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New Alien UHF Tags Target Challenging Retail Environments

From:chafanViews:6226Date:2013-04-13

     As the retail industry's use of item-level EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency(UHF) RFID tags surges globally, California-based UHF RFID tag manufacturer Alien Technology is aiming at the most challenging use cases in that sector, by releasing three new tags this month. The tags are commercially available now, and are currently being tested by several retailers and manufacturers. All three were designed to solve problems in areas of the retail market in which tags were still difficult to read. The GT (ALN-9728) is designed to improve read reliability for general item-level tagging, the HiScan (ALN-9720) aims to improve read effectiveness with handheld readers, and the BAT (ALN-9770) addresses the most challenging environment: goods containing metal or liquid.

    Alien Technology has worked closely with end users to understand where tags are not yet providing the necessary read reliability, according to Neil Mitchell, Alien's director of marketing. "We have a very good range of tags," he says, "but as we have talked with providers in the retail market, and retailers themselves, it's clear we as a marketplace need to improve the ability for tags to be read in challenging environments."
 
The HiScan (ALN-9720) tag is designed for retail and apparel applications for which handheld readers are used, or when tags may be hidden behind many similar retail items.
    There are, Mitchell says, certain items for which obtaining a good tag read is difficult or might seem impossible, and those are the use cases that the three new tags are targeting. All three models come with Alien's Higgs-4 IC, which offers 448 bits of memory, including 128 bits of Electronic Product Code (EPC) memory.
The GT is a general-use retail item-level tag for use in hangtags, joker labels (cardboard labels affixed to the backs of jeans) and a variety of other tags that are attached to apparel or other retail goods. The dry (nonadhesive) version of the inlay measures 1.97 inches by 1.18 inches (50 millimeters by 30 millimeters). The GT's predecessor, the H-Tag, contained a Higgs-3 chip, while the GT model—with the Higgs-4 chip and other design optimization—offers a more reliable and longer read range than the H-Tag.
 
The BAT (ALN-9770) tag is specialized for tagging automotive batteries and similar plastic containers filled with fluids or metals.
    The GT was created for uses cases in which jeans, for example, are stacked unevenly, with a variety of orientations for the tags within those stacks. "It's designed to read more reliably and at longer distances," Mitchell says, contrasting the GT's performance with that of the H-Tag or other companies' existing tags for item-level retail applications.
The tag has been tested by research groups at the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center for use on denim, polybagged apparel and hanging apparel
    The HiScan is designed to operate best when interrogated by handheld readers, which typically utilize lower power than fixed or desktop models. Mitchell notes that item-leveltags are often read via handheld readers at stores, while staff members collect inventory data, and the HiScan is specifically designed to respond well within a low-power environment. The dry version of the inlay measures 1.56 inches by 0.61 inch (40 millimeters by 15.5 millimeters).
    The BAT tag, which measures 3.25 inches by 1.25 inches (82.5 millimeters by 32 millimeters), is intended for use on automotive      batteries and plastic containers filled with metal or fluids. Batteries pose one of the greatest challenges to tagging, since they contain a large quantity of metal and liquid, which make reading passive UHF RFID tags very difficult. Under real-world conditions, Mitchell says, batteries would be stacked on a pallet, three or four deep, with several layers of batteries piled on top of them. "It can be very challenging to read that center tag on the pallet," he states. Therefore, Alien Technology has tested the tag extensively on automotive batteries. However, he notes, it would also be appropriate for use on any item composed of heavy plastic and containing liquids or metal.
 
The GT (ALN-9728) tag is tuned for use within retail environments in which items are tightly packed on shelves or hangers.
     All three tags are capable of being encoded with Alien's BlastWrite and QuickWrite mass-encoding systems (see Alien Technology Releases Pre-encoded Higgs-4 Chip). BlastWrite is a method in which a user can write to dozens or hundreds of tags in parallel at any given time, while QuickWrite enables a user to write multiple words to a single chip using a lone command. This speeds up EPC and memory initialization for brand owners looking to program tags one at a time.
According to Mitchell, the tags are being used or tested by numerous customers, though he declined to indicate how the tags are being employed, or the types of products to which they might be attached. "They are very much big-name retailers," he indicates. To date, he says, these customers report that the tags are providing improved performance over that of tags previously used or tested.
"The big picture behind all this is that there is a lot of strength in the retail market for tags," Mitchell states. "For us, we are building on the success we've had, and what you're seeing now fits into the overall picture of our strengthening position [in the retail sector]." Alien Technology, he reports, will "continue to meet needs of our customers in a cost-effective manner." He did not provided pricing information for the three new tags, but says, "We will continue to evolve the price [downward]."
    All three tags will be exhibited at Alien's booth (#326) at RFID Journal LIVE! 2013, to be held from Apr. 30 to May 2, in Orlando, Fla.