Data Carrier Strategies
RFID tag selection comes down to finding the perfect fit.
By John Schroeter
Senior Manager, Marketing Communications
Impinj Inc.
So you’ve settled on UHF Gen 2
RFID as your primary serialization
data carrier. Now what? A very
strategic next step! As it turns out, not
all RFID tags are created equal.
What’s more, the items to which the
tags are attached can have a tremendous effect on the tags’ performance,
as can the way the items are packed in
their cases. As such, proper tag selection is critical to achieving Six Sigma
levels of performance in your serialization operations. The good news is that
there is a proven, experience-based
path to getting it right the first time.
And when you do, you won’t have to
give your tags another thought.
Pick a tag—any tag, stick it on your
product, and you’ll see a range of performance that will span the stellar to
the sorrowful. And in the latter case, it
won’t always be the fault of the tag.
Your product’s particular combination
of dose form (gel tab, liquid, solid),
package type (plastic bottle, carton,
blister pack), and case-pack orientation
(fixed, random, stacked), among other
things, will either drive you crazy, or
drive you to the best tag choice for getting the job done. Just how you arrive
at that choice is the subject of this story.
Designed for applications requiring both near- and far-field uses, the Satellite Tag hybrid provides
the best of both worlds—good item isolation on a packaging line as well as reliable reading of
tagged items packed in the case.
ANATOMY OF AN RFID TAG
Let’s begin with a few tag basics. An
RFID tag comprises an IC—a chip—
mounted onto a flexible polyethylene
substrate, which has been preprinted
with conductive ink or otherwise metal-etched, stamped, or vapor-deposited to
produce an antenna. This resulting
inlay assembly is then converted or
sandwiched between a printed label
and its adhesive backing, yielding a
smart label, or tag. Alternatively, the
inlay might be embedded directly into
the packaging or otherwise applied to
it. It’s simple enough; however, a few
words about a most crucial tag component—the antenna—are in order.
TURN ON, TUNE IN
Both RFID tags and their readers
utilize antennas. An antenna works by
converting electrical current into electromagnetic waves—radio waves—that
propagate through space. Information is
then modulated onto the radio wave
transmissions. When receiving information, the signal flow is reversed as the
antenna channels the electromagnetic
energy into conducted electrical energy.
In RFID deployment, the reader
antennas might be fixed on packaging
lines, around dock doors, over shelves,
or on forklifts, or may even be handheld—in other words, configured,
