RINF.COM: THE BREAKING NEWS ALTERNATIVE

Thursday, July 24th, 2008
RINF Forum
Breaking News | Forum | UK News | USA News | World News | Political News | Sci-Tech News | War & Terrorism News | Sports News | Multimedia | Set Homepage
BREAKING NEWS
NEW RINF FORUM!

Enhanced Tracking Technology May Help RFID

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
Discuss this report in the RINF forums >

By DON CLARK

A Los Angeles start-up says it has developed a way to dramatically expand the range of a popular wireless tracking technology, opening up many new applications for low-cost identification tags.

Closely held Mojix Inc. says its enhancements to a technology known as RFID — for radio frequency identification — sharply reduce the cost of setting up wireless networks that can cover entire warehouses, stores, distribution centers and yards where heavy equipment is stored.

Such networks can be used to quickly locate goods and track their movements without having to be close to a scanning device. Networks with similar capabilities today typically require sophisticated RFID tags that cost anywhere from around $4 to more than $1,000 each, said John Fontanella, an analyst at AMR Research. Mojix says its hardware uses simpler tags that cost as little as 10 cents each.

“I think this could have significant impact,” said Michael Liard, an analyst at ABI research, of Mojix’s technology.

RFID, a more-sophisticated successor to bar codes, is used for applications such as preventing shoplifting of garments in stores and handling payments at bridge toll gates. Applying identification tags to pallets and boxes of goods has been touted as a better way to track inventories at retailers, manufacturers and other companies. But adoption has been slower than some companies expected, because of conversion costs and other issues.

The least-expensive form of the technology uses what the industry calls “passive” RFID tags, which have no power source or means to transmit data on their own. They are activated by radio signals from a device called a reader, which allows the tags to answer by sending information such as product identification numbers.

Readers for passive tags typically have a maximum transmission range of about 30 feet, said Ramin Sadr, Mojix’s chief executive. Partly as a result, companies often only deploy RFID networks in limited locations, such has around loading docks so they can track goods entering and leaving warehouses.

But in the late 1980s, Mr. Sadr and other Mojix engineers worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on technology used in long-range communications to spacecraft. They attempted to apply some of those concepts to RFID. The system they developed uses a grid of low-cost transmitters to provide radio energy to nearby RFID tags, which respond by sending signals to an unusually sensitive central receiver, Mr. Sadr said.

Each of the company’s receivers can manage signals from 512 transmitters — each as far as 600 feet away, Mr. Sadr said. The resulting coverage area can be up to 250,000 square feet, or about 100 times the coverage area of previous systems based on conventional tag readers, he added. Mojix isn’t disclosing exact pricing, but estimates that a network based on its technology will cost 20% to 25% less than other typical RFID systems as well as offer more-sophisticated capabilities.

Mojix isn’t likely to lack for competition. Ronny Haraldsvik, vice president of marketing and industry relations at Alien Technology Corp., a maker of RFID tags and readers in Morgan Hill, Calif., said Mojix appears to be targeting long-range applications now served by companies that use active RFID tags. “They are very entrenched,” he said.



Discuss this report in the RINF forums >

Have Your Say: Enhanced Tracking Technology May Help RFID

RSS TrackBack URL

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Science & Technology News, Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Translations
Translate to EnglishÜbersetzen Sie zum Deutsch/GermanПереведите к русскому/RussianΜεταφράστε στα ελληνικά/GreekVertaal aan het Nederlands/Dutchترجمة الى العربية/Arabic中文翻译/Chinese Traditional中文翻译/Chinese Simplified한국어에게 번역하십시오/Korean日本語に翻訳しなさい /JapaneseTraduza ao Português/PortugueseTraduca ad Italiano/ItalianTraduisez au Français/FrenchTraduzca al Español/Spanish Free Newsletter

Related News

Network This Report

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Slashdot
  • Reddit
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Spurl
  • Fark
  • Netscape

Email This Page To A Friend
Latest Headlines

Archive
TOP NEWS DISCUSSIONS
LATEST NEWS DISCUSSIONS
LATEST FORUM TOPICS
Lancaster Activists Remove BNP From City Centre

ID cards - compulsory or not?

Vaccines and Autism - The science and the politics

Former Gitmo Prosecutor Says Trials Rigged

Eulogy For The "Ownership Society"

The US will not prosecute Bush

Rice: US still puts conditions on talks with Iran

Ashcroft defends waterboarding before House panel

Guantánamo children

Reporter Arrested For Trying To Crash Bohemian Grove

Rice says Iran not serious at weekend nuke talks

Judge Bars Evidence Against Terrorism Suspect at Guantanamo Trial

Kucinich: impeachment will be heard Friday

Death of Free Internet - Canada Will Be Test Case

Matt commented on:
Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power
Maybe we would see a part of the real agenda that drives the puppet Bush into doing what he does!...
Continue Reading & Reply

Aldo commented on:
Death of Free Internet - Canada Will Be Test Case
I would just do without it and refer back to what I done before the Internet began, I would...
Continue Reading & Reply

Mick Meaney commented on:
Vaccines and Autism - The science and the politics
I have removed the comment Louise.
Continue Reading & Reply

3 year old kid commented on:
The Police force with a £320 million budget – but no crime!
The reason why NORTHUMBRIA Police, Cumbria police and Lancashire...
Continue Reading & Reply

RSS Forum Posts Temp Offline - See Latest Forum Posts
Activism & Protest News | Business News | Civil & Human Rights News | Environmental News | Media News | Globalisation News | Web Development News
ADVERTISEMENTS
SITE MAPS
Web Desing & Hosting UK , USA, Europe

WOWEB - Web Design

FAST GATEWAY - Web Hosting

INFOTX - Web Hosting Guides and Resources


ASHLEY GUEST HOUSE - Morecambe Guest House


Skin up marijuana cannabis weed forum
Linux Web Hosting

Never Be Lied To Again!

Subliminal Secrets Exposed

Holographic Creation: Your Own Reality


Masonic Secrets Revealed


What You Aren't Supposed To Know
7/7 Afghanistan Alternative-Energy Art BBC Big-Brother Bilderberg Biometrics Bush CIA Climate-Change Cover-Up Cults Culture Database-State David-Hicks David-Ray-Griffin Democrats Demos Drugs Education EU False-Flag FBI Fraud Free-Speech Freemasons G8 Globalization Guantanamo Health-News History ID-Cards Internet Iran Iraq Israel Law Marches MI5 MI6 Microsoft Military MoD Money Music NASA Neocons NSA Oil Pakistan Podcast Police-State Propaganda RFID RINF Rumsfeld Science Secrecy Security Slavery Space Sports Spying Stephen-Lendman Technology Terrorism Tony-Blair Torture TV UK-News UN USA-News Video Voting Warfare White-House Wolfowitz World-News Yahoo
2003 - 2005 Archives | 2005 - 2007 Archives | 2007 - 2008 Archives | Current Archives | Past Version
About | DVD Store | Opinion | Reviews | Special Guests | Webmasters
The views expressed in the RINF news wire and newsletter are the sole responsibility of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster.
RINF.COM: Breaking News & Alternative Media is Copyleft - Copy & Distribute Freely. News Forum