TREND: continuous RFID hardware innovation

As an experienced RFID integrator, it is our duty to keep track of the newest RFID hardware trends. Our Chief Innovation Officer and RFID Business Unit Manager Jason Scrivens brings you up to speed with the most innovative products on the market. 

As an experienced RFID integrator, it is our duty to keep track of the newest RFID hardware trends. Our Chief Innovation Officer and RFID Business Unit Manager Jason Scrivens brings you up to speed with the most innovative products on the market. “When we realised our first projects back in 2007, the deployment of RFID technology was still at an early stage”, Jason Scrivens remembers. “Since then, RFID hardware innovation has proven to be a vital and never-ending process: RFID tags for example get more and more sensitive, and the newest generation of RFID readers handles very long reading distances.”

“Thorough R&D has allowed us to realise projects in complex environments that would have been impossible not so long ago.” 

Ultra-small RFID inlays and battery-assisted beacons 

Looking at the most recent hardware innovations, the ultra-small inlays are an important one to keep an eye on. Jason Scrivens: “These RFID inlays provide high read reliability and enhanced performance, even when small, tagged items are densely packed in close proximity to each other. A big added value for RFID asset management in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector.”   

Another innovation that stands out is the battery-assisted beacon. “Compared with conventional Bluetooth beacons, the battery-assisted equivalent features extremely low power consumption that enables longer lifetime in a smaller form factor. It is also thinner, less expensive and more physically flexible: it can easily and quickly be attached to products on a production line by using a label applicator.” 

“From our many years of project experience, it is safe to say that hybrid solutions are the future”, Mr.Scrivens concludes.“By thinking out of the box and combining technologies like RFID, Vision, BLE, our own HERTZ Middleware etc., we help our customers to improve their supply chain operations and to increase their data accuracy”.