New RFID tag sensitivity increased by 30%

[Chinese Packaging Network News] RFID technology and solutions company SML Group recently released a new small UHF (UHF) RFID inlay GB4U8, the product performance 30% higher than other size tags. This tag takes up less space and can be sewn into the care tag. The company claims that the label can be used for small items in dense environments.

This inlay size is 42mm*16mm, built-in NXP's UCODE 8 chip and SML's own antenna design to achieve high read sensitivity and increase read speed.

SML's GB4U8 tag

Dean Frew, SML's chief technology officer and senior vice president of RFID solutions, said that the tag has been benchmarked at the Auburn University RFID test lab and tested internally in two SML simulation labs. At present, the company is providing samples to customers, and it is expected that large quantities will be available at the beginning of this year.

This new tag is the first product to embed a UCODE 8 chip, and is the smallest tag that embeds this chip. This small, high-sensitivity tag solves several problems that plagued brand owners and retailers during RFID deployment.

Although retailers have attached EPC UHF RFID tags to products to increase visibility, many product categories are generating demand for smaller, high-performance tags.

Tags can't read 100% in dense environments, such as crowded stores or warehouses, or read slowly. This is not enough in some scenarios. For example, when a store employee uses a card reader to read a tag in a dense area of ​​the article, the reading accuracy is often problematic.

When NXP introduced the UCODE 8 chip, SML began to work with it to develop tags. SML decided to start with a more challenging little tag. Frew said that later this year the company will launch a larger model.

Avery Dennison has released a large-sized tag with an integrated UCODE 8 chip. SML said that its version is the smallest version of UCODE 8, and passed the Auburn University certification test. SML engineers developed antennas and impedances specifically for the new chip. This tag uses several features of UCODE 8. Using UCODE 7 and UCODE 8 chips makes label manufacturing easier. The chip can be cut from a 12-inch wafer, so that the production speed becomes faster and the cost is lower.

The tag was tested at the University of Auburn and passed tests A, B, C, D, M, G, Q, F and N. These specifications cover scene tests for stacked denim, bagged clothing, boxed electronics, shoes, hanging clothes, jewelry and cosmetics, and rack-mounted garments. Recently, the company tested new tags in its own laboratory, stuck them to thousands of items, and tested them side-by-side with SML's larger GB3 tags to compare performance.

Using SML's Clarity software, users can set the RFID system to read tags as quickly as possible. This tag reads much faster than other mini-tags and is equivalent to SML's large-tag read speeds.

The label aims to increase the ease of use of RFID technology. Frew said RFID technology has proven its effectiveness. We are working hard to reduce the impact of RFID technology on operations and packaging. We hope RFID tags can be integrated with existing price tags.

The company said that the label's low cost, the price decline is mainly caused by large-scale mass production of the label. Frew hopes that GB4U8 can be used in any retail or apparel products, as well as cosmetics, perfumes, wines and spirits, pharmaceuticals, sporting goods and food. The large-size version has a label size of 50mm*30mm and is expected to begin mass production in early 2018.