Leading electronic manufacturer, Murata, has developed a tiny RFID module, called MAGICSTRAP, that enables product lifecycle tracking using any global frequency whilst minimising the amount RF expertise required to implement an RFID solution.

The manufacturing industry is being asked to manage product lifecycle more precisely and efficiently, in part due to legislation on the disposal of home electronic equipment.

Systems for tracking a product throughout its lifecycle focus on reading and writing information such as production process history from an ID in or on the product. Barcodes are the current standard for individual identification of the products, but since they cannot accept new information, RFIDs have come into the spotlight as a technology that can resolve the shortcomings of barcode-based systems.

Murata's MAGICSTRAP RFID module combines the latest in ceramic materials with a breakthrough in ceramic module and inductive coupling technology to produce a very easy to mount module. MAGICSTRAP, otherwise known as the LXMS31 series, comprises Murata's LTCC (low temperature co-fired ceramic) substrate, plus RF IC and packaging. Murata's strengths in multi-layer ceramic technology have allowed the company to embed all the necessary RF circuitry, including antenna filters, matching circuitry and 10kV ESD protection, within the LTCC substrate of the module. The RF IC is then mounted on top. The overall package dimensions are 3.2 by 1.6 by 0.7mm.

The module's internal circuitry is connected to the antenna pattern via inductive coupling. There are therefore no connection pads on the base of the module, instead the module is simply mounted using ordinary adhesive. Compared to competing products which require micron accuracy when mounting, for MAGICSTRAP, millimeter accuracy is sufficient. Further, MAGICSTRAP exhibits stable performance even when mounted on materials which have a capacitance, like polypropylene.

The module's embedded wideband antenna matching circuit, plus a single wideband antenna (for which Murata will provide a reference design), allow MAGICSTRAP to be readable over the band 800-1000MHz at a distance of 5m. This means the same module and antenna pattern can be used worldwide (in Europe, the US and Japan), saving cost and inventory for manufacturers.

Established in 1944, Murata is headquartered in Japan and has European offices in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Hungary. Murata is a leading manufacturer of electronics components, modules, and devices. The complete range of this Ceramics Technology house includes ceramic capacitors, resistors/thermistors, inductors/chokes, ceramic resonators, buzzers, sensors and EMI suppression filters. Whilst the company gets 40% of its revenue from its ceramic capacitor products, it is also the world leader in Bluetooth & WiFi Modules, and a key manufacturer of power supplies. Murata also designs and manufactures mobile handset antenna families, piezoelectric actuators for fuel injection systems, short focal length ceramic lenses and speaker products.

Related Links:

http://www.murata.eu/

Germany based noFilis, known by its AutoID Device Management Technology, recently announces the partnership with the METRO Group Future Store Initiative.

The METRO Group Future Store Initiative was founded in 2002 with the objective to push forward the modernization process within the retail industry and develop practical concepts for tomorrow's shopping experience.

The initiative is made up of more than 85 partners from the IT, consumer goods, and service sectors as well as representatives from the world of science.

Major partners include SAP, Intel, IBM, T-Systems and Cisco as well as a consortium comprising Fujitsu Services, Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Siemens. The central platform of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative is the real,- Future Store in Toenisvorst, which opened in May 2008. This hypermarket of tomorrow provides a real-life environment for initiative partners to test and develop new technologies and concepts until they are ready for wide-scale introduction onto the market.

noFilis is a software company with in-depth expertise in RFID, AutoID and sensor technology. The noFilis Device Management CrossTalk is a state-of-the-art solution stack for transforming business rules/commands into physical device tasks. The Edgeware takes care of a transparent and smooth integration of smart devices into a distributed data network. Besides offering one of the leading solutions for device integration and data capturing, noFilis is member of EPC Global, the committee for AutoID standardization.

"METRO Group and noFilis have successfully cooperated in several joint RFID projects in the last years. We are proud of having noFilis as an experienced partner for the integration of AutoID - technologies" says Dr. Gerd Wolfram, managing director of MGI METRO Group Information Technology. "The partner status highlights the close cooperation and builds the basis for further joint RFID activities and developments."

One of the cooperation highlights of METRO Group and noFilis lies in the joint development of algorithms for filtering of RFID read events. "The quality of RFID read events has become as important as successful read rates in current RFID implementations" says Patrick Hartmann, Global Sales Director of noFilis. "We need to take care of so-called `positive false reads`. It is one of our tasks to make sure, that we only forward those RFID read events to ERP applications that have really been moved through a gate construction."

noFilis CrossTalk configures, manages and integrates AutoID read points

The noFilis Crosstalk agent based Peer-To-Peer Architecture enables customers to set-up a distributed and highly scaleable service network, with fully automized integration of AutoID - and sensor - information into business processes, including the management of all relevant AutoID devices. The so-called noFilis CrossTalk Agent requires minimal system-resources and can be installed and run directly on fixed RFID devices, mobile devices, PLC controls and forklift terminals. An automized Micro Process System of the noFilis CrossTalk Agent translates all requirements of physical processes in a supply chain-, logistics- or production-environment into several noFilis CrossTalk Micro Processes. Standard Protocols of EPC Global like LLRP and ALE are fully supported by CrossTalk and the integration into various ERP Systems works via embedded noFilis CrossTalk Software Services.

CrossTalk is a java-based solution. All components are designed for high availability and optimized hardware resource use. The scalable system is designed to control hundreds of devices in distributed locations.

Core part of CrossTalk is the CT (CrossTalk) Engine, which implements the basic functionality to run device processes. The CT Engine can be run and executed directly on a RFID reader device, on a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) System on a industry PC in a production environment or, together with SAP AII middleware, in a computer center or even distributed over several locations.

The CrossTalk Engine works partially in real-time. After the system starts, all necessary components (e.g., processes, device connections) are started and monitored automatically. Configuration and monitoring are done via the CrossTalk web interface.

All required configurations are stored in the CrossTalk config repository. In most cases, the resource requirements for the database are very small and an already existing system instance can be used. Operation, configuration and monitoring of the whole environment can be done by a central CrossTalk instance.

The basic Components of CrossTalk Architecture has the followings:

CrossTalk monitors the bundle of services and elements of all processes. Services consist of a heartbeat. Devices are monitored by timers via polling. An alert is raised after notification of a component failure or non-responding components.

All messages are reported to the CrossTalk Monitor. CrossTalk itself can be monitored by a central SAP alert monitor such as SAP CCMS*, IBM Tivoli*, or Hewlett-Packard OpenView*, using HTTP or SNMP.

Related Links:

http://www.nofilis.com/