RFID Europe continues moving along with the industry

As RFID moves on, so does the RFID event 'RFID Europe', which takes place in Cambridge UK on 29-30 September. The leading topics in RFID for 2009 include Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS), now in hundreds of locations and growing fast.

Assets and people in hospitals are the latest major application and many different RTLS technologies are now competing. IDTechEx will give global ten year forecasts for all forms of RFID by sector. ID Systems, the active RFID supplier in Austria, will report on a new focus - "Managing Large Scale, Moveable Assets in the Construction Industry". Savant will share how it tracks vital healthcare assets in UK hospitals.

Healing helping, harvesting
Then there are Wireless Sensor Networks, otherwise known as Third Generation Active RFID or Ubiquitous Sensor Networks USN. These wireless mesh networks mimic the internet, being the first forms of RFID that are self organising and self healing. Hundreds of companies are now involved and the first killer application is under way - meter reading. The RFID/USN Center in Korea will present on "USN Activities in Korea for a Future Society". TRAAK Systems in Scotland will present, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles - How RFID and Sensor Networks can Help Us All". With ever wider deployment of active RFID, the event addresses the need to progress from primary batteries to energy harvesting in all its forms.

Localising, light activating, low power
Passive RFID remains the largest market by numbers but there are surprises even here; it may be that ten percent of money spent on the fastest growing part - UHF passive RFID - will involve on-metal and ruggedised versions where tag prices are at least ten times the price of basic UHF. Carinthian Tech Research of Austria reveals how to cope with RFID in harsh industrial environments. S5 Systems of Canada presents new progress in localisation of UHF tags and the University College Cork, Ireland, will reveal a passive RFID-based indoor positioning system. LG2P Polypore of France describes a breakthrough in printing carbon nanotubes for RFID antennas. Pharmaseq of the USA describes new "Light Activated Transponders for Miniaturised RFID and Tracking". EASICS of Belgium has a new ultra low power chip for UHF RFID to describe and Optaglio of the Czech Republic and Applied Biosystems in the USA have technology to reveal. There is a presentation on RFID in Air France and Animal ID reveals a new technology for animal RFID.
 
Packaging, pricing, planet saving
Hide Pack of Canada present "RFID Enabling a CPG Packaging Supply Chain". Do passive tags with a display have a future for re-pricing shop goods at the touch of a button? Will apparel tagging not only continue to grow rapidly, but involve anti-counterfeiting, merchandising and other functions, not just the reduction of stockouts? GCS Consulting in Germany has the answers.
 
In addition to traditional applications, the conference speakers will describe recent adoption of RFID in magazines and cheques and even on fast fishing boats in China, to avoid collisions. IBM Denmark will present on "Intelligent RFID, Technology Solution to the Green Sector in Europe". The optional organised visits will also bring alive how RFID is expanding its usefulness. They encompass Ubisense in RTLS, user Marshall Aerospace at Cambridge Airport, tag technology at Conductive Inkjet Technology and Cambridge University and RFID systems at The Technology Partnership. The business is moving on.