Remember once I had told you all about RFID posters called SuiPo which used RFID technology for interactive marketing and now the extension of the service is Suipo Navita, a map system offering real time information on stores and services situated around train stations. These Navita stations have been placed next to large static district maps offering overview.

Hopefully you will be able to find your way out using these maps and not get lost in the crowd!!

Beware child abductors as here comes the only tamper detecting umbilical tag in the market. This is the TotGuard Infant Protection solution which includes an active RFID based tamper resistant umbilical tag along with built in tamper alert mechanism.

It would be of great use as it will foil any attempts to abduct infants by sensing tag removal on the umbilicus of a newborn. It is the only infant security system offering disposable active tags. With video imaging linked to RFID Asset Tag in this solution makes it even easier to tackle any kind of discrepancy.

Certainly it's a great way to take care of the infants who cannot protect themselves.

If you are planning camping in the mountains then have a look at the concept solar tent from Orange. This solar tent seeks inspiration from flexible photovoltaics covered in semi photovoltaic fabric. It is woven in conventional threads and coated solar threads for forming solar shell which adjusts as per the sun light.

The solar energy generated would be channeled for lighting, heating, communications and recharging in your tent. Some of the energy would be even used towards radiant floor heating which can be a plus in harsh winters. If you are someone who has been regular to camping sites then you must be aware that there is always a chance that you might lose your way back to the camp and to tackle this problem the tent would come equipped with Glo-cation technology which would enable campers to reach back to their tent by using automatic RFID tag similar to ones deployed at London's Underground Oyster subway cards. It would then glow in response enabling you to enter your own tent only.

Sounds cool considering that the basic tents available have been carved out to shield you from weather and offer a sound sleep.

RFID is known to act crazy while in the company of metals but here is SteelWING, a passive UHF tag from Confidex supporting EPC Class 1 Gen specification. SteelWING comes with an adhesive backing therefore it can be directly attached to metal surfaces and can still perform to the best of abilities without any type of spacer between it and the metal surface.

It works with other materials too but the performance will be slightly reduced when it's not attached to any kind of metal surface. Offering a read range of 32 feet, it comes equipped with NXP Semiconductors' G2XM chip offering improved memory. You can even opt for the customized SteelWING with pre encoding or a customer specific label displaying encoded data in bar code or human readable form.

This is what Hakan Djuphammar, VP of systems architecture at Ericsson predicts for the technology. Let me quote the exact words of Hakan:

A year from now basically every new phone that's sold will have [Near Field Communication]. It's a two-way, bio-directional RFID communication link that makes this device work as a tag or as a reader.

Proponents of privacy and security need not worry as the RFID chips will be placed in a secured environment in the phone where only secure elements could be downloaded enabling your cell phone to take on other roles such as doubling as a concert ticket or credit card or acting as keys of your car or house.

Credit card frauds could also be taken care of as location of mobile phone user and IP mapping could be used to find out whether the credit card transaction is being conducted near the card holder and if its genuine or not.

I hope this becomes a reality pretty soon as your cell phone wont just remain a source of communication or entertainment any more.

Here comes battery powered passive RFID tag which is expected to bridge the gap between passive UHF and active RFID. Also known as semi passive tags, battery assisted passive RFID tags comprise of small sized carbon zinc batteries which are eco friendly and are known to increase RF signal strength which leads to longer read ranges and faster read when compared with passive RFID. It also works well in difficult environments such as metals or liquids.
The good thing about battery powered passive RFID is that these passive tags minimize the price and performance gap existing between pure passive UHF and active RFID along with less costs and complications.

It offers most of the benefits of active tags at relatively lower costs and most of the battery assisted passive tags available in the market are compatible with existing Gen2 RFID architecture which brings down the cost of integration when compared to existing active systems.

Since it involves simple architecture these tags can be manufactured in larger volumes by deployment of conventional printing processes and the small size makes integration easier when compared to active RFID.

Given below are some of the areas where battery assisted passive RFID tags could offer benefits in terms of cost, time and visibility:

 Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Inventory management and asset tracking of parts, materials, work-in-process or finished goods in factories, warehouses and distribution centers can increase accuracy and visibility, while reducing labor time and cost and minimizing waste.
 Asset Management. Tracking and tracing of assets - such as reusable pallets and containers, tools and equipment, computers and other IT hardware, or essential files and documents - can save time and costs, improve asset control, and minimize loss and theft.
 Healthcare, Security and Public Safety. ID badges or wristbands can be used to track the whereabouts of people in secure buildings, health care and medical facilities, at large public events and disaster management/evacuation sites.
 Retail. "Smart case" and "smart shelf" systems can help reduce shrinkage due to misplaced merchandise or theft, and can also help retailers improve inventory accuracy to minimize overstocks and out-of-stocks.

People with intellectual disabilities tend to lack confidence and for this purpose Special Olympics which is an international organization based in Washington, D.C has been working towards honing the confidence and physical fitness of these very people so that they can realize their potential. It has been organizing year round athletic competitions, sports training and several other programs for more than three million adults and children in 175 countries.

For the benefit of people suffering from intellectual disabilities Special Olympics has been adopting latest technologies from time to time. In order to make life easier for them they are issuing RFID based ID card by the name of Healthy Athlete Pass which comes loaded with person's information such as age, name and nationality. This certainly helps in identification and comes to the rescue of these special people who have to depend on others for their welfare.

I must say I really feel happy when genuine efforts are made towards using the technology for the benefit of disabled people.

This time there were no cases of counterfeiting or long queues, thanks to use of RFID technology in Six Fest music festival held in Ohio. Even rain could not play spoilsport to the technology.

InstaTrax Solutions deployed the RFID ticket system at the event which enabled around fourteen thousand ticket holders to move through the gate without having to take the tickets out of their pockets or bags.

The event had been previously suffering on account of counterfeit tickets and the same tickets being used by multiple people to gain access to the event. Even the use of extra staff members was not effective to take care of the situation.

This time the organizers deployed passive UHF RFID tag encoded with unique ID number where every tag was read by interrogators at concert gate to prevent reuse or counterfeiting. The tags were attached at the back of the ticket in sticker format.

It worked for the event organizers and they were able to recover their costs of deployment.

The recession has taught us a lesson - adopt cost saving approach from day 1 or perish. Many have already hit the dust and the ones which survived are looking at putting all the pieces together and start afresh.

Retail sector has been one of the hardest hit in the process and it has been trying to get back into shape once again and for this purpose they have sought the solace of RFID. Millions of paper shelf labels are wasted each year which not only increases operating costs of the stores operating on thin margins but also disturbs the environment around us.

The solution for it lies in the electronic shelf label or ESL system which includes RFID based LCD displays and can be attached to the store shelves for identification of products and their prices. This system can be taken care of from a remote location and is expected to save millions of paper labels each year.

With an average retail store making ten to twelve thousand price changes each week you can yourself calculate the amount of paper labels, printing solution and labor required to achieve it. Also you cannot miss on the aspect of human error.

The system deploys 2.4 GHz RFID chip with a proprietary air-interface protocol along with chip and coin battery for controlling LCD screen of the label. The RFID chip is entrusted with the responsibility of storing name, price, stock keeping unit and other information pertaining to the product.

RFID readers need to deployed on the ceiling of each store and computer server needs to be set in the back room of each store for receiving price updates from the headquarter where the server sends the interrogators via Ethernet cable and the reader transmitting the information to the shelf labels.

Product information can be displayed on ten thousand labels in less than an hour. The system developed by Altierre is already being tested by two US grocery stores.

As a youngster I still remember the time when New Coke bit the dust and its just one of the several varieties of coke which failed to take of in the market. Even the market seems to have changed since then and has become more competitive of late therefore one mistake and millions of dollars could end down the drain.

In order to counter such failures in the market Coca Cola has developed a high tech soft drink dispenser which will very soon make debut in fast food restaurants across U.S. Dubbed as Freestyle Drink Dispenser, it will be mixing over hundred types of juice, sodas, flavored waters and tea to the delight of customers.

The machine holds thirty cartridges where every cartridge comes equipped with an RFID tag and the dispenser includes an RFID reader. This ensures tracking of what customers are drinking and in what quantity. The collected data would be sent back to the company which would help in generating and accessing reports regarding how successful the new drink is, its regional preference and answer other marketing issues.

It is expected to emerge as an inexpensive means of conducting test marketing and score over Coke's current product model which involves bottling and advertising of new drinks for several years and which are taken off the shelf only when they fail costing losses worth millions of dollars.

If the pilot proves successful then Coca Cola will be savings millions of dollars it spends in its marketing effort.