RFID News

For reasons of safety and reliability, the importance of being able to trace products throughout the supply chain has strongly increased in recent years. The new ISO 17367:2009 standard will help manufacturers and distributors to track products and to manage their traceability thanks to standardized RF tags.

Traceability is defined as the tracking and tracing of product and information related to it at each stage of a chain of production, processing, distribution, and selling. The development of radio frequency identification (RFID), including peripheral devices and their applications, is indispensable for increasing the safety and reliability of products for consumers.

ISO 17367:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID - Product tagging, defines the basic features of RFID for use in the supply chain when applied to product tagging. In particular it makes recommendations for:

Encoded identification of the product
Additional information about the product for inclusion on the RFID tag
Semantics and data syntax
The data protocol to be used to interface with business applications and the RFID system
The air interface standards between the RFID interrogator and RFID tag.

Craig K. Harmon, Chair of TC 122/WG 10 comments: "ISO 17367:2009 will provide higher level security of products worldwide using RFID technology. It will enable easy and efficient exchange of commodities in international trade and logistics. "

ISO 17367:2009 is applicable to a wide range of industries and it has been elaborated in order to ensure compatibility at the physical, command and data levels with four other International Standards under the general title: Supply chain applications of RFID. International Standards within this suite are interoperable and non-interfering:

ISO 17363:2007, Supply chain applications of RFID - Freight containers
ISO 17364:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID - Returnable transport items (RTIs)
ISO 17365:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID - Transport units
ISO 17366:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID - Product packaging.

These International Standards define the technical aspects and data hierarchy of information required in each layer of the supply chain. ISO technical committee ISO/TC 122/WG 10, Packaging, in collaboration with ISO/TC 104, Freight containers developed this series of standards.

TC 122/WG 10 has undertaken a revision of this suite of standards to provide better clarity to the encoded methods to be utilized and support for sensor technology.

In a new initiative to automatically track and document critical interactions between individual jail detainees and guards, Hardin County Jail in Eldora, Iowa has implemented Clincher RFID (radio frequency identification) Wristbands as a major enhancement to its GUARDIAN RFID Corrections System from Codex Corp.

Nick Whitmore, Jail Administrator, states, "Clincher RFID Wristbands provide a new level of precise, point-of-contact verification of one-on-one interaction between the detainee and our correctional officers. The Clincher RFID Wristbands, with GUARDIAN Mobile software, electronically validate our officer's physical contact with detainees whether it's to log headcounts, supply passes, jail rounds, or more." Whitmore continues, "Before using Clincher RFID Wristbands, we solely relied on RFID tags positioned throughout the facility, which only provide our officer's proof-of-presence within the general vicinity of the detainee. With Clincher, we now have electronic documentation of the inmate, date, time, location, and guard officer that were involved in each interaction."

Hardin County Jail first installed the GUARDIAN RFID Corrections System in 2005 as a Correctional Compliance™ system for its 107 inmate capacity facility. Implemented in December 2009, the adoption of Clincher RFID Wristbands enhances the jail's safety and security by providing non-transferable identification of detainees. Previously, Hardin County Jail used ID badges for inmate identification, but as Whitmore points out, "ID cards were sometimes lost by the detainees or taken by another inmate. With Clincher RFID Wristbands, the detainee's ID stays intact at all times." Clincher's read/write technology interfaces with the GUARDIAN RFID Corrections System for real-time, electronic recordkeeping, tracking, and reporting.

Regulatory compliance within the jail is a key driver for the RFID applications now used at Hardin County Jail. As the officers scan an individual detainee's Clincher RFID Wristband with their ruggedized mobile computers, powered by GUARDIAN Mobile software, the GUARDIAN system records the interaction at the point of contact which provides defensible documentation for regulatory compliance. "If there is an investigation on an assault or suicide occurrence, we're able to document and prove in court that there was one-on-one contact between the individual detainee and jail guard. Being able to manage and document the individual interactions between guards and detainees is critical to several of our safety programs, including suicide prevention, drug abuse prevention, and medical care administration," said Whitmore.

There are several applications designed to improve jail security and detainee safety, while also automating manual processes to save time and labor. Tracking the issuance and return of supplies especially dangerous supplies, such as shaving razors to individual detainees is now administered using Clincher RFID Wristbands. Another application is tracking the transfer of detainees from the jail to court and back to ensure all detainees are accounted.

Plans are underway for further application development at Hardin County Jail for automated documentation of other key compliance programs using the GUARDIAN RFID Corrections System and Clincher® RFID Wristbands.

For additional information regarding PDC's Clincher RFID Wristbands please call 800.838.3683 or visit www.pdcorp.com/clincher. For additional information on the GUARDIAN® RFID Corrections System by Codex Corp. call 866-382-6339 or visit www.codexcorp.com/guardian.

About Precision Dynamics Corporation
With over 50 years of experience, PDC is the global leader and pacesetter in the development of wristband and label systems for healthcare, leisure and entertainment, and law enforcement. The company introduced the first patient bar code ID wristband, patented Smart Band Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) wristbands, and the award winning PDC Smart Kiosk. PDC is committed to 100% quality in service, design, and manufacturing and has ISO-9001: 2000 and ISO-13485: 2003 certification. For more information, visit www.pdcorp.com.

About Codex Corp.
Codex Corp. is a provider of Correctional Compliance Software delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS) to government agencies and companies to address legal, corporate, and government compliance and risk management. Codex blends innovation and emerging technologies, including Web, radio frequency identification (RFID), and mobile computing to create practical, value-driven software solutions.

Delray Beach, Fla.-based PositiveID Corp. has acquired Easy Check Medical Diagnostics LLC of Miami for an undisclosed price.

PositiveID, formerly VeriChip, sells a human-implantable RFID microchip to identify persons arriving in the emergency room and enable access to a personal health record. The company is developing an implantable microchip to measure glucose levels and the new acquisition expands its scope of diabetes management services.

Advertisement

Easy Check is developing a breath test to measure glucose levels, and a wireless text messaging system to transmit glucose readings to a secure Web database.

More information is available at positiveidcorp.com.

At Nanotech, the world's leading nanotechnology trade fair in Tokyo, Bayer MaterialScience is showcasing the two conductive inks BayInk TP S and BayInk TP CNT, which have been developed primarily for use in the growing "printed electronics" market. These new inks boast excellent adhesion to plastic films, other flexible substrates, glass, silicon and indium tin oxide (ITO), where they form highly stable structures. "This makes them ideal in supporting the concept of flexible, inexpensive electronics. They also have the potential for use in conventional electronic components, where they can replace metallization with its complex process technology," says Dr. Daniel Rudhardt, global head of research and development for conductive materials for printable electronic applications at Bayer MaterialScience.

To date, there are only a few examples of applications for producing electronic circuits using printable inks. The technology is deployed in manufacturing RFID chips and certain film displays, for instance. But experts believe printed electronics offers significant market potential and expect to see it expand rapidly. Future areas of application could include e-books or rollable screens but also electrically conductive structures in vehicles, such as integrated receiving antennae for navigation systems. "We are open to development partnerships at all stages of the value-added chain," comments Rudhardt.

The excellent properties of the new aqueous products are the result of adding nanoparticles. BayInk TP CNT contains Baytubes carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This eco-friendly ink enables production of switches and other electronic elements using virtually all current printing processes - from inkjet and gravure printing to screen printing - with conductivities up to 5,000 S/m. This completely removes the need for resintering, which not only means energy savings but is also a key benefit for use in temperature-sensitive substrates.

Bayer MaterialScience is working closely with other industrial companies and research institutes in developing CNT-based printing inks as part of the "CarboInk" alliance on innovations with carbon nanotubes (Inno.CNT). "We aim to support the production of printable, thin and cost-effective conductor tracks using printable CNT-based inks," explains Rudhardt, who is also head of this project sponsored by the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research).

BayInk TP S is based on silver nanoparticles. The dispersion can be used to produce conductor tracks and circuits using inkjet technology, for example. The resintering this requires can be performed at temperatures below 140 °C. This results in outstanding conductivity amounting to up to 35 percent of that of solid silver, depending on the sintering conditions.

The fact that the silver particles in BayInk TP S lie in the nanometer range makes it easier for them to melt during sintering, thus enabling this ink to be used at low temperatures to create more conductive structures than are possible with conventional screen printing pastes containing silver. BayInk TP S can also even be used to achieve a print resolution well below 50 micrometers, with the resolution being determined only by the printing process and not by the ink itself.

The experts from Bayer MaterialScience were helped in developing the conductive inks by the fact that they have now amassed wide-ranging expertise in nanoparticle dispersion in aqueous media. The challenge is to stabilize particles with relatively small quantities of additives. A high proportion of emulsifiers would greatly reduce the conductivity of the printed electronics. The processes developed also allow production of these nano inks in larger volumes while maintaining the same quality.

About Bayer MaterialScience
With 2008 sales of EUR 9.7 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world's largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. At the end of 2008, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites and employed approximately 15,100 people around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.