Contents
========
1) Leap in the performance of UHF passive transponder technology
2) Getting your own complete RFID/radar system

In this newsletter we detail another major performance achievement for passive UHF RFID transponders.

Another leap in the performance of UHF passive transponder technology
=====================================================================
The distance is 25.6 metres and the transponder is attached to a metal item!!.

This is the functional distance from the reader, as measured with the RFID-radar, of the new generation passive UHF transponder developed by Trolley Scan. UHF transponders attached to metal items are another problem situation addressed by the Trolley Scan development.

Passive transponders do not have their own onboard source of power but extract operating power from the energising field of the reader.

Previously, the maximum range with passive transponders with Trolley Scan readers was 13 metres.

The impressive performance comes from the combination of a new integrated circuit specially made for Trolley Scan and from Trolley Scan's spectacular RF antenna developments for transponders.

The new transponder has been specifically designed to be used with tracking laptop computers and office equipment, but also finds use in tagging metal items.

The actual operating range achieved with the new transponder is not important. Trolley Scan have for a long time supplied battery assisted transponders that had a 40 metre range, and this improvement just means lower costs, increasing operating life from a few months to 100 years, and providing simpler technology for medium range situations.

What the development does signify is how passive types of transponders are moving into applications that in the past could only be satisfied with battery assisted and active type transponders. It also allows progress on the development of low power technology to be accurately measured.

By way of an explanation for those technically interested.
The staff at Trolley Scan were involved in the first developments of UHF transponders for retail applications, namely the development of Supertag in 1990 in Pretoria, South Africa.
At that time we aimed to build a single chip transponder for use in tagging items in a grocery trolley. Then semiconductor technology was at such a stage of development that there were analogue type devices which could handle RF components, and a separate type of technology was in use for digital circuitry for data handling. Hence we ended up with two chips on each transponder. About ten years later single chip devices were practical that had both the RF and the digital circuitry on a single device and single chip transponders became available.

The transponders get their power from the energising field and to visualise the power distribution back in 1990, we made a number of small dipoles with light emitting diodes. Attaching these to the wall of the office and aiming the energising antennas at the wall from about 3 metres away, together with a fair size RF power generator, we could get the LEDs to glow if they were in the main beam and hence see the power distribution. Those devices needed about 54 milliwatts of power in the collecting area and had an operating range of about three metres with the transmitters and antennas we then used. The two chip transponders needed similar power.

Since January 2004, Trolley Scan have been supplying 200uW versions of transponders, that is a 250 times improvement on the originals. We now have a new transponder which is also passive, is attached to metal items, and uses just 40 microwatts (uW) of power, that is 1350 times less power than the originals.

This dramatic improvement over time, has meant greatly increased range for operation. It also has led to reduced energising power being needed from the reader, which means smaller RF amplifiers and the ability to use lower gain antennas which can spread the power over a wider angle increasing the area of coverage. The lower power needs of the new transponders also means that portable readers which can operate on batteries for a reasonable time and yet give a 10 metre read range are practical.

Trolley Scan make UHF RFID fixed readers. UHF portable readers, UHF RFID-radar systems and a range of transponders for different packaging requirements. The new transponder technology is compatible with all the reader products made by Trolley Scan and with all the earlier ranges of transponders.

Getting your own complete RFID/radar system
===========================================
You can order RFID systems from Trolleyscan.com

Trolley Scan provide small RFID reader systems which give new users the ability to evaluate UHF RFID and their applications without needing specialised skills. The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 100 transponders based on the EcoTag technology. The user just connects the reader to a computer and provides mains power to have a fully operational system.

These systems are already operating in 50 countries.

To find out details of the systems and to order see http://trolleyscan.com/isosys.html

Contents
========
1) Development directions for RFID

Development directions for RFID
===============================
In 2010 we here in South Africa will be hosting one of the globe's largest media and sporting events, namely the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Technology is going to cause an interesting split in viewers of this event. Some will want high bandwidth communications so that they can watch it on a 5 centimetre cell phone screen, while others will want 42 inch screens with high definition satellite feeds. The people watching on the cellphones are never really going to know what is going on in the game, but they are going to feel good about their application of technology.

In the same way, RFID is a technology that is suitable for some applications and not necessarily for others. RFID is a rapidly developing technology that is steadily finding its niche applications and it might be worthwhile to consider the directions of some of those developments.

RFID is a data capture technology that allows the identity of items that are in close proximity to a reader to be communicated to a computer system for processing. It can read large numbers of identities in a zone, very quickly, accurately, and within radio distance of the reader. It can be made at very low cost which means that relatively inexpensive items can be cost effectively labelled. What makes it useful is when it is combined with the correct software application to manage these large amounts of data and generate simple, human compatible outputs.

The ultimate application of RFID is in reading the contents of a supermarket trolley, an application that was first demonstrated in South Africa in 1994. Although technically RFID can meet this challenge, it is not a commercially viable application due to the high cost of the transponders.

There are a number of new developments happening that are improving RFID.

1)Lower power RF performance.
As passive transponders operate on energy received in the form of radio power, and as this radio energy that is available degrades with distance, major developments are taking place to produce lower powered transponders. These developments focus both on the radio properties and the intrinsic operating powers of the transponders. The lower power developments mean that passive transponders are replacing the former active types of transponders due to their increased range and lower costs. The lower power devices also result in the viability of portable reader systems with good operating ranges and good battery life.

2)Range information
When transponder operating powers were high and ranges short, location of the transponders was not an issue as they were immediately in front of the reader. As ranges increased beyond 6 metres and approach up to 40 metres, it has become important to know the position of the transponder relative to the reader so that the item can be easily physically identified. These longer ranges mean that a single reader can now monitor an area that in the past had to be covered by many readers. This has resulted in Real Time Locating Systems (such as RFID-radar) moving into the RFID-reader market space.

3)Manufacturing cost
For many years there has been a wish to have very low cost transponders, especially by high volume users. Those who understand the issues realise that there is a floor to the pricing and very low cost parts are not going to be a reality. There are three major cost centres to making transponders, namely the chip, the antenna and the assembly/packaging. In a survey we were part of a few years ago, it became apparent from participants that roughly one third of the costs can be assigned to each of these centres.

4)Smaller antenna size
To transfer energy by radio means, antennas are used to convert electrical signals to radio waves and vice versa. The size of these antennas are dependant on the operating frequency of the systems. Breaking the relationship of size/frequency generally results in a drastic reduction in effectiveness. Users would like antenna systems that are as small as possible but still effective.

5)RF interference
As RFID systems become more popular it is going to be more likely that one RFID reader will interfere with another RFID reader close by as many users try to share the same allocated radio spectrum. Attention is going to have to be given to the interference profile of the different types of protocols. At present there are low interference tag-talks-first and high interference reader-talks-first protocols.

6)Increasing dynamic range
RFID readers are amazing pieces of technology, detecting very weak signals from transponders while in the presence of relatively strong energising signals. As the operating range of systems has been increasing, the readers have had to simultaneously detect transmissions from transponders that are very close to the reader and those that are very far. This has to be done without changing the amplification of the readers so as not to miss any transmission.

7)New protocols
Presently the simple protocols in use require each transponders to have a unique identity to be identified correctly. There are available more advanced RFID protocols that allow many transponders with the same identity number to be accurately identified and counted, protocols where the uniqueness of the data is not used for identity. In future systems where only product numbers are needed, these advanced protocols will be needed.

Contents
========
1) Interesting projects
2) New developments in passive transponder technology

Interesting projects
=====================
RFID systems are the data capture components of some bigger productivity/management system. When a transponder comes close to a reader, the reader is able to identify the transponder and pass its identity on to a computer system for processing of the event. Most RFID systems only work over very short range, but the advanced technology available from Trolley Scan allow operating ranges up to 40 meters, 800 tags in a zone at a time, read rates up to 70 per second and speeds up to 300kph - as well as Rfid-radar systems that can measure the physical position of tags in the zone to millimeter accuracy.

With such versatile performance for the data capture components of a system, RFID systems have become a basic building block of many IT systems that are used for measuring performance, management, security or the monitoring of assets.

The ability of long range UHF RFID to be able to detect passing laptop computers even when they are being carried in a case, has resulted in many projects being initiated to protect companies from losing their laptop computers due to theft. The ability to match computers to their owners when passing through security checkpoints allow quick processing of staff and visitors at exit points without the loss of security.

Recently Trolley Scan have provided systems to detect underground services such as fibre optic cables for telecom providers. The cables are buried when they are laid and need to be located when repairs are needed. By burying cheap passive transponders at the time of laying with the cables, the exact position of the cable can be determined when repairs are needed. The UHF energy from the portable reader penetrates the ground to power up the transponder which then emits its identity. The use of this technology is complicated due to the absorption of energy by the soils in different moisture conditions.

Because of the ability to detect transponders at speed, Trolley Scan systems are widely used in timing systems for sports events. This allows enthusiasts to build a low cost timing system by just adding a computer and some software. Recently we have provided a 1000 transponder system for the timing of mountain bikes - add to the portfolio of systems in use worldwide.

RFID-radar can measure the position of multiple transponders physically relative to the reader. Applications are being developed to use these features to assist disabled people, particularly those who are vision impaired.

RFID has invaded the arts with RFID-radar systems which are being used as sensor systems to allow patrons to interact with art displays in galleries. By sensing transponders on the body, the controlling computer can change the electronic displays that the patron is observing by movements of the body of the patron.

New developments in passive transponder technology
==================================================
One of the key parameters to measure the technological progress of RFID, is to monitor the amount of RF energy needed to operate a passive transponder. The transponder collects its energy from the energising field of the reader, and when the amount collected reaches the operating requirement, the transponder is powered-up and can function properly.

The energy density from the reader decreases as the inverse square of the distance - that is every doubling of distance requires four times as much power, or a tag 10 meters from a reader only receives 1% of the power density of a tag 1 meter away. Hence by reducing the amount of energy needed to operate a transponder, operating ranges can be increased, operating power of readers can be reduced and portable equipment operating on battery power becomes more viable.

In its simplest form, a transponder comprising a dipole antenna with a five volt logic circuit would need 54 milliwatts of power. For the past six years Trolley Scan have been providing passive transponders that could operate on just 200 microwatts of power - that is 260 times more efficient than a simple transponder and that could be read by a Trolley Scan reader at distances as far as 13 meters.

Trolley Scan have in the past few weeks been developing a new design, one that operates on just 112 microwatts of power. This is nearly 500 times more efficient than a standard transponder and will give an operating range for a simple passive transponder of about 18 meters, while still being as small as a credit card.

Passive transponders are dramatically cheaper and more green than their active transponder counterparts. There was a time when passive transponders had operating ranges of only 1 meter if you were lucky - and otherwise you had to use active transponders which contain onboard batteries. As the operating sensitivity of the passive transponders reduce so passive technology is replacing active transponder technology - reducing costs and increasing transponder operating life.

The new transponders will be part of the standard RFID portfolio available from Trolley Scan within the next few months.

Contents
========
1) Productivity challenges
2) Sports timing
3) Dabbling with hydrogen for motor vehicles
4) A portfolio of RFID technologies

Productivity challenges
=======================
Many companies phone Trolley Scan daily with details of potential problems that need solutions. As Trolley Scan manufacture advanced reader and radar systems, a wide variety of low power UHF transponders in different shapes, and now are delivering standardised software packages to provide a "solution in a box" - we are approached by innovative clients wanting a solution that is different from the classical applications of RFID.

RFID hardware systems form part of information gathering technology. The systems will capture the identities of items to which transponders are attached. - some at distances up to 10 metres, with up to 800 tags in a zone at a time and at read rates up to 70 per second. Data from the reader, which is arriving much faster than can be processed by the human mind, is usually interpreted by a computer attached to the reader.

What is becoming clear is that the secret to productivity with these systems is the need to marry the UHF reader with some database and to report on descrepancies. Say for instance you are a farmer with a large number of cattle. UHF readers at waterholes and feedpoints can continually gather the identity and time recorded of animals passing the readers. By linking that to a database of all the animals you own that are known to be in the pasture, you can remotely check to see that all your animals are still in the pasture and quickly identify if a particular animal has not been near the water hole in the past 8 hours. Hence you are able to do a slow continuous stock count of your herd with no personal involvement.

A similar situation could be for hire companies of TV equipment where they want to check on despatch and return that all the equipment is correct, that nothing is missing, and that nothing extra is bundled in the shipment. This would involve automatically matching the invoice for the shipment to the codes read at exit.

Sports timing
=============
Because Trolley Scan equipment offers long read ranges, multiple transponders in a zone at a time, read speeds up to 300kph, and at read rates up to 70 per second; many companies worldwide are using our systems as the sensor part of sports timing systems.

Trolley Scan have developed a software package to manage the timing, the results and other administration tasks involved in timing sports events. This is part of the "systems in a box" concept aimed at sport events organisers who want to just buy a complete system and not develop their own software.

Dabbling with hydrogen for motor vehicles
=========================================
As the oil price soared, an interest developed in alternative sources of energy. Although we are an electronic systems manufacturing company, we developed an interest to experiment with the generation of hydrogen gas and using that gas as an additive to the fuel/air mixture of automobiles.

The addition of hydrogen seems to increase the efficiency of the burn resulting in fuel savings. This works particularly well with diesel engines where savings of up to 30% seem to be achievable in some cases.

The hydrogen is generated in the engine compartment of the car by breaking down normal tap water. Our gas generator has been through a number of revisions and we now generate nine fold as much gas as when we started. We have been running a petrol BMW325i for the past four months on the system and covered about 10000 kilometers.

This has been a fun project and we would be interested to interact with others who might have experience.

A portfolio of RFID technologies
================================
RFID is a new technology that is rapidly evolving as new developments are brought to the market. Range performance of passive transponders is increasing, reader energies are dropping, and more compact packaging of reader systems are being developed.

Currently there are three separate lines of products for UHF readers from companies like Trolley Scan.

a) Fixed readers which are often mains operated and can monitor transponders entering a zone up to 13 metres in front of the antennas with up to 800 transponders in a zone and travelling up to 300kph.

b) Portable readers that are linked by Bluetooth type technologies to laptop computers forming a mobile data capture and processing system. Due to the low power abilities of Ecotag type transponders, battery operated reader equipment is viable and can read tags up to 8 metres range for long periods.

c) RFID-radar systems which can measure the identity, and accurately the range and position of multiple transponders in a zone at a time. Despite these measurements being accurate, they use very little bandwidth allowing many RFID systems to operate in close proximity. Used in conjunction with battery operated transponders, useful ranges of up to 40 metres are achievable.

In addition there are a variety of different forms of passive and active transponders packaged in different forms for different applications. These might be credit card sized, thin wire types, tags for notebook computers, or long range battery-assisted types where the plastic of the housing forms a focussing lens.

More information is available from Trolley Scan at http://www.trolleyscan.com

Getting your own complete RFID/radar system
===========================================
You can order RFID systems from Trolleyscan.com

Trolley Scan provide small RFID reader systems which give new users the ability to evaluate UHF RFID and their applications without needing specialised skills. The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 100 transponders based on the EcoTag technology. The user just connects the reader to a computer and provides mains power to have a fully operational system.

These systems are already operating in 50 countries.

To find out details of the systems and to order see http://trolleyscan.com/isosys.html

Contents
========
1) Future advancements in RFID applications
2) A laptop tracking software/hardware system in a box

Future advancements in RFID applications
=========================================
RFID hardware systems form part of information gathering technology. The systems will capture the identities of items to which transponders are attached. - some at distances up to 10 metres, with up to 800 tags in a zone at a time and at read rates up to 70 per second. Data from the reader, which is arriving much faster than can be processed by the human mind, is usually interpreted by a computer attached to the reader.

Large improvements in productivity are going to be realised when databases that are resident in computer systems are linked to the received RFID data and interpreted correctly. An example of linking databases to RFID would be in the tracking by tour operators of their clients' luggage on a bus trip - where the guide would want to be able to check that all the luggage is present and ready for loading when the bus departs from the hotel, and knowing what luggage should be delivered to which hotel room in the evening at the next stop.

RFID applications usually require a simple program running on a computer, a program that in the past could typically be written by a high-school student. Unfortunately the computer "program-creating" skills of the world seem no longer to be a skill that resides in every home, even although most homes have numerous computer systems.

Basically most applications for RFID in small businesses are the same. Whether you are running an asset management system, a security system to control the removal of your assets from your premises, a program to track deliveries from your vehicles or an access control system - they have remarkable similarity in structure of the computer software. This is not a widely published fact as there is a strong industry writing middleware, bloatware, and "you_will_forever_be_poor-ware"!!

Trolley Scan have been developing a suite of pseudo object orientated application software that integrate with their RFID hardware systems to provide the solutions to most common RFID applications. Basically most productivity applications involve interacting with the RFID hardware, interacting with a series of databases, fitting the information to a set of rules, and generating reports, alarms and notifications. These programs receive data from readers, look up and maintain databases, generate reports and alarms, and email warnings if needed.

Below you will read about the latest of these "systems in a box" hardware and software solutions. Because it is modular object orientated code - the software is low cost, costing a few hundred dollars for the entire solution in most cases.

About 4500 companies get this newsletter globally. If any have applications that they feel are RFID orientated and would have a solutions that would be common for many users, let us know and we can see if the new software solutions can be fine tuned.

More information is available from Trolley Scan at http://www.trolleyscan.com

A laptop tracking software/hardware system in a box
===================================================
Trolley Scan have developed a software package to manage laptop computers that are required to enter and leave premises with their assigned operators.

Thanks to the availability of Trolley Scan's long range passive technology for both laptop transponder and personal ID tag formats, a fixed reader at a checkpoint can read the identity of both the notebook and its operator passing without hindrance.

The purpose of the new software is to process ID codes from the reader at the checkpoint, to match the laptops to their authorised operators, and to report any discrepancies.

This software had a special challenge as decision could only be made when both ID codes were received, and if a certain time had expired since a laptop had been read and it had not found a matching user code, then an alarm had to be quickly sounded.

This is another in the new low cost series of "system in a box" software with the software costing just a few hundred dollars.

* * * * * *

Trolley Scan also provide a starter RFID-radar system.

RFID-radar is the next generation of RFID equipment combining identity with position information using the same low-cost transponders.

The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 20 transponders.

To find out details of the system and to order see http://rfid-radar.com/

Contents
========
1) Find-a-tag feature added to asset tracking software
2) Basic antenna theory

Find-a-tag feature added to asset tracking software
==================================================
When you have a room full of 300 computer servers, that all look the same physically, and are all networked, - how do you find the exact computer that needs to be changed or repaired? This was the challenge brought to Trolley Scan recently by a client.

In our past newsletter we informed readers about a new development in asset tracking, called RFIDasset(tm). With all items being tagged, a portable reader with Bluetooth interfacing, and a neat software package - one can have a very effective asset tracking system to monitor large quantities of assets in a corporation, making sure none have gone missing and that their current location is correctly recorded in a database.

This can be effectively implemented with the Trolley Scan portable RFID reader technology and the long range passive Ecotag transponder technology - including the new passive tags for notebook and laptop computers. With read ranges up to 8 metres, it is not necessary to get close to each asset as its identity can usually be checked from the middle of a room, up to 8 metres away.

FIND-A-TAG is a new feature that has been added to the software where one can search for a specific tag identity in a large tag population. When the software detects a match between the incoming data and the requested number, it lets the computer make a noise and flashes the 'found' message once per second as long as that tag is in front of the reader antenna. By turning away from the transponder, the noise and flashing will stop as soon as the tag is no longer in front of the antenna and so its physical location can be quickly identified.

As the reader can process up to 800 transponders in a zone at 70 per second, this use of Find-a-tag can allow large volumes of assets to be checked very quickly.

This same software can be used to find specific books in a pile of library books, or specific personal files in a stack of documents.

Basic antenna theory
=====================
Designing antenna systems is a specialised engineering field which uses extensive software modelling to try to achieve the best results. However an understanding of the issues by those not connected to the industry can be useful.

The function of the antenna is two fold -
1. to direct or focus the available energy in the desired direction
2. to change the impedance of the medium in a controlled manner to allow maximum energy transfer.

In the same way that one can use a reflector in a torch to direct light from a small globe into a beam, so an antenna directs radio energy. The general rule is that the bigger the antenna structure, the more concentrated the beam. This is why an antenna for radio astronomy or sending data to satellites is so large, while a cell phone antenna where energy is being spread in all directions is so small.

At UHF frequencies, hard surfaces such as walls, floors and road surfaces reflect incident energy, meaning that the energy will be scattered when it hits that surface. This provides a practical limit to the requirement for focussing energy by reader antennas as there is no point in making a large reader antenna structure to make a defined beam which is then scattered by objects in close proximity.

In a later newsletter we will address the impedance matching features of antennas.

Contents
========
1) Implementing asset tracking systems
2) New RFID-Radar applications

Implementing asset tracking systems
===================================

"We need to stop criminals stealing hospital equipment from our wards"

"We need to stop people stealing our laptops from our buildings"

"We suspect the cleaners are stealing the laptops by taking them out with the rubbish bins"

These are typical requests received daily at Trolley Scan as business owners look for an affordable technological solutions to manage their business problems.

The solution to many of these problems is going to be a combination of sensor systems, software and the business system.

The sensor systems that are needed are the easy part. Long range passive UHF transponders such as those produced by Trolley Scan, can easily be purchased. With long range features(read ranges up to 10 meters), and with innovative tags such as the new notebook tag, the sensors can monitor exit points from a building and can detect and identify any tagged item passing through the exit point. These systems are freely available and can be ordered off a pricelist when needed.

Recent developments in software packages for RFID systems have meant that the challenge of managing the large amount of data coming from the UHF RFID systems has been dramatically simplified. It has not quite reached the stage of one solution fits all, such as has happened with the hardware RFID systems, but it is very close.

The real challenge in implimenting an asset tracking system is now evolving around the business systems and processes. The challenge is to simplify the application to get the maximum benefits with the least disruption.

For example on preventing equipment being removed from a hospital.

1. A simple solution might be to tag the equipment and make sure that equipment removed from the hospital, will only happen via one exit where there is a guard. All other exits will have readers that will sound a loud audible alarm should some of the equipment pass through their zones.
2. A more complex solution might be to have readers situated throughout the hospital, and to monitor the movement of all equipment between the different wards. This means that complex tracking software is needed as well as operators to determine when equipment is moving outside of its normal zone of operation.

The simple solution above is easy and cheap to implement provided that the business systems can be adjusted to this mode of operation.

Another key issue in looking after your assets in a large corporation, is to know what is in the building and what is now missing. This means that instead of auditing the assets once per year for accounting purposes, a more frequent scan is needed. Here the recently released RFIDasset(tm) software and RFID systems can be used to allow very quick and efficient monitoring and record updating of the current position of your assets.

More information is available from Trolley Scan at http://www.trolleyscan.com

New RFID-Radar applications
===========================
RFID-radar is an advanced RFID system that is not only able to report the identity of the transponders in the zone, but is able to measure their exact position at the same time.

Recent novel applications where we have supplied systems are for positioning railtrucks in a metal foundry, monitoring operations in medical research, positioning robots in a warehouse, and to monitor the exact location of the actors in movie/stage applications.

Contents
========
1) RFIDasset - a merging of hardware and software to solve a significant problem
2) Bluetooth kit for portables
3) US Military take delivery of Trolley Scan systems
4) Trolley Scan now accept credit cards

RFIDasset - a merging of hardware and software to solve a significant problem
=============================================================================
Trolley Scan have developed a unique asset management system for companies with thousands of assets who need to know where these are or if they are missing.

The package comprises a customised software program that runs on a laptop computer, a long range portable UHF RFID scanner, and low power passive transponders that are attached to the items to be tracked. The system is simple to operate, easy to install, and is aimed at those who are confident to buy "systems in a box"

The software provides a database of all the items to be tracked, the current location of those items, identifiers such as description, manufacturer and serial numbers, who is responsible for the item, and the date when the item was last scanned.

The reader is portable and is moved around the building that is being checked from room to room. Transponders are attrached to items to be tracked from expensive scientific equipment to tables and chairs if these are on the asset register. As the read range of the portable reader is up to ten meters, the operator can scan from the middle of the room and by rotating scan all the tags in the room in a matter of seconds.

The software in the laptop knows what should be in the room, and can immediately inform the operator what has been missed providing descriptions and the contact person details who might know where the item currently is located. It will also report what extra items have now moved to the room, and will update the database to show current location and date of scanning.

This package combines the advantages of RFID with a customised software package to manage the data. RFID has the advantage of being able to read tags at long distances without the need for them to be in line of sight. The RFID reader can read at rates up to 70 items per second which would outstrip the abilities of a human operator, but as the system is linked into a computer program which can manage the high speed data, the operator can be presented just with the salient issues relating to managing large quantites of items.

The software is compatible with spread sheet programs allowing manipulation of the asset register easily for large amounts of data. The package is low cost making an affordable productive solution.

More details can be found at http://trolleyscan.com

Bluetooth kit for portables
===========================
Bluetooth technology is a system of transferring data via radio over a short distance, replacing a piece of copper wire.

A portable reader needs a display to communicate with the operator, so that it can give immediate feedback to the user in the actual situation - for example - this item of equipment has not been found here!!

In the past the Trolley Scan portable readers were usually connected via a short cable to some display device, such as a PDA that was carried by the operator. The idea of using a small device with limited display features such as a PDA with a fast reading scientific instrument like the RFID reader, was not attractive as the display on the PDA was so small and the data handling abilities of the reader so large (able to transfer 70 readings per second and 800 tags in the zone at a time) that it was difficult to convey to the operator the actual situation - a little like watching a soccer match on a cell phone!

Another issue was that the RFID reader, WANs, Wireless Bridges, cellphones and the Bluetooth devices are all using radio spectrum and operating in close proximity to each other, meaning great care was needed in the design of the RF systems so as not to cause interference between systems.

A third problem was that it was not sufficient to deliver the data to the host computer via Bluetooth, it had to be delivered in a form that could be interfaced to application programs so that they could use the data - a number of challenges to replace a simple piece of copper wire!

Trolley Scan have introduced a Bluetooth option on their portable readers which allow the portable to communicate with a laptop that is within 10 meters of the reader. The option also includes a dongle for the laptop and software for the laptop that handles the transfer of the data from the dongle to the application software.

As a result of the Bluetooth technology link, applications can now be run on a laptop placed on a desk near the mobile reader, giving the conventional large display features associated with laptops/notebooks, and allowing applications that run on the same operating system platform used in the company to be used rather than converting to a small opewrating system as used by PDAs.

The Bluetooth option must be fitted when ordering a portable system.

US Military take delivery of Trolley Scan systems
=================================================
RFID readers and transponders have been bought by the US Military for their campaign in the Middle East.

Trolley Scan is an African company which is a world leader in long range passive transponder technology, exporting their systems to users in 50 countries. Equipment made by Trolley Scan focusses on long range low power technology which means that portable systems with read ranges up to 10 meters on passive tags are practical.

It is these features which make the Trolley Scan systems attractive to the US Military as well as the low pricing, and the provision of hardware and software as a package to solve common applications.

Trolley Scan now accept credit cards
====================================
Trolley Scan has been registered as a Credit card Merchant and can now accept Visa and Mastercard credit card payments for their systems from clients worldwide.

In the past payment had to be via an Interbank Swift transfer but from now on credit cards can also be used.

Contents
========
1) New development - passive transponder for tagging laptop and notebook computers
2) White paper on setting up asset tracking system for laptop computers

New development - passive transponder for tagging laptop and notebook computers
=================================================================================
Laptop and notebook computers are expensive items, often containing important confidential data. They are often stolen from business premises as they are easy to disconnect from their environment and easy to hide. A strong interest in RFID comes from applications that wish to monitor the unauthorised removal of such devices from premises.

Trolley Scan (Pty) Ltd (Johannesburg),SOUTH AFRICA have developed a new passive transponder that is specially designed to be attached to laptop and notebook computers. These transponders work in all orientations of the computer and will be detected by a Trolleyponder fixed reader at distances between 13 meter and 5 meters. Since the system works on radio principles, it will be detected even if it is inside a briefcase, laptop carrying bag or under a jacket.

The Trolley Scan RFID transponder is a rubber based tag that is glued onto the outside of the computer case. The tag can be attached anywhere to the outside of the computer case. It will be detected when it passes the reader even if it is screened from direct radio path with the reader by the computer itself. The rubber tag has a high resistance to chemicals and solvents. It is a passive tag with a very long expected lifetime.

White paper on setting up asset tracking system for laptop computers
====================================================================
As one of the leading suppliers to the world of low power UHF RFID technology, currently exporting to users in 50 countries - Trolley Scan are frequently approached by heads of corporations to supply systems to stop laptops and other assets being removed from their offices.

Asset tracking systems are a combination of sensors to detect passage of items and software to classify the signal and decide on whether the passage is authorised or an alarm.

As the software forms the man-machine interface by which effectiveness of the system is judged, it is critical that the executives have a clear understanding of what they want to achieve.

In order to clarify the choices, Trolley Scan have prepared a white paper on setting up an asset tracking system.

Getting your own complete RFID/radar system
===========================================
You can order RFID systems from Trolleyscan.com

Trolley Scan provide small RFID reader systems which give new users the ability to evaluate UHF RFID and their applications without needing specialised skills. The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 100 transponders based on the EcoTag technology. The user just connects the reader to a computer and provides mains power to have a fully operational system.

These systems are already operating in 50 countries.

To find out details of the systems and to order see http://trolleyscan.com/isosys.html

* * * * * *

Trolley Scan also provide a starter RFID-radar system.

RFID-radar is the next generation of RFID equipment combining identity with position information using the same low-cost transponders.

The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 20 transponders.

To find out details of the system and to order see http://rfid-radar.com/

Contents
========
1) Different types of UHF RFID

Different types of UHF RFID
===========================
Anyone can buy an RFID system these days. In the past you would have been a specialist that either understood radio or computer issues, but nowadays you click on the order button, submit your payment details and the system arrives in the post. That does not mean that you are going to understand its operation or make it part of a successful application!!!

Anyone buying computer equipment in a computer store, will realise that the end user is being treated as an idiot and that the specifications he is given about the equipment he is buying seldom goes beyond the mains voltage needed to operate. All those specifications that it is deemed necessary to inform him of the product, need to fit on the side of a small box and sometimes in nine languages. This is a far cry from buying computer equipment in the past when the pricelist alone with the options, ran into 76 pages.

However the equipment is not getting simpler with options, the users are just being told less!!

UHF RFID is a technology that also has many of options that effect its performance, and it is important that end users understand these choices so that they can get the right equipment for their application.

One of the most used choices, with all the hype about very low cost transponders, is price. Not understanding the issues, users buy the cheapest transponders with the worst performance and end up with applications that will not work.

RFID performance is dominated by the choice of the operating frequency, and RFID operating in the UHF frequency band offers the best of most worlds with long range performance and potentially the lowest manufacturing costs.

There are two major classes of UHF RFID, namely those where the tag-talks-first(TTF) and the other where the reader-talks-first(RTF).

If you have an application for measuring slow moving items passing a control, where you want very short operating range and you are labelling items that need to be sold in a retail store, - then you want RTF such as EPC Gen2 type tags. The tags are relatively cheap, but the protocol causes the reader to generate a lot of radio interference for other users in the vicinity and so very few readers can operate in close proximity. Usually these readers will be switched off most of the time and will only be activated when a pallet is passing so that other readers can use the spectrum. You cannot use these types of transponders for high speed situations - or for sports timing situations - or for theft control, as the time when the reader will successfully communicate with a transponder is uncertain as a result of the RTF protocol.

The other protocol (TTF) allows critical situations to be continually monitored, allows fast moving tags to be measured and can give repeatable time accurate measurements even in situations where multiple readers are in use at the same time. The reader puts out a continous energy field which provides power to the tags and a frequency reference for them to use for communication. As the energy field is constant, little interference is caused and many readers can operate simultaneously and continuously in close proximity. The tag responds when entering this energy field and receiving enough energy to operate. This response can come within thousandths of a second of it receiving enough power which means it is suitable for sports timing in many situations, can handle transponders attached to speeding items (up to 300kph) - and can be used to monitor access points for antitheft, asset and monitoring purposes as the energising field is continuously active and goods will not be able to pass through undetected. TTF tags also usually have longer operating ranges providing a larger coverage field in front of readers.

Trolley Scan use TTF technology for its UHF RFID reader and UHF RFID-radar systems which are supplied to users in 50 countries.

Contents
========
1) Amazing measurements from RFID-Radar tests - a new class on instrument

Amazing measurements from RFID-Radar tests - a new class on instrument
======================================================================
Imagime measuring the distance between a wall and a reader 40 meters apart - and getting 1200 readings that all measure the distance correct to a millimeter!!! - and the standard deviation over 3500 measurements of just 2 millimeters!!!. This gives a measurement ability of 1 in 40000 parts to this method of measurement. Before RFID-radar, the concept of measuring distance between RFID tags and a reader were limited to trying to determine range by reverse calculation of the drop off in Rf power, or trying to triangulate position from measurements made from many readers scattered around the objects being located - both very crude approaches.

The amazing issue around the RFID-radar results are that they are achieved
1) using cheap readers and transponders.
2) just 10 kilohertz of RF bandwidth is used.
3) many transponders can be measured at the same time by one reader and the same transponder can be measured by many readers at the same time.
4) many measurements per second can be made all from a single point.
5) that passive or battery assisted transponders can be used - depending on range needed.

Trolley Scan have produced a white paper on the 24500 measurements made to a variety of different types of transponders complete with graphs. This paper can be downloaded from

http://rfid-radar.com

Contents
========
1) What are the success factors for RFID
2) New data terminal

What are the success factors for RFID
=====================================
Trolley Scan have been asked by some companies and even governments about what it understands to be the key issues that are holding back the rapid deployment of RFID as a productivity tool in the economy. These organisations are wanting to make large scale investments to release the potential of this technology.

I started writing this item in the newsletter and found that there are a number of complex issues, which were so difficult to define, that possibly they deserve their own white paper. Hence I am just going to highlight one issue this month.

RFID systems have become consumer devices, where one can order the system via a mail order catalogue and it arrives in a box. Previously you had to be an electronic engineer with RF experience before you would become involved in a project with RFID. Now you plug the RFID system into your computer, run some sample applications, and have a working RFID/computer system. Now comes the difficult bit -

What do you do with all this data???

Nowadays most users have low computer skills, yet walk into a computer store and believe they should be able to buy high technology computer, RFID and printer systems which should solve all their problems even though they have not defined the problem and definitely are not going to be able to customise software to their needs.

RFID systems are very versatile - in a similar manner to printers being versatile. The manufacturer of the printer does not know when he makes his printer, what application will be solved when the client connects the printer to a computer and runs some software.

RFID systems are data capture devices that can be used in thousands of different applications - for example asset control, access control, logistics, sports timing and even the labelling of trees in a forest. All these applications are going to need a different software package to solve their specific application and that package needs to fit into the current software realm of the client.

Invariably the RFID system will be a productivity add-on to an existing accounting-, asset-, dairy herd management-, or logistics- application that is already in operation and needs the data from the RFID system tailored to that application. No two clients have the same environment and application which is not a problem if the client has software skills and can tailor the software - but makes it very difficult if you wish to provide a standard solution in a box, being an RFID system, computer, printer and software.

The challenge for the RFID manufacturers now lies in software development - possibly creating some package that can solve every application in the world and which the client can then customise by a simple click of a mouse button and a web browser.

The challenge is to meet the needs of the lower technically skilled users who have been empowered by the computer store!!

New data terminal
=================
During December holidays Trolley Scan investigated the issues of data terminals and the like, that can display data from portable readers directly to the operator as the information is collected.

The problem is that the current data terminals are expensive, costing about the same as an RFID system, and some come fitted with a pathetic RFID reader that has the operating range comparable only with a barcode scanner.

Trolley Scan sell a mean portable RFID reader, offering ranges up to 10 metres, which means you can scan all items in a room just by standing in the middle of a room and spinning around. The problem has been that the reader outputs all the codes it finds at up to 70 per second, and with that amount of data you do not know what is missed or the description of the specific items.

Trolley Scan have developed a portable data terminal that can be used with an RFID reader in the field, does not cost an arm and a leg, captures the readings from the reader, time stamps all the readings to within 0.5 seconds, and can provide descriptions of the items to which the transponders are attached if these have been pre-loaded from the host computer.

Data is shown to the user on an LCD display which can be scrolled through current and historical readings. The terminal interfaces simply with a host computer and data from the terminal is compatible with most common software packages on the host computer system.

Watch the next newsletters for details.

Contents
========
1) New antenna systems
2) Beginning of the end of RFID in retail

New antenna systems
===================
Trolley Scan manufacture UHF RFID reader systems and RFID Radar systems.

These are supplied to users in 50 countries. For the past few years the RFID reader technology has been stable with little improvement in performance or change in design.

Trolley Scan have launched an updated patch antenna for its portable and fixed readers. The new antenna is an improvement mechanically on the antennas that we have been supplying in the past, but has identical electrical and radio performance to the earlier versions.

The new antennas are being supplied with all new orders.

It is not necessary for existing owners of our readers to change antennas.

Beginning of the end of RFID in retail
======================================
This paragraph might cause a storm of protest, but as a company that is deeply involved in this technology, with a detailed technical and commercial understanding of the issues, our interpretation might help you understand the bigger picture!!!

In this paragraph, by "RFID in retail" we are addressing the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) market, that is the low cost items sold in very high volumes which are very sensitive to pricing.

The recent EPC-Global meeting in Chicago in Sept 2007 will most probably be seen as the turning point in the project of fitting RFID to retail. At this meeting, a Walmart Vice President announced a change in direction of the Walmart strategy, which takes RFID in retail from a barely successful venture towards an outright failure.

Those who understand the issues and watch the press and industry organisations, will have seen a major cooling off in the past year. Publications that were being published twice a week a few months ago, have dropped off in frequency to once every few weeks, and writing stories of small test projects rather than industries on the change. Even today a market study crossed our desk by a Market Research Organisation where growth is now forecast at 20% per annum rather than the 100s and 1000s of percents a few years ago.

Although techically, RFID in retail is practical and if applied at the correct points it could be successful, commercially it is not. The issues for the retail industry are that they want very large volumes at very low prices. Their price demand leaves so little margin for serious manufacturers that they are not interested in taking up the challenge.

Generally the retail industry is well organised from an information systems point of view. Because they move large volumes of merchandise, they have large IT systems and work in close communication with their suppliers. It is very difficult in this situation to find a role for RFID where it can make a major contribution to the ROI of the company.

RFID is up against the efficiency of the IT systems and it is always cheaper to improive the IT systems than install a whole new layer of monitoring technology. As an eaampe - a couple of years ago a retail executive claimed that the use of RFID had reduced out of stock events on the retail shelf by 20%! Since the store computer records everything that is sold via the checkout, and what is delivered to the store via invoicing for the store, the stock in the store is easily monitored. Software can also be developed to give a count of the items on the shelves based on the transfer of items from the storage area to the display area. To spend a fortune on getting the same result with an RFID technology layer, is a waste of funds.

The volumes needed for the retail industry to really get the benefits of RFID, are beyond the comprehension of the human mind, not to mention the manufacturing capacity for a very long time.

If you could tag all items at unit level, then you could have automated checkouts and readers in homes that would know stock level and order new stocks automatically. To do so would need about 100 million million transponders per annum(10 power 14), which is about 1 million fold larger than the world's current production.

The challenge is complicated as the transponders need to be assembled, which is a mechanical process. Here the limitation to what a single assembly machine can produce, is limited to about 7 per second at which point the inertia of moving items in the assembly process becomes so large that it becomes impractical. Seven per second translates to 100 million parts per annum, meaning that 1 million such machines would be needed to meet the estimated global demand,an impractical solution!!!

Because of the vast volumes of transponders that would be needed for a solution to the retail problem, no matter who develops the solution, it is going to have to be produced by those who specialiose in mass manufacture and have the logistics systems to supply those lines.

There are very few companies that are vast volume manufacturers in the world today, and an excellent way of monitoring progress on RFID in retail, is to watch the financial press when their Executives report. As soon as they announce the large scale increase in manufacturing for RFID projects, then the ball is starting to roll. At present they are always announcing the closing of plants and the laying off of staff as there is no margin in the pricing offered by the market for the manufacturer to invest in super large scale production.

The above analysis relates to RFID in retail. The future for RFID in almost every other sector is fantastic, particulalrly where RFID is used with high value items and margins for transponder manufacturers can exist.

RFID gives vision to IT systems!!!

Contents
========
1) The global reach of Trolley Scan equipment widens
2) Monitoring the integrity of bridges and large structures
3) New uses where RFID technologies are being applied

The global reach of Trolley Scan equipment widens
=================================================
Colombia in South America has become the fiftieth country where clients are using Trolley Scan's RFID equipment.

Monitoring the integrity of bridges and large structures
========================================================
The tragic collapse of the motorway bridge over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis/St Paul highlights a need for continuous electronic monitoring of key structures.

RFID-radar measures the radio path a signal travels from a transponder back to the reader. It is able to continuously monitor the distance from up to 50 transponders and the reader simultaneously. The RFID-radar has two modes of operation, the absolute mode which measures actual distances to an accuracy of 0.5 meters, and a RELATIVE mode which can detect movements about a reference in MILLIMETER precision.

It is the RELATIVE mode with the millimeter precision which is particularly of relevance in this application.

A reading station established forty meters to the side of the structure could continuously monitor the movement of a number of transponders that are stuck to the side of the bridge deck measuring the movement of all transponders relative to the reader 24 hours a day in all weather and traffic conditions.

As the radar uses just 10kHz of RF bandwidth, a number of systems can be used at the same structure with no interference between systems. As the transponders are simple and cheap, the cost of the monitoring system would be relatively inexpensive.

By monitoring the movement of the transponders in all weather and traffic patterns, a pattern could be established for normal safe operation, and warnings sent if the movements happen beyond the safety envelope.

New uses where RFID technologies are being applied.
==================================================
RFID-radar represents the most advanced form of RFID available at present, giving both the identity and the location of multiple cheap transponders in its reader zone, while using only a small amount of radio spectrum.

New clients are many Universities that have been setting up RFID research laboratories and have bought systems to allow their students and post graduates access to the next generation of RFID equipment. This includes the supercomputer research centre of one University who have bought their second Trolley Scan supplied system. Companies developing logistic systems for warehousing and vehicle location in loading yards, monitoring the exact location of people in an office or building for safety issues, and monitoring in 3D space the position of monitoring equipment to profile fields. Other applications where interest has been shown is in monitoring the movement patterns of bed clothes of patients in a hospital to determine when nursing intervention is needed.

The RFID readers provided by Trolley Scan offer long operating range, high speed transponder movement and large numbers of transponders in a zone. New clients include a bank and a medical research facility who are using the technology to stop assets like books and computers being removed from their premises, and another company using it for asset control throughout their operation.

A unique application is that Trolley Scan RFID tags and readers are to be used with some Formula One Grand Prix cars in testing shortly. Trolley Scan have supplied equipment to monitor the immediate zone around dangerous equipment to ensure that no unauthorised person is close to the machine when it is operating.

We will shortly be supplying a further large order of readers for the expansion of existing large vehicle access control systems in parking garages.

An interesting new application is using the RFID reader to identify transponders buried underground that are marking location points of utilities below the ground.

Currently Trolley Scan RFID equipment is used by clients in 50 countries in a variety of applications where "computers need vision".

Contents
========
1) Major technical achievement - a small form tag with a long range
2) Software package to monitor RFID tagged items passing through a production line
3) The direction of development of RFID

Major technical achievement - a small form tag with a long range
=============================================================
Every once in a while a major technical achievement is realised and another milestone has now been reached.

Trolley Scan announce the develpment of a slightly larger-than-credit-card sized tag that is compatible with both the RFID reader and the RFID-radar products, and which is 600 times more sensitive than the standard 200uW credit card sized tag that they supply. This additional sensitivity translates into increased operating range with a smaller sized tag.

Trolley Scan have developed a 0,3uW Rf power transponder that is housed in a 90mm by 60 mm by 8mm block of polypropylene plastic and which is covered by a strong rubber covering. The tag is a backscatter transponder that will respond to signals over an 860Mhz to 960MHz bandwidth, giving an operating range of up to 40 meters when illuminated with a 2 watt energising signal.

To achieve this performance was a significant technical challenge that took approximately six months. It is a complex device. When used with Trolley Scan RFID readers it will give its identity over the range from 1 cm to 40 meters, and with the RFID-radar it will give the identity and the exact position.

Information for the technically orientated
------------------------------------------
For radio systems the unit of dimension relating to performance is the length of a half wavelength of the radio frequency wave, which at UHF RFID frequencies is approximately 16cms.

Antennas that have a dimension of half wavelength are efficient and RFID is about optimising efficiency. When you shorten antennas to less than half wavelength, the efficiecy drops off dramatically (for example halving the dimensions can lose 97% of the performance).

A second factor is that the antennas are influenced electrically by items that are within the half wavelength zone of the transponder. These items influence the waves arriving at the antenna and usually degrade the performance of the transponder when it is attached to different items such as concrete blocks or metal items.

When designers leave the half wave length dimensions, a property called the impedance of the antenna changes dramatically which influences the transfer of power between the chip and the antenna and hence the efficiency of the transponder system. In some cases these changes can be compensated for in a simple manner, and in other cases the fix is very complex.

The challenge was to develop a transponder that would be very sensitive, would have a form factor similar to a credit card, and would not be strongly influenced by items to which the transponder was attached.

The new transponder is about half the physical size of the already successful Claymore tag used with the RFID-radar, and yet gives nearly the same range performance

Software package to monitor RFID tagged items passing through a production line
===============================================================================
In our earlier newsletters we announced a series of low cost software products that manipulated the data from RFID readers to effect simple applications.

The first was a general purpose package to look up RFID tag data from a database and display that data on remote screens.

We have just completed a software package for production line monitoring which is in the same series. Data from up to four readers is combined at a central database to provide tracking information to show the progress of an item to which a tag has been fixed as it passes various reader stations. The package can be queried as to the current location of items and it can generate management reports. This could be used in applications like tracking diamonds through a polishing plant, the flow of items through a laundry, the servicing of vehicles in a workshop, or the manufacturing of items in a factory.

This is the first in a series of software products that Trolley Scan are developing aimed at Small Businesses, allowing companies that have some computer knowledge to impliment complete RFID applications themselves using simple software packages.

Details of the package are at
http://trolleyscan.com/productionline.pdf

Other standard packages to be provided will cover RFID applications for library operation,laptop computer tracking,asset tracking,access control (person), access control (vehicle),hospital patient tracking,sports timing and management and farm management.

The direction of development of RFID
====================================
Readers of this and other newsletters relating to RFID will realise that RFID is a rapidly developing technology where concepts that were not possible yesterday are now possible. Today we announce a small form transponder with massive performance. A short while ago we announced the development of RFID-radar, where the same tag that in the past could only be used for identity, can now be used in real time locating systems for identity and position information.

The Trolley Scan staff have been involved in the development of RFID since the first supermarket scanning system 17 years ago, have systems in operation in 49 countries, are in contact with 4500 companies monthly; and as a result have been asked for input on almost every concept of using RFID going on in the world today.

In this time, many competitors have come and many have gone, misreading what the market wanted, what was commercially viable, and what changes technology would cause. The Press and Market Research companies have hyped the potential of RFID way beyond what could be delivered,not realising that market pull is not a solution alone to the problem of producing an item in large volume, that there have to be factories and there has to be an attractive market price.

RFID is primarily a data input device into a computer system for a software application. When an item comes within range of a reader, the reader tells the computer system about the presence of the item.

RFID systems compete with barcoding systems technology and handwritten/keyboard capture systems. The advantage RFID systems have over its competitors, is the range at which it can operate to retrieve data, the accuracy, and the speed of collecting data.

If only one item is moving past a monitoring point an hour, then there is little benefit to using RFID over say a keyboard entered data. If a thousand items are passing, then RFID is essential for accuracy, speed and simplicity.

There is also a lot of confusion about the role of RFID and the role of software in an application. Tracking is a function of software while RFID is a function of data capture. There is a recent press report about RFID tracking of a ship bringing goods from the Far East to Europe. Unless there is a large RFID tag on the side of the ship, this is actually a story about a software package that takes data from many sensors (for example the ship's location from its GPS receiver) and condenses the data into an understandable form.

Recently a retailer in the USA said that RFID had reduced out of stock items on its shelf by 25%. Since the retailer knows what is entering its store via delivery notes, and what is sold via the checkouts, it is their poor use of the abilities of software that has kept them in the dark rather than the use of RFID that is the solving their problems.

RFID trends in the future that stand out are:
1) Conservation of radio spectrum and the efficient use of that spectrum is going to be the most important success factor for the industry. RFID implementation is about increased operating efficiency, and like computers it is going to become more and more the equipment of the workplace. It is therefore critical that the use of spectrum by any individual reader is kept to a minimum so that it can work in harmony with other readers in the vicinity. This requirement is going to mean the demise of high interference protocols such as EPC Global Gen 2 and the need to switch to tag-talks-first type protocols. (A white paper of spectrum use by different protocols is availalble on the website - this paper has already been requested todate by 450 companiies and government regulators).

2) That the RF power requirements for transponders will continue to fall with developments. Low RF power means a well designed antenna system for the transponder that can couple energy to the RF chip. Low power requirements mean that portable readers can give good operating range, that battery life of such equipment can be reasonable, and that transponders can operate well in a physical situation where they are screened from the reader such as when attached to individual bottles in a crate. To show improvement, a normal dipole attached to a 5 volt circuit needs 54,000 uW of RF power to operate. We now get transponders that use just 200uW of RF power to do the same job, and today we announce a special purpose device that can cut this to 0.3uW

3)That transponder size will continuously reduce to fit into the requirements of the users to have very sensitive transponders with small form factors. Credit card size is still too big even though it is 50% less than the ideal radio size already.

4)That RFID will not fit into the major retail applications and that these type of applications cannot become a commercial success for any party. The idea of a very low cost transponder in very high volumes is attractive for the financial press and for the hopes of the end user, but unless the people who are going to put up manufacturing plant to make these items can get a fair price, factories are not going to be built. The scale of the problem to put low cost transponders into retail is so vast that the human mind almost cannot comprehend such a problem. The manufacturing capacity of the world would need to expand 1 million fold and mechanical assembly would become a bottleneck. A state of the art machine for assembling transponders at present can produce about 7 transponders per second, and the market needs one million such machines to meet their requirements for this sector. This lack of enthusiasm by the owners of the factories where such products would have to be produced is reflected in their annual reports where they are regularly closing existing factories and laying off staff.
It is unfortunate for the RFID industry that the biggest retailer in the world gets an appetite for the product, and that the industry was not given an opportunity to grow in a controlled manner dealing first with high value applications and then move onto the high volume applications.

5) That the lack of companies with RF and software expertise to customise RFID hardware to the needs of the end user is a major impediment to the realisation of the productivity improvements that this technbology can release. RFID technology is becoming a consumer technology, in the same way that computers or printers have become, being sold off the shelf. They work well in a structured software environment that does not exist in most industries or applications. IT companies that can bring order to the logistics, manufacturing, and service industries are needed so that the productivity benefits of computer techhnologies can be released.

RFID is here to stay!! Companies that want to advance and stay competitive need to play with this technology to understand the issues and how it will be applied to their needs.

Contents
========
1) Merging of RFID hardware and software to make solutions for applications
2) RFID Software database solutions for LAN based networks
3) Expanding software into applications
4) 24 volt DC kit for readers and radar

Merging of RFID hardware and software to make a solution for applications
=========================================================================
RFID hardware equipment has evolved into an off-the-shelf technology that anyone can buy in a box and install on their systems. However getting the hardware is only part of the problem to having a successful application. The hardware generates data about items passing in front of readers and it is how that data is handled that determines in most cases whether an application will be successful or not.

To date the interfacing and software skills required for converting RFID hardware into successful applications was provided by system houses and IT companies that used skilled engineers and scientists. In fact a whole industry has grown around writing Middleware software, software for just converting data from RFID readers into compatible forms for enterprise software - software that often costs more than the total spend on RFID hardware.

It is time for there to be a revolution in the availability of suitable software for RFID applications!!!

In the same way that RFID hardware can be bought by any user in a box, the relevant software needs to be similarly provided at low cost so that any user can install systems with minimum technical skills.

Trolley Scan are delivering on a project to meet all your requirements from a single source as detailed below.

RFID software database solutions for LAN based networks
=======================================================
RFID systems identify items by reading a unique number from the transponder attached to that item and retrieving the description of the item from a database. Trolley Scan has developed a new product to meet this function.

Trolley Scan has already started delivering copies of a new LAN based database system that will retrieve description data from a database and display it on remote computers.

The system takes data from one or more readers which interface their RS232 data streams onto the LAN via a personal computer on the LAN, or via a new RS232/LAN adapter available from Trolley Scan. This data is retrieved by a LOOKUP program which retrieves that description data from the database and which creates log files. The description is broadcast on the LAN such that any other computer on the LAN can retrieve the data using a DISPLAY program and show the description on its screen.

As applications grow in size, many RFID readers are likely to be working in unison with the same transponders, for example a production line setup with goods passing reading stations. The above software caters for many readers operating in parallel and for then consolidating all the measurements into a single data stream and database.

The software provided in the standardised version is in the form of RUNTIME files - just install and use - while the advanced versions also provide source code.

The software is available immediately from Trolley Scan. Further details are at http://trolleyscan.com/software.html

Expanding software into applications
====================================
Trolley Scan will be delivering software packages for managing standardised applications using RFID and RFID-radar readers. The intention will be to have low cost packages that fit 90% of the requirements of most applications. The interface files will be standardised and simple to use meaning that the applications can be customised if needed.

Applications that are on the short list are:
Access control
Conference management
Production line monitoring
Farm herd management
Asset management
Sports timing

The software will be provided in the standardised version (which is in the form of RUNTIME files - just install and use) or the advanced versions where source code will be provided.

24 volt DC adapter kit available for RFID readers and RFID-radars
==================================================================
In order to generate very pure radio frequency signals that will stay within 10kHz of spectrum at approximately 900MHz operating frequency and yet give sufficient power to operate at good ranges, Trolley Scan reader and RFID-radar products operate on 24 volt DC power. This is provided by a mains power supply delivering 24 volts.

As a result of requests from researchers who wish to use RFID reader and RFID-radar products for research in locations far from mains power, Trolley Scan have introduced a 24 volt kit that can be fitted to reader and RFID-radar products in manufacture.

The kit allows the equipment to operate either from mains or from 24 volt DC such as from batteries. The kit includes polarity sensing and will not cause any damage to the equipment even if the batteries are incorrectly connected.

Making RFID into a productive technology
========================================
A long time ago printers in computer rooms were specialised items of equipment that needed teams of technicians to service and keep running with regular maintenance shutdowns. Nowadays you buy them off the shelf in the local computer store, plug in to your computer, and even throw away and replace rather than getting them fixed if they ever breakdown. The impact of this progression in printer technology has been that the level of technical skill of the user has fallen so far that when my mother buys a printer for her computer, she does not know even if it is laser or inkjet technology.

RFID systems capture information from transponders attached to items and relay this information to a computer system for further processing and decision making in a similar manner to the printer receiving information from the computer and printing it on paper. In fact the fitting of RFID equipment to computer systems is very similar to the fitting of printers to computer systems, just at the opposite end of the computer data stream. In the same way that the technical skill of the printer user dropped, so it is happening with the user of RFID systems.

At the same time there is massive advancement in the performance available from RFID systems with increased range and features, including the ability to locate a transponder exactly as well as read its identity in large spaces. These developments start to strain the abilities of the group in the middle, the software developers who have to take the RFID data and make it into a useful image for the application user.

The challenge is to simplify the use of RFID such that any farmer, home owner, small business owner, hospital, or the like could use the technology. To achieve this the challenges lie in the software manipulation of the data. Although programming at this level itself is a subject that is taught in most high schools and can be handled by scholars, the challenge is to adapt to the existing software systems of the user and their particular needs.

Take for example the farmer with a herd of cows. Computer systems can monitor the amount of milk the cow delivers at each milking, its weight and using programs such as that from Cedara, the vitamins and additional salts can be dispensed into the feed for that particular animal depending on its stage in the milk cycle.(I used to manage a herd of 100 cows a long time ago!!).

With a portable UHF reader, the farmer can, when inspecting the animals in the field, read the identity of any particular animal at a distance of about 10 metres. What one wants to do is present to the farmer immediately on his display attached to the mobile reader, the name of the animal, its date of purchase/birth, its cost, its current weight and how much milk was given at its last milking. To do this the farmer already has all the information needed in many of his databases of the farm, but software is needed to assemble all the required information in a format needed for his decision making.

The answer does not lie in trying to standardise all farmers on the same software. This would condemn him to the worst of bad choices. The answer lies in simpler interfacing modules and in simpler routines for standardising access to databases so that if there is a new development, say a method of measuring cattle skin texture, it can also be added to the overall software management of the farm even for the smallest users.

The same problem applies to companies wanting to monitor assets, to stop laptops being removed from buildings, to provide access control systems, to run centralised laundries, to deliver courier parcels and the like. Possibly this software is going to come from the RFID manufacturers rather than the software houses.

As an example consider interfacing of the hardware. Trolley Scan have in the past (and still do) delivered systems with RS232 interfacing, a standardised 35 year old technology that was available on every PC sold. More recently RS232 has disappeared from the computer and now a USB/RS232 adapter is needed. The advantages of RS232 is that it is an industrial preferred standard, can be used over distances up to 1 kilometre, and can be monitored with very simple equipment. Currently we are preparing an interface box that will convert RS232 to TCPIP so that the readers can be attached to any office internet network, and we are looking at RS232 to Bluetooth for the link from the mobile reader to the PDA display. Besides the hardware challenges of such a move, it brings major software challenges as the data can be delivered anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second(even to your cellphone), but how is it going to travel that last centimetre from the datafile delivered by internet to the input of the application that is going to process the data? Each application has its own challenges and the number and variety of applications that use this data is infinite.

With TCPIP and the like, destinations are specified by unique IP addresses and Port numbers - how am I going to get my mother to understand how to set those numbers so that she can hook the RFID reader onto her computer? How am I going to tell her how to find the IP address of her own computer? These are not insurmountable problems but illustrate the challenges to moving to simpler interfacing, application software and making RFID a technology that can be used in every home, farm, and small business.

TROLLEYPONDER/ECOTAG RFID Newsletter No 63
5 March 2007

Forthcoming development - credit card sized 35 meter range tag.
==============================================================
RF power to energise transponders is generally limited to between 0,5 and 2 Watts in most countries by the national regulators. At the same time as RFID reader technology merges into Real Time Locating System(RTLS) technology, the user would like to have longer and longer operating ranges so that they can monitor larger areas with fewer readers.

UHF frequencies, by the laws of nature, allow long operating ranges with practical antenna sizes. Operating range is a function of efficiency of the antennas which means antenna sizes that will have a dimension of about 16 centimeters at these frequencies which is the half wavelength dimension.

Trolley Scan are currently testing a new design for a battery assisted credit card sized tag that will operate at 35 meters.

The new tag is similar to the Claymore tag provided to RFID-radar users in that it contains a fair volume of polypropelene plastic to try to make the transponder more neutral to the influence of being attached to items that they are tagging. Generally items that are in the near field zone of a transponder will influence the performance of the radio waves in the vicinity of the tag and the challenge is to neutralise these effects, while keeping very low operating energy requirements and small size.

These tags are not active tags in the sense that they do not transmit any signal from the tag. They reflect some of the energy arriving from the energiser of the reader back to the reader at the same frequency. This means that the tags will respond to multiple readers simultaneously and correctly if the readers are operating on slightly different frequencies and are in close proximity to each other.

This frequency agility property allows many reader systems to monitor correctly the same zone with overlapping fields, and it allows for goods to be tagged in one country and read correctly in another country at a very different operating frequency.

These tags are still being tested, and will not be supplied with current systems till all hurdles are sorted out. They will be compatible with all existing RFID readers and RFID-radars supplied by Trolley Scan.

Because Trolley Scan products have a wide range of packaging options and operating sensitivities, they are found in a wide range of applications by users in 49 countries. They operate at long ranges; large numbers of transponders are allowed in a zone; are very fast to respond and allow maximum speeds up to 300kph; and the readers are simple to interface to software. The same transponders will operate with Trolleyponder RFID reader systems if just identification is needed,or with the RFID-radar system if real time locating is needed.

Users of the technology typically are farmers managing a herd, a vehicle garage managing access for regular clients, a company managing the movement of its laptop computers, a library managing its books and lenders, access control systems for staff, a trucking company monitoring usage of its vehicles, a car hire company checking to see the tyres supplied on its vehicles have correctly been returned, an industrial laundry managing the washing of gowns and overalls for a factory, or even a logistics company managing parcels passing through its warehouse.

Contents
========
1) White paper on RFID usage of the radio spectrum achieves widespread readership.
2) Trying to fit many users into a small slice of the radio spectrum
3) Mixing and matching

White paper on RFID usage of the radio spectrum with different air protocols.
=============================================================================
In our previous newsletter we announced the availability of a white paper on the usage of the UHF radio spectrum by different air protocols. This is an important issue as, like cell phones, it is expected that there will be an explosion in the number of RFID reader systems in small geographical areas. It is necessary to optimally utilise the minimal radio spectrum allocated for this application efficiently to allow for wide spread usage of RFID and minimal interference between closely located systems.

More than 200 companies asked for copies of the white paper as a result of the last newsletter. Organisations such as NASA, Boeing, Govt Departments, University Research groups specialising in RFID, Spectrum Regulatory bodies of the various Governments, virtually every competitor of Trolley Scan who manufactures UHF readers and numerous individuals who wanted to understand the issues. In addition three publications asked to publish the full text in their forthcoming editions.

The document has been written such that novices with little understanding of radio issues can follow the arguments as well as those well-versed in these matters.

To get a copy in PDF format -(450kbytes)

mailto:info@trolleyscan.com?subject=White_paper_on_spectrum_usage

Trying to fit many users into a small slice of the radio spectrum
=================================================================
During the past month, Trolley Scan has been carrying out tests for some of the regulators to measure the impact of RFID on spectrum usage. The issue is that a narrow slice of spectrum is being allocated in most countries for RFID which has to fit between other important users such as GSM cell phones. Unfortunately the ideal UHF frequency for RFID is in the 860MHz to 960MHz band which also is the ideal frequency for other communication applications, meaning a crowded spectrum at these frequencies. If one can find 2MHz of spectrum available in this region in most countries one is very lucky.

In one case, the regulator has the requirement that the spill-over of energy out of the RFID band into the adjacent band, must be less than 110dBc, that is, one hundred thousand million (1 with 11 zeroes) times less than the peak energy of the RFID reader. With low modulation rates of the reader energising signal this is practical, but EPC readers will find it very challenging.

Mixing and matching
===================
Historically there has been little interest in pushing the operating range of passive RFID beyond 15 meters. One does not want to be scanning the contents of one room and end up documenting the contents of the next room unbeknown as the radio signals pass through physical barriers such as walls. The arrival of RFID-radar encouraged the development of longer operating ranges as both the identity and the location of items were reported. From Trolley Scan came stick tags and claymore tags that could be read from more than 40 meters away even with just 0.5 watts of RF power. These tags reflect the energy from the energiser back to the reader, so it is possible by defining the energising beam to define a reading zone and not activate the tags if they were not in that area. (This is similar to the problem of RFID charge cards at petrol stations where control is needed on the operating zone so that the right card gets charged for the added petrol, and not the card that has the strongest signal!)

Recently Trolley Scan have been asked to deliver an RFID system to monitor the identity of trucks being loaded by an operator working a loader who is 40 meters away from the trucks. This application requires that only the truck being loaded is identified as against other trucks in the facility or waiting in the queue. This is not a problem that can be solved with the conventional active tag, as although the active tags have good range, there is no discrimination with physical location.

The components between Trolley Scan's RFID reader and RFID-radar systems are interchangeable. By using the standard RFID reader module with the high gain antennas from the RFID-radar system and the very sensititive Claymore tags, Trolley Scan can define the reading zone to just be around the truck that is being loaded 40 meters away and ignore all others in the facility.

A prosperous and successful 2007 to all our readers!

During the Christmas holidays an important research project was completed on looking at the use of the very limited radio spectrum by RFID applications. Unless something is done, RFID will strangle itself by being wasteful with the precious spectrum resource.

Contents
========
1) White paper on RFID usage of the radio spectrum with different air protocols.

White paper on RFID usage of the radio spectrum with different air protocols.
=============================================================================
Radio Frequency Identification uses part of the radio spectrum for its operation. This is a precious resource as the available spectrum is limited, in some countries more than in others. As more and more users will want to use this technology as it increases in popularity, so the demands on the spectrum will escalate.

By careful selection of the optimal air protocols between the reader and the transponders in the RFID system, many users can share the available spectrum.

This paper shows measured results of the different spectra of the different protocols using advanced spectrum analysers and signal generators.

These results allow an understanding of the issues involved and indicate why a change from certain protocols that are currently promoted needs to be made as the industry matures.

The document has been written such that novices with little understanding of radio issues can follow the arguments as well as those well versed about these matters.

To get a copy in PDF format -(450kbytes)

http://trolleyscan.com/whspectr.html

Contents
========
1) Going underground
2) Zimbabwe University gets RFID equipment
3) Standardising the manufacture of readers and radars
4) How does RFID-radar measure the distance so accurately?

Apologies for sending out this newsletter so late. We have so much news about ongoing developments that we aim to produce a newsletter each month. However we received so many orders for our Readers and RFID-radar systems that we did not dare write a newsletter in case others also placed orders. Now three months later, we have had so many clients ask why they have not received their newsletter that we feel compelled to bring you up to date.

Going underground
=================
UHF transponder systems such as our Ecochip technology, offer long reading ranges and form an ideal input system to a computer network. Trolley Scan have recently supplied a third consignment of readers and tags to our clients for use in mining operations underground, particularly in the control of heavy machinery in situations where the machinery must not be operated when people are close by. Other uses are to computer control the progress of moving machines in close environments and make sure the movement happens safely. As the transponders are passive - offering 100 year type lifecycle - low maintenance systems can be installed. With their very narrow spectrum bandwidth, their low power and their low interference technology for the readers, many readers can operate in close proximity without causing interference. At present this is an adaptation of equipment used above the surface and is not suitable for use in coal mines and those that need intrinsically safety due to our use of materials such as aluminium in the antennas of the reader.

Zimbabwe University gets RFID equipment
=======================================
RFID technology is becoming a basic technology that is an important part of information technology and of computer networks. Although many universities can afford such equipment to train their students, particularly in the third world the technology is seen as expensive. With the generous contribution from the United Nations UNESCO organisation, the University in Harare has received RFID reader equipment from Trolley Scan so that they can also develop skills in using RFID systems in the future. Zimbabwe is the 49th country to use Trolley Scan's equipment.

Standardising the manufacture of readers and radars
===================================================
As a technology finds acceptance, the challenge moves from making something work to producing it in volume at lower costs. Currently Trolley Scan provide RFID reader systems to users in 49 countries and RFID-radar systems to users in 20 countries.

Due to similarities in the design of our standard reader (which just gives identity), and the RFID-radar which gives (identity and accurate position) - while both working with the same series of passive low power transponders and battery assisted long range tags; Trolley Scan have developed a new processor module that is very suitable for use in both projects and which can be assembled at speed with modern pick-and-place equipment. This development allows more of the systems to be built by sub-contractors at higher volumes. Both systems also use the same RF power amplifiers as they both are very narrow band, low interference systems allowing many readers to operate continuously in close proximity.

Recently Trolley Scan had an opportunity to compare how advanced is its technology compared to many of the UHF RFID systems that are being used in the retail systems. These retail systems have such poor RF performance that their antennas need to be mounted very close to the doorways restricting the traffic through the opening. This is because their read distances are so small that they are just about competitors for conventional barcoding systems. These systems also have a poor air protocol that uses a lot of bandwidth and stops other users operating similar equipment in the vicinity - having to resort to a sharing of the spectrum by listening for others before being able to operate.

If you want to have a successful system for the retail type project, then you are going to have to

1. have systems that use very little operating power for their transponders as this power has to come from the reader,
2. that give good read range,
3. that give good penetration of the goods being scanned so that you can read transponders on the inside of the pallet,
4. that use very little radio spectrum so that many users can operate in a close space without interference,
5. whose readers can operate continuously on their narrow spectrum at doorways so that goods cannot slip past while the reader is off air,
6. that it is able to detect fast moving items,
7. whose readers are able to process close and far transponders at the same time catering for their large difference in signal levels.

How does RFID-radar measure the distance so accurately?
=========================================================
The radar makes two measurements on each signal received from each transponder in its receiving zone - namely a range measurement and an angle of arrival. It is the ability to measure range with narrow bandwidth that make this an outstanding unique RFID instrument. The system uses the same transponders that are used by conventional RFID readers allowing RFID-radars and RFID readers to monitor the same transponder simultaneously.

Light and radio waves travel at the speed of light, namely 300 000 000 meters per second. RFID systems need to operate in a crowded RF spectrum, where other RFID systems, cell phones, radio stations and other communication users have to share the available radio spectrum. RFID-radar uses just 10 kilohertz of bandwidth to operate, meaning it can detect time differences only as small as 0.1 milliseconds, or 0.0001 seconds. In this time the radio wave will travel 30 kilometers, or 30 000 meters or 3 000 000 centimeters. Yet the radar is able to determine the range of the transponder based on its received transmission to an accuracy of a few centimeters, or nearly 1 million times better than its basic time measuring properties. If we used a conventional military radar approach and wanted to get centimeter precision, then we would have to measure the time of flight to 0.3pico seconds (.3*10-12) which would use 300GHz of radio spectrum and ensure that no other radio users can operate in the vicinity.

RFID-radar pays for this million times improvement in the timing accuracy of the basic system by taking a longer time to determine the exact position. As a result it is well suited to a static situations where transponders are relatively stationary. However developments are in progress to address the accurate tracking of movement by adapting some of the principles of operation.

The angle of arrival measurement is virtually instantaneous and used in conjunction with range gives a 2D positioning system from a single measuring location.

Contents
========
1) Ruggedised version of laundry tag developed
2) Vehicle depot monitoring solution
3) Speed kit for Radar

Ruggedised version of laundry tag developed
============================================
After months of testing and improvement, our licensee Autoscanning Systems and their associate, Bushmantech, have developed a modified version of our laundry tag that is ideally suited for the rigors of continuous washing cycles with inbetween challenges such as autoclaves and ironing machines. Besides obvious factors such as temperature, mechanical stress and chemical attack, the team had to sort out unexpected challenges such as the tendency of the transponder to coil its antennas into a small ball with the mechanical agitation.

The tags can be read in single situations or when packed in boxes for shipping. They are attached to uniforms that are repeatedly returned to the laundry for cleaning and have passed through the process already hundreds of times.

Due to the narrow band low interference technology of the RFID reader system from Trolley Scan, multiple readers are able to operate in the laundry continuously monitoring the progress through the plant.

Bushmantech have developed a software system that processes data from the readers to track the individual items through the process, and to monitor their usage and garment life.

Autoscanning Systems and Bushmantech will be expanding this system to other industrial laundries.

Vehicle depot monitoring solution
=================================
RTLS Solutions have provided a vehicle depot monitoring system for tracking haulage vehicles operating from a central depot in the Dominican Republic. The system is suitable for operating where little infrastructure is available as it uses GRPS-modem technology to communicate the passage of vehicles back to the head office.

RTLS-Solutions have packaged Trolley Scan reader technology into a heavy portable bollard structure, that can be placed at the exit points of the depot to monitor trucks arriving and leaving the facility. All trucks are fitted with a 200uW credit card-sized transponder which communicates the vehicle identity to the reader as it enters or exits the facility. This data is relayed via a GPRS modem to head office, allowing the bollard to be easily moved to new locations without the need for modifications to the cabling for data transfer. Due to the low interference, low bandwidth features of Trolley Scan technology, many readers can operate in close proximity allowing multiple entrances and exits to be monitored.

The bollard concept allows similar type solutions to be provided for temporary facilities, such as monitoring agricultural produce leaving farms during the harvesting season.

RTLS Solutions will be expanding their solution to further facilities in the short term.

Speed kit for Radar
===================
The examples above describe applications of Trolley Scan's RFID reader technology. Trolley Scan have also developed an RFID-radar technology which gives the identity and the location of many transponders in a reader zone at one time. RFID-radar is a new technology that uses the same transponder technology as the older RFID reader systems, but which encourages new challenges due to its greater performance, challenges such as increased operating range (40 to 100 meters), more accurate position information (already millimeter precisions are possible) and accurate tracking of fast moving items. RFID-radar is now in use by clients in 13 countries, clients who are typically University research organisations, motor vehicle manufacturers, mining companies wanting monitoring of positioning of heavy equipment, logistic companies, bioscience research groups studying the interaction of a population of animals, military research organisations and IT companies that want access to the latest technologies. As with all Trolley Scan products, the systems are low bandwidth low interference systems that allow many systems to operate in close proximity.

RFID-radar was initially developed to accurately position tags in a static situation. Users have requested that we expand this to track fast moving items accurately. As a result of a study of this situation, we have found that the challenge lies in the overloading of the RF protocol between the transponders and the reader, rather than issues inside the reader.

Trolley Scan are providing three speed transponders in their kit with current purchases. These speed transponders fully utilise the capacity of the RF protocol available with this system. Software is still being developed for the speed applications, but these additional transponders will allow existing owners to fully test the capabilities of their systems when updated with later versions of the software.

Contents
========
1) The next issue is tracking accurately items moving at speed
2) Low weight transponders for animal tracking
3) Upgrading systems

The next issue is tracking accurately items moving at speed
===========================================================
Just over six months ago, an invention that allowed the measurement of the distance a signal travelled accurately from a low cost transponder to the reader was discovered. This invention changed the potential that users could expect from low cost RFID systems as position information could now also be reported with identity information. In this time, the invention has been packaged into a form for commercial use and supplied to users in many countries.

RFID-radar was initially developed to monitor static situations where there is no movement between the transponders and the readers during measurement. Although initial versions were specified for 0.5 meter accuracy, the system has been refined to provide centimeter and millimeter accuracy.

Clients have requested that the abilities of the system be improved to monitor moving transponders also with the same precision and this is the direction of the current research.

The conventional RFID readers that are supplied by Trolley Scan to users wanting fast movement - such as sports timing, can handle speeds up to 300kph. However the radar needs to lock onto the signal from each transponder in order to measure location and has a completely different challenge for speed.

At present the radar uses a measuring stick of approximately 7.1 centimetres. To measure the speed correctly, the reader needs to receive valid codes from transponders at time intervals such that at least two valid measurements are received during the travel of 7.1 centimetres. This restriction limits the number of transponders that can be in the field at the time the speed measurements are made, as each uses up some of the capacity of the single communications channel between the reader and the multiple transponders for sending its data.

At present a single transponder (special type) can be tracked at 51kph, if there are two then the speed drops to 8kph, four at 3kph etc.

Trolley Scan have a project to look at this limitation by introducing time as a dimension to the reader and applying curve fitting techniques. Other routes might be to shorten the data stream from the transponders.

When the version that can handle many transponders at higher speeds is ready, software updates will be available to all RFID-radar owners.

Low weight transponders for animal tracking
===========================================
RFID-reader and RFID-radar systems comprise transponders and readers. The readers radiate a low power, typically 0.5 to 2 watts which provide an energising field and set the carrier frequency for communication data between the reader and the transponders.

Trolley Scan provide a range of transponders, from 200uW credit card sized Ecochiptags, Ecowoodtags, Ecosportags, and laundry tags to stick tags and top of the range Claymore tags. The sensitivity of these tags varies from 1000uWs to 0.3uWatts depending on construction and sophistication. The Claymore tags use a large block of plastic (118cu cms) to focus the energy onto the sensor and give a tag that is independent of influence from the goods to which they are attached. Depending on which tag one chooses, one gets different operating ranges from the low power energy of the Reader.

All these transponders operate in a mode where they reflect received energy from the reader back to the reader. This means that the tags themselves do not radiate any energy, and that they will respond in situations where they are in overlapping coverage zones to many readers/radars simultaneously, with the correct information allowing them to be positioned and identified without being influenced by more than one reader/radar covering a zone. They also will respond to radars/readers over the whole 100MHz UHF RFID spectrum needed for international compatibility.

The radar has stimulated interest from a University project where they would like to locate accurately the current location of small mammals. Here we need long range, but a small light weight transponder. Unfortunately the antenna length is set by the operating frequency which means the need for a thin wire antenna but the transponder needs to be small and yet lightweight so as not to overload the mammal. Trolley Scan have developed a very small transponder that can be used in this application and yet is very lightweight, having just three small chips on the transponder to provide all communication features over long ranges.

Upgrades
========
In order to keep at the fore-front of the RFID UHF technology, Trolley Scan continually develop and improve their products, sensitive to the needs of their clients that they want their equipment always to be up to date with the latest performance.

Trolley Scan have just upgraded some of the very first RADARs that were bought to the latest DSP versions of the technology, to bring the equipment on par with the current generation. This upgrade now allows the clients to receive future upgrades in the pipeline via software modules without the equipment needing to be returned.

Contents
========
1) Newly developed special patch antenna for RFID-radar
2) RFID-radar achieves millimeter precision
3) One family of equipment

Newly developed special patch antenna for RFID-radar
====================================================
Once again, technical advancement with RFID-radar in the past month has been rapid!! As with all new technologies, the first stage in development is to get the system working and proven, and then comes the fine tuning and the manufacturing issues.

In developing the RFID-radar, Trolley Scan had hoped to use the same patch antennas that are used in our very successful UHF RFID reader which is used in 46 countries. Unfortunately the results achievable with the standard patch antenna was not encouraging, and the antenna system was changed to be one based on a 6 element Yagi design.

The reason for the change was not one of getting a high gain to get a long range, but rather the need to have a well defined phase centre for the antenna so that it could be used for precise measurement. RFID-radar measures the distance the signal travels from the transponder to the reader and to achieve this measurement accurately delays in the reader system need to be known accurately.

The Yagi antennas were bulky, being about 0.8 meters long and were cumbersome to mount. However their phase definition is vastly superior to that of the conventional patch design. The first RFID-radar systems were therefore supplied with Yagi antennas designed and built by Trolley Scan.

Trolley Scan's search for a replacement for the Yagi antennas achived success a few months ago when an antenna with reduced size and which improved the professional appearance was discovered.

A very special patch-like antenna, measuring just 30 cm by 30 cm by 3cms was found that has a well defined phase centre. Initially these patch-like antennas were only available for US frequencies, but recently a special version has been produced to operate at the EU frequencies. This was a major hurdle as Trolley Scan clients are distributed across the different frequency bands and we did not want to get into the situation of supplying some with the new patch-like antennas and others with Yagi antennas due to the different operating frequencies.

From the beginning of June, all clients have been receiving their RFID-radars with the new patchlike antennas. These antennas are tested on positioning multiple Claymore type transponders at ranges up to 40 meters and are suitable for indoor/outdoor use, being suitable for mounting on any flat structure, such as a wall.

More details can be found at http://www.rfid-radar.com

Millimeter precision achieved with RFID-radar
=============================================
RFID-radar has the ability to measure the radio path length a signal from the tranponsders has to travel to the reader. It does this measurement using just 10 kilohertz of bandwidth.

Recent focus at the request of clients has been to improve the accuracy of the system from the approx 0.5 meters error in 100 meter range for specific applications.

For applications like the auto focussing of cameras in movie set applications, Trolley Scan have developed a high precision mode for detecting relative movement of objects, achieving precision approaching one millimeter accuracy in movement for targets up to 40 meters from the reader. The radar is able to track the relative movement of multiple targets at one time, and the reporting mode has been adjusted to report on millimeter changes rather than the centimeter reporting used for the normal mode.

The rate at which the reader reports current positions has also been increased by option to report up to 100 transponder positions per second to the host computer.

One family of equipment
=======================
Trolley Scan provide a range of compatible readers,radars and transponders.

This family of equipment has a characteristic of very low power efficient UHF transponder technology , which means long operating ranges, fast responses and low power RFID readers and RADARs.

Transponders are available in different forms depending on range needed and pricing.

Different types of transponsders are 200uW credit card sized Ecochiptags, laundrytags, Ecowoodtags, Ecosportags, stick tags and Claymore type transponders. All of these will operate over a 100MHz operating spectrum if needed (frequency agility), use backscatter modulation and low interference Tag-Talks-First technology.

Trolley Scan provide UHF fixed readers, UHF portable readers, UHF OEM readers, UHF RFID-radar readers and OEM RFID-radar readers that are compatible with the above transponders depending on the clients needs. These readers use just 10 Khz of bandwidth, can be set to operate at any of the global UHF RFID frequencies from 860-960 MHz (actual frequency depends on country), and source between 0.5watts and 2 watts of RF power depending on needs of the client.

RFID-readers can handle up to 800 transponders in a zone at a time with speeds up to 300kph, while the RADARs will give accurate location information for up to 50 transponders in a zone at a time at low speeds. Due to low spectrum utilisation, multiple readers and radars can operate in close proximity with minimal interaction.

These are truely the RFID technologies of the future!!!

Getting your own complete RFID/radar system
===========================================
Like Amazon.com, you can order RFID systems from Trolleyscan.com!!

Trolley Scan provide small RFID reader systems which give new users the ability to evaluate UHF RFID and their applications without needing specialised skills. The systems comprise a reader, antennas and 100 transponders based on the EcoTag technology. The user just connects the reader to a computer and provides mains power to have a fully operational system.

These systems are already operating in 46 countries.

To find out details of the systems and to order see http://trolleyscan.com/isosys.html

Contents
========
1) RFID-radar morphs from experimental to commercial status
2) Information presentation
3) Interesting uses of RFID-radar
4) Merging of RFID and RFID-radar technologies to become the future reader technology?
5) Finding a partner to supply high volumes of cheap RFID-radar systems

RFID-radar morphs from experimental to commercial status
========================================================
Once again, technical advancement with RFID-radar in the past month has been rapid!! As with all new technologies, the first stage in development is to get the system working and proven, and then comes the fine tuning and the manufacturing issues.

A bottle neck in the number of targets that could be ranged and accurately tracked at one time had been caused by the computer doing the final number crunching stage, although it was done in an efficient compiled language code running on a fast Pentium processor with a minimal operating system.

The past month has seen this part replaced by the very latest in Digital Signal Processing technology running an Assembler code that has been optimised for the architecture of the new processor.

The result is that the radar now can make more than ten thousand (10 000!!) range calculations on transponders in its zone EVERY SECOND - a 500-fold increase in processing capacity over its predecessor. The position accuracy of the radar has also shown a ten fold improvement, with accuracies of a few centimeters and pointing accuracies of small fractions of a degree over the 100 meter operating range of the radar. Further there have been cost reductions and the change has resulted in a much simpler system to manufacture.

The end result is that we have a very impressive, accurate measuring and data capture sensor for connecting to an IT system front-end for sophisticated applications.

Trolley Scan are now supplying this as a commercial version that can be used in everyday applications. We also have an OEM version that can be incorporated into clients' projects. Systems can be ordered directly from Trolley Scan - more info at

http://www.rfid-radar.com

Information presentation
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The RFID radar reports the identity, the range and the bearing from the reader, for every transponder, once per second. This generates a large amount of data and we have developed some novel filtering algorithms to reduce the data.

The first is a version called SLICE. Here the radar only reports transponders that a