkahi na magdagdag na lang ng mga singilin sa motorista dahil anila, mga bobo naman at hindi aangal. Kung may aangal man, kokonti lang dahil gaano na lang ba ang sisingilin eh minsanan lang naman ang bayaran isang taon. At anila, may pera ang mga motorista dahil naka-sasakyan nga. Dito na ipinatawag ng STRADCOM ang kanilang mga “money making” thinktank upang umisip ng mga paraan kung paano pa makaka-kolekta ng dagdag kita upang lalo pa silang magkamal ng salapi.

unang pinalusot ay ang tinatawag na INTER-CONNECTION FEE daw. ito ay karagdagang P70.00 pesos kapag ikaw ay nagpa-smoke belching test. Napansin ba ninyo, bukod sa P350.00, eh may naka staple pang resibo na P70.00? Me narinig ba kayong angal? me umapila ba? wala di ba. e ano nga ba yung P70.00 peso eh naka Honda CITY ka naman. chicken feed!!!

YUN ANG BASIS NG STRADCOM, walang aangal dahil barya lang ang sinisingil nila. Naunawaan nyo ba kung ano yung inter-connection fee? Malay mo nga naman diba, nadale na kayo dun pero okay lang kayo kasi nga P70.00 lang.

Teka, 8 million registered vehicle X 70.00 = 560 million pesos na walang kahirap hirap. KADA TAON HA. Malaki din pala nadudugas namin sa inyo. Aangal na ba kayo?

Pero dahil mga buwaya nga, talagang walang kabusugan. Kaya pinulong ulit ng mga hunghang ang mga evil brains para utusan na, “Pigain na natin ng husto ang mga bobong motorista, bayad naman ng bayad eh”. At dito na ipinanganak ang unang plano na “Car info sticker” kung saan didikitan ng sticker ang mga sasakyan, nakalagay dito ang mga detalye na makikita din naman sa “Certificate of Registration” o “CR”, at sisingilin nila ng P300.00 yung sticker. Di syempre sangkatutak na angal ang inabot nila. Napigilan ito, hindi napatupad. Bulilyaso! eh kasi nga walang bahid High Tech. Mantakin mo nga naman na sticker lang tapos ang impormasyon eh nasa CR na din, hindi umubra. Ipa-photocopy (reduced) na lang yung CR at idikit sa windshield, sabi ng mga pilosopo kaya na-abort yung evil plan number 1.

Pero hindi agad susuko ang evil brains ng STRADCOM, kailangang magmadali dahil dapat magkapera at ma-implement ng October. Na browse sa internet ng mga IT gurus ang tungkol sa RFID, at iminungkahi agad kahit na hindi pang vehicle talaga. Napagkasunduang, pwede, at inaprubahan agad. Ang siste, ang lalamanin lang ding impormasyon nito ay kung ano ang nakalagay sa CR, pero, may bahid high tech na, kasi R.F.I.D. na. Naintindihan nyo ba ibig sabihin ng RFID? Basahin nyo na lang sa last part.

tatlong klase ang pwedeng gamit ng RFID:
1. sa simpleng paliwanag, parang tag lang ito, barcode or product code. na ang corresponding data or information ay mare-retrieve mo sa main computer gamit ang isang reader or scanner.
2. o kung ito ay may microchip, pwedeng mag store ng data dito at marere-trieve din ang data gamit ang isang reader.
3. at ang pinaka delikado sa lahat, na maaring gamitin laban sa mga motorista, PWEDE KANG I-TRACK ng ahensiya. RFID ang gamit sa mga producto sa mga dept stores na medyo mahal ang item at RFID din ang gamit sa mga cargo ng freight services.

pero may pakinabang ba talaga tayo sa RFID kung ito ay gagamitin sa mga sasakyan? WALA. ang tunay na gamit ng RFID ay para sa PRODUCT TAGGING, INVENTORY, AT TRACKING. Sa mga producto para ma-track mo kung nasaan na yung location dahil kada daan nito sa isang area, nababasa ng reader ang RFID at alam na dumaan na ito. Maaaring naglalaman din ito ng info kung sino ang manufacturer, kung ano ang laman, timbang at kung saan ang destinasyon, dahil nakalagay na ito sa RFID o sa main database.

Alam ninyo, may malaking blunder ang kompanya namin dito eh, ang STRADCOM, dahil nag-implement kami ng information via TEXT lang kung saan ite-text nyo lang ang plate number, makukuha na information ng isang vehicle. Eh, imomodify lang namin yung info na binibigay ng TEXT project namin, at bigyan exclusivity sa mga enforcers lang ng LTO, nagawa na agad ang gustong gawin ng RFID System.

Di ko na nga lang masikmura ang kagarapalan ng mga amo namin na sobrang magpayaman samantalang kami ang tumatrabaho eh nangungupahan pa din kami ng bahay. Anak ng toklang, ibuking ko na lang di ba.

Eto itanong ninyo sa STRADCOM para mabuliyaso sila.

Bakit kelangan ng i-implement ngayong October?
1-kasi pinipiga sila ng isang mataas na opisyal ng LTO na tatakbo sa darating na halalan.
2-Kasi kung mapalusot nila ng October, tahimik ang november at December, pag dating ng January parang may basbas na dahil nga nasimulan na ng October. at dapat mag start na ngayong October, kasi pag sa January mag start, titirahin ng mga pulitiko, at baka tamaan pa ng ban.

Pag naka RFID ba, di na kelangan magpa stencil at magpa smoke belching pag magpapa rehistro?
Kelangan pa din. Ano yung sinasabi nilang mapapabilis na rehistro? For your info walang mase-save na time sa pagpapa-rehistro ninyo. same procedure.

ANG KATOTOHANAN:

HINDI MAPAPABILIS ANG TRAPIKO GAMIT ANG RFID (ipadetalye ninyo sa STRADCOM ito)

HINDI BIBILIS ANG REGISTRATION PROCESS NG IYONG SASAKYAN GAMIT ANG RFID (eto rin)

HINDI MAPIPIGIL NG RFID ANG MGA SMOKE BELCHERS (eto pa)

PWEDE KANG MA-TRACK KUNG NASAAN KA GAMIT ANG RFID SA IYONG SASAKYAN.

HINDI MAWAWALA ANG MGA KOLORUM GAMIT ANG R.F.I.D.

PWEDENG GAMITIN NG MGA KOTONG LTO ENFORCERS ANG R.F.I.D. (sasabihin lang ng LTO officer na sabi ng RFID hot car gamit mo)

ang bottom line. WALANG PAKINABANG ANG CAR OWNER SA RFID, O MAGING ANG LTO. SIMPLE LANG ANG PURPOSE NITO: ISANG MONEY MAKING SCHEME ANG R.F.I.D DAHIL GENERALLY, NA SURMISE NAMIN NA ANG MGA OWNER NG VEHICLE AY WALANG PAKIALAM SA KANILANG BINABAYARAN DAHIL MAY PERA SILA, AT HANDANG MAGBAYAD KAHIT ANONG SABIHIN NAMIN BASTA HINDI NILA NAIINTINDIHAN TULAD NG R.F.I.D.

HANAPAN NINYO ANG STRADCOM NG PROJECT STUDY, COMMUNICATION DOCUMENTS, SYSTEMS STUDY, SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION, IMPLEMENTATION PLANS, APPROVAL NG NATIONAL COMPUTER CENTER, AT MAGING KRITIKAL KAYO SA DATES DAHIL SINISUMULAN [A LANG NILANG GAWIN ANG MGA ITO.

AT ILALABAN NILA ITO NG DIKDIKAN, MAGHABOL NA KAYO SA KORTE IKA NGA NILA. NAGSIMULA NA SILA NG COMMERCIAL SA TV DAHIL SA TINDI NG OPPOSITION DITO. KAILANGAN NILANG ILUTANG ANG STRADCOM. BAKIT SUMUGAL ANG STRADCOM AT INEXPOSE ANG KANILANG TAHIMIK NA OPERATION EH KUMIKITA NA NGA SILA NG WALANG INGAY? DAHIL SA 2.8 BILLION NA KIKITAIN SA PROYEKTO SA LOOB LANG NG ISANG TAON AT DAHIL SA PRESSURE SA TAAS NA I-IMPLEMENT NA ITO, PARA MAKUHA NA ANG PATONG.

Sabi nga ng ABS-CBN, AKO ANG SIMULA. Makialam tayo. Pigilin natin ang pagpapatupad nito. I-forward sa lahat ng kaibigan niyong may saksakyan at sana ay makarating sa inyong mga kongresista, sa mga senador, sa mga taga DOTC, taga LTO, at sa malacañang.

kung may oras ka pa, panoorin mo kung ano talaga ang gamit ng RFID

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-1ISx68w1s&videos=gIvxY0eZVmw&playnext_from=TL&playnext=1

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjzFD8eh_jE

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLQvdtuJ2kk&feature=related

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpsivPwt6tU&feature=related

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vSOf8uqRJU&feature=related

and try to watch other RFID related videos uploaded in the youtube.

Zebra Technologies, specializzata in stampanti di card per soluzioni d’identificazione automatica, ha annunciato la disponibilità di un aggiornamento firmware RFID per le sue stampanti RZ400/RZ600. L’aggiornamento offre agli utenti numerose nuove applicazioni, tra cui la possibilità di stampare etichette RFID a livello di elemento per taggare oggetti, la convalida del pacchetto, il monitoraggio del documento e l’autenticazione dei prodotti.

Secondo Zebra, la stampante aggiornata è la più adatta per mantenere all’interno dell’azienda il ciclo di operazioni di una catena di approvvigionamento, dove c’è un grande bisogno di piccole etichette intelligenti da stampare ed attaccare velocemente sui prodotti.

Inoltre Zebra sostiene che, utilizzando le stampanti aggiornate, le aziende risparmieranno sui costi dei materiali e ridurranno gli sprechi di etichette, visto che possono essere stampate più etichette per rullo.

La tecnologia RFID presente nell’aggiornamento del firmware sarà inclusa  con tutte le nuove stampanti RZ400/RZ600.

http://www.zebra.com

As I explained in a previous post (Helicopter and the risk of RFID hacks) RFID applications are spreading also within the world of aviation. The article I propose below deals with the implementation of an RFID inventory tracking system to manage the 56th FW storage warehouse at Luke AFB in Arizona to replace the old bar codes and to solve a series of bar code-related issues, among which also security ones. The warehouse is used to send out aircraft pallets carrying everything a combat unit deployed in theatre needs to survive for five days without base support: weapons, radio equipment, generators, food and water. The pallets must be assembled and ready to be shipped within 24 hours from the order. The RFID systems provides also alerts to warn base personnel if they have forgotten something on the readiness pallet.

RFID Improves Inventory Accuracy
Luke Air Force Base (AFB) manages mission-critical inventory in real time.

Integrated Solutions, October 2009
Written by: Brian Albright
Inventory accuracy is important no matter what business you’re in, but when your inventory is used to support military personnel and has to be deployed halfway around the world on short notice, the reliability of your inventory data can be the difference between life and death.

Luke AFB in Glendale, AZ is home to the Air Force’s 56th Fighter Wing. The 56th Security Forces Squadron (SFS) at Luke recently replaced a bar code tracking system in its 25,000-square-foot storage warehouse with an RFID (radio frequency identification) solution to better manage equipment inventory for staff on the base and personnel deployed abroad. The warehouse stocks two types of inventory. Supply inventory is used to support on-base staff and includes everything from pens and pencils to body armor, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and gun holsters.

Mobility inventory, on the other hand, is used to build 463L aircraft pallets that can hold up to 10,000 pounds of equipment and must be ready to ship within 24 hours. These “readiness pallets” are designed to support teams deployed in foreign battle zones and contain everything necessary to survive for five days without base support —weapons, ammunition, food, water, generators, fuel, radios, etc.

In 2003, the base deployed a batch bar code tracking system that fed inventory information into a stand-alone database application. This system did not allow staff to track routine maintenance and calibration schedules, didn’t provide real-time inventory visibility, and posed some security and accountability issues. “We were the only location using bar codes to track our gear and the deployment gear,” says Matthew Owen, resources advisor for security forces at Luke AFB. “Our headquarters at the Air Education and Training Command in San Antonio wanted to be able to see what each base has in real time, and we came up with an RFID tracking system to piggyback on what we’d already done with bar codes.”

In 2008, the SFS began investigating possible RFID solutions and teamed up with integrator American Barcode and RFID (AB&R) to find an appropriate system. After conducting a systems requirements study, AB&R recommended the CribMaster Accu-Port and Last-Point-Read Tracking Module, along with CribMaster inventory management software from WinWare.

RFID ENABLES EFFICIENT INVENTORY PROCESSES
Before the system went live, Owen organized a 12-person team to tag all 65,000 items in the warehouse with RFID labels containing an EPCglobal Gen 2-compliant Squiggle Tag from Alien Technology. Smaller items that couldn’t accommodate a label were placed inside tagged plastic bags for tracking.

Consumable items used on the base are primarily held inside a caged area in the warehouse. Staff access the storage area using a PIN. After picking up the items they need, they pass through a single Accu-Port RFID portal that matches the RFID tags to the PIN. The system generates an inventory list at the supply desk, which employees sign before leaving. By automatically matching supplies to personnel, the system provides full accountability and traceability of inventory and cuts down on the time needed to process and log inventory deductions. The system can also automatically trigger stock reorders. “That saves us time and also saves us money because we don’t overorder,” Owen says. “Eventually, the system will let us know how much material we’re actually consuming so we can adjust our inventory levels.”

Luke AFB utilizes a Motorola fixed-position RFID reader that tracks items too large for the caged supply area or items that have been moved outside for storage. The reader generates last-point-read information on those items so that staff can locate them more easily. Staff use Motorola MC9090 handheld RFID readers to scan goods that are loaded into the readiness pallets. The CribMaster application creates a location record that lists every item stored within each pallet. “The directions for loading the pallet are specific enough to tell you where each piece of equipment goes on the pallet,” Owens says. “We scan everything as it goes on to the container, and as soon as that pallet goes out the door it automatically deducts all of that equipment from our inventory.”

Because certain perishable items (like water and oil) are loaded onto the pallets just before shipment, the system also alerts staff if they’ve forgotten to load something. “If we tried to send a pallet out and we haven’t put those items in, the system lets us know,” Owens says. CribMaster also tracks routine maintenance schedules for items like generators or radios that have to be serviced periodically while in storage.

The system went live in January 2009, and Owen says the base is in the process of evaluating performance data to determine their cost savings. The Air Force expects the system to reduce purchasing costs and make building and issuing readiness pallets more efficient.

RFID has already cut down the time it takes to issue gear to base personnel. “Issuing equipment to a new arrival on the base used to take 45 minutes to an hour to do,” Owen says. “Now we can do it in 15 minutes and have them out the door and on their way.”
http://www.isminfo.com/index.php?option=com_jambozine&layout=article&view=page&aid=6064

This is a great reinvention of the classic Rube Goldberg machine, which uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to progress the chain reaction.

From Vimeo:

Jack Schulze and Timo Arnall made this video of an RFID-based, touch-free Rube Goldberg machine. While I don’t think it would win a middle school Rube Goldberg competition (something about not using enough different kinds of energy transfer), it’s a neat idea, and an excellent use for RFID tags. And they slipped an Arduino in at the end.

More here
nearfield.org/2009/09/nearness
and here
berglondon.com/blog/2009/09/15/nearness/

Il British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) ha collaborato con la Dunlop per implementare una nuova tecnologia RFID che garantisca che tutte le automobili BTCC utilizzino i pneumatici corretti in ogni momento.

Il BTCC ora utilizza pneumatici Dunlop dotati di tag RFID che vengono scannerizzati ogni volta che una macchina fa un pit stop. Le informazioni sui pneumatici sono trasmesse agli operatori tramite un sistema informatico sviluppato da Datalinx, dando loro la possibilità di monitorare ogni pneumatico, dalla produzione, alla loro assegnazione a ciascuna squadra e, infine, al loro ritorno a Dunlop per il riciclaggio.

Secondo il direttore di BTCC, Alan Gow, il sistema segna un cambiamento positivo dai metodi precedenti: “In soli tre stagioni si è passati dalla faticosa registrazione manuale di ogni numero di serie di ogni pneumatico utilizzato in tutte le sessioni di prove e gare – per poi dover fermare ogni auto e controllarli visivamente – ad un sistema completamente computerizzato, automatizzato e praticamente infallibile. “

Si prevede ora che il sistema di tag RFID sarà inserito in altre serie di gare di alto profilo, in cui Dunlop fornisce i pneumatici.

Per maggiori informazioni:
http://btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=1651&month=0&year=2009

HAYAN na naman ang mga komunista, ang mga kaliwa.  Tulad noon, parating may pagtutol.  Ngayon, tutol sila sa Radio Frequency Identification tags na ikakabit sa mga sasakyan, sa pamamagitan ng Land Transportation Office.
Noon, mahigpit ang pagtutol nila sa National ID System, na simulang isinulong noong panahon ni dating Pangulong Fidel Ramos.  Siyempre, hindi makakukuha ng National ID ang mga kasapi ng New People’s Army.
“No ID, no entry” sa komunista.
Ngayon, natatakot sila na baka manmanan sila ng pamahalaan sa pamamagitan ng RFID.  May RFID na rin sa ibang bansa at hindi ito ginagamit sa paniniktik.
Kung walang ginagawang masama at walang batas na nilalabag, di dapat matakot ang komunista.  Nasa Kamara na nga sila.
Takot ka ba sa RFID at napatunayan na ba ang takot mo, o nasa imahinasyon lang yan?

BANDERA Editorial, 092709

Il Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in collaborazione con la londinese Mantra Lingua ha sviluppato la PenFriend, una penna digitale del costo di 60£ (circa 65€) in grado di leggere e dar voce alle etichette di prodotti di consumo quotidiano.

L’etichettatura audio di per se’ non è una novità, ma finora era stata prevalentemente realizzata con la più costosa Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), mentre la PenFriend sfrutta la più economica Optical IDentification (OID) per stampare, e quindi poi riconoscere grazie allo scanner presente sulla punta della penna, codice puntinato su etichette adesive a cui da voce. Questo è infatti associato a un mp3 precedentemente registrato e memorizzato sulla penna stessa che descrive il prodotto.
Poiché la memoria a disposizione è ampia e può contenere fino a 70 ore di registrazione, la descrizione può essere dettagliata, con un notevole vantaggio per la sicurezza in caso di medicinali e prodotti deperibili.
Inoltre la registrazione è personalizzata, consentendo all’utente di soffermarsi sugli aspetti di interesse e di usare la sua stessa voce, rendendo il tutto più user friendly.

September is a huge month for New York for obvious reasons, but it also marks the one-year anniversary of the state’s Enhanced Driver License (EDL). Thrilling, I know. I can almost hear the “woohoo” and “yeehaw” chorus.

The EDL was seemingly designed to save time and money for those who frequently cross land and sea borders. It’s cheaper than a passport, faster than flashing four thousand forms of ID and smaller than a breadbox.

What’s interesting about this card is that it uses similar technology to the Real ID that had many Americans up in arms. If you remember, the Real ID was to boast a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag—a microchip containing plentiful personal info.

Fortunately, New York figured it out. Its chip is benign, only relaying a unique number instead of a combination of personal details that induce a Big-Brother-shudder among the population of people who just don’t see the value in disclosing everything in one easy swipe.

But why is that some of us get so chafed by one form of (potential) overexposure, but heedlessly welcome another? For example, a friend of mine raised an eyebrow when his gym requested a fingerprint as part of a new, front-door scanning system. Upon every visit he was to run his finger over a mechanism that either passed him through the turnstile, wishing him a good workout, or coldly barred him from “having a fit day.”

Yet, I see plenty of Twitter and Facebook fans who post every last detail of their lives online. “Hey, here’s where I am, here’s who I know, and here’s how to create an alias with which you can steal my identity. Go ahead it’s socially acceptable!”

What happened here? Do we only have fear when the option to expose isn’t voluntary?

Mir:ror é um dispositivo desenvolvido pela Violet que detecta objetos e lhes atribui poderes. Coloca-se o objeto sobre o espelho conectado na USB e díspar-se aplicativos ou conteúdos multimídia. Através da identificação de ondas rádio freqüência (RFID) colocados em outros dispositivos nos objetos, podemos incluir comandos para o computador. Esses outros dispositivos podem ser o Ztamps que são selos coloridos que podem ser colados nos objetos ou através do Nabaztag, um coelhinho que, conectado na internet, pode enviar qualquer informação do ambiente desde sons e luzes até informação verbal. Com esses dispositivos podemos abrir arquivos no computador, conectar sites, tocar músicas, vídeos e podcasts, ver imagens. memorandos, ler livros e muito mais.

[ratings]

Artigos relacionados:

• Mir:ror: A Glimpse Into The Future of an RFID World (readwriteweb.com)
• RFID tags for medicine control at home. (mobilewellbeing.info)
• Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Internet of Things (readwriteweb.com)
• Nabaztag can’t make RFID cool, has to file for bankruptcy (engadget.com)

A Member of Congress proposes to use taxpayer money to fund the development of technology to track motorists as part of a new form of taxation. US Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced H.R. 3311 earlier this year to appropriate $154,500,000 for research and study into the transition to a per-mile vehicle tax system. The “Road User Fee Pilot Project” would be administered by the US Treasury Department. This agency in turn would issue millions in taxpayer-backed grants to well-connected commercial manufacturers of tolling equipment to help develop the required technology. Within eighteen months of the measure’s passage, the department would file an initial report outlining the best methods for adopting the new federal transportation tax.

“Oregon has successfully tested a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) fee, and it is time to expand and test the VMT program across the country,” Blumenauer said in a statement on the bill’s introduction. “A VMT system can better assess fees based on use of our roads and bridges, as well as during times of peak congestion, than a fee based on fuel consumption. It is time to get creative and find smart ways to rebuild and renew America’s deteriorating infrastructure.”

In 2006, the Oregon Department of Transportation completed its own study of how to collect revenue from motorists with a new form of tax that, like the existing fuel excise tax, imposes a greater charge on drivers the more that they drive. The pilot project’s final report summed up the need for a VMT tax.

“Unfortunately, there is a growing perception among members of the public and legislators that fuel taxes have little to do with road programs and therefore should be considered ‘just another form of taxation,’” the March 2006 report stated. “By itself, this situation appears to be preventing any increases in fuel tax rates from being put into effect.”

The money diverted from the fuel excise tax on non-road related projects must be made up for with a brand new VMT tax, the report argued. Merely indexing the gas tax to inflation or improvements in fleet gas mileage was rejected as “imprecise.” Instead, the report urged a mandate for all drivers to install GPS tracking devices that would report driving habits to roadside Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanning devices.

Blumenauer is a long-time advocate of bicycling and mass transit in Congress. Many of his largest campaign donors stand to benefit from his newly introduced legislation. Honeywell International, for example, is a major manufacturer RFID equipment. The company also happens to be the second biggest contributor in the current cycle to Blumenauer’s Political Action Committee (PAC), the Committee for a Livable Future. Another top-ten donor, Accenture, is a specialist in the video tolling field.

H.R. 3311 awaits a hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee. A copy of the bill is available in a 170k PDF file at the source link below.

HR 3311 (Congress of the United States, 9/14/2009)

ABB Oy—a leading power electronics and automation technology group with more than 115,000 employees in 100 countries—has found that RFID technology helps it significantly reduce errors in outbound goods streams. The system automatically monitors and records movements in the stock control system and prevents loading errors in consignments.

Here’s how it works: RFID tags are affixed at parcel level to all transport units belonging to a consignment. Meanwhile, fixed RFID readers located at all trailer loading docks scan all tagged, loaded parcels. The readers record the registration number of the vehicle arriving for loading, and the data is sent to the company’s back-end software system, where the delivery’s progress is controlled automatically. For example, if the wrong goods are loaded onto a vehicle whose registration numbers (and, therefore, proper shipment details) are already recorded, the reader at the gate issues an error message. The gate will only close when all of the correct goods belonging to a consignment have been loaded into the vehicle.

The new, automated RFID system covers approximately two million transactions per year. In addition to preventing loading errors, this offers ABB dramatically more floor space on which to work. This is because when workers load outbound consignments, it is no longer necessary for them to work with the goods in a consolidation area. Instead, workers can use goods-vehicle trailers for storage (http://www.upmraflatac.com/europe/eng/news/presscenter/2009/44_71734.asp).

BMW ha recentemente adottato il  Tool Assistance System (TAS) della Ubisense, per l’utilizzo nel suo stabilimento di assemblaggio di Regensburg in Germania.

Il TAS è progettato per identificare e monitorare in tempo reale il montaggio di un veicolo senza la necessità di eseguire scansioni manuali di codici a barre. Il sistema utilizza la tecnologia RFID per identificare automaticamente che il veicolo sia montato come pure per rilevare la vicinanza del veicolo a specifiche apparecchiature di produzione.

Poiché i diversi modelli sono costruiti in successione presso gli impianti di assemblaggio BMW, i lavoratori devono costantemente caricare e ricaricare i programmi dgli strumenti automatici per il loro corretto assemblaggio. Questo lavoro veniva eseguito tramite scansione di codici a barre o inserendo le informazioni in un terminale, che sono entrambe procedure soggette a errori. Quando un lavoratore carica le informazioni errate per una macchina costosa, solitamente viene provocato un difetto di fabbricazione. Tuttavia, con la TAS, se un lavoratore si avvicina a un veicolo con uno strumento automatico, il programma appropriato sarà automaticamente caricato nello strumento eliminando così il rischio di errore umano.

Lo stabilimento di assemblaggio di Ratisbona utilizza quasi 120 sistemi di strumenti automatici per la produzione di circa 1.000 vetture al giorno.

fonte:  http://www.rfidnews.org/2009/08/10/bmw-rolls-out-new-rfid-system-in-regensburg-plant