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RFID technology symbolizes the ubiquitous society of the Internet, and has begun to be used in various fields. Fujitsu started its RFID business formally in the second half of 2003. Since the first half of 2004, products in the 13.56MHz frequency band have been provided successively, and products in the UHF frequency band have been provided in the first half of this year, maintaining a leading development pace in the industry. Here through the actual application of RFID, how Fujitsu will provide assistance for future business development.
The significance of electronic labels for the ubiquitous society of the Internet
RFID market facing a breakthrough
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan pointed out that the RFID business is expected to have a breakthrough in 2007 and reach a market size of more than 17 trillion yen in 2010. Based on our thoughts on the actual business we are dealing with, it seems that this breakthrough point will come sooner, perhaps in 2005 or 2006. The reason is that when living in 2003, it is enough to explain to customers what RFID is. However, since 2004, the number of consulting cases mainly in the manufacturing and distribution industries has increased rapidly, and there is still a continuing upward trend. , It is estimated that in 2005, in addition to the number of companies conducting testing and introduction will increase over the previous year, even the number of companies that have officially started operations will also increase accordingly. Of course, part of this situation is also the result of the operation of various agencies, industry groups, and the media, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. It is predicted that RFID will still be the most basic element and exert extremely important effects when moving towards a ubiquitous society in the future.
[图1] What is RFID
The latest trends in RFID
UHF band debut
In such a situation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan also amended the law in April this year to open the use of UHF frequency bands. Compared with the past 13.56MHz and other frequency bands, the UHF frequency band has a far-leading position in terms of read or write range. Take 13.56MHz as an example. Although it can communicate about 60cm, the UHF frequency band can reach the long-distance communication effect of more than 2.5m. The longer the communication distance, the more it can be delivered to the target location that could not be read in the frequency band in the past. This not only improves the accuracy of reading, but also the higher the possibility of batch reading, which has considerable advantages. many. Therefore, the UHF band can be used in the business that was difficult to introduce RFID in the past, and it can be said to have the effect of promoting the accelerated development of RFID. However, the longer the communication distance, the problem of radio wave interference between multiple readers (sharing), and when setting up the reader, it must be considered that the larger the transmission signal, the impact on the human body, etc., have to be Noticeable. Therefore, although not all services are suitable for the use of UHF bands, it can indeed be sent to distances that could not be communicated at 13.56MHz or 2.45GHz in the past. Fujitsu is currently introducing UHF bands for many customers.
Advantages of RFID business
Fujitsu provides items ranging from chips that make up IC labels, to various hardware such as readers and antennas, as well as various business package solutions, laboratories, system integration, and RFID system introduction consulting software from the perspective of the customer’s own use. The service products are also very complete, providing an integrated solution for the RFID system.
From the point of view of the smallest RFID system, it includes a reader that reads and writes IC tags (chips) used to store data, an API that can be controlled from the terminal, and business application software that executes its upper-level instructions.
In order to complete a system that can take full advantage of RFID performance, it is necessary to thoroughly understand these parts. Therefore, Fujitsu also manufactures various RFID-related hardware by itself.
After owning the self-manufactured hardware, various design goals can be achieved. For example, in order to improve the reading performance of the IC label, the antenna shape is adjusted to be optimized. And using FRAM chips, and strive to increase the speed of the chip level. Since we fully understand the possibilities of the hardware and other demarcation points that should be handled by the software, we can focus more on the improvement of performance.
We also understand how to use the products of other companies to achieve the best performance. When system engineers want to perform the best integration operations, whether they can use the products made by their own companies has become more and more important.
Of course, the so-called self-developed products must be hardware with the most cutting-edge technology. Therefore, we have also combined our overall strength to challenge the production of UHF band products.
Fujitsu is currently promoting new countermeasures, strengthening the cooperative relationship with Fujitsu Research Institute, and putting the latest research and development results into practical use immediately.
[图2] Overview of Fujitsu’s RFID business
The latest trends in RFID
Issues at the time of formal introduction
In the past, everyone has repeatedly reviewed various problems when introducing RFID. The main issues can be divided into the following four points.
The cost is too high
Performance (whether it can read and write data 100%)
safety
Protection of privacy
Among them, the issues that receive special attention in actual business sites are safety and performance. In terms of cost, prices have been gradually reduced due to price competition between suppliers and increased sales.
In terms of security, along with the structure of controlling memory through hardware/software and the general structure of restricting specific readers and IC tags to transmit signals, privacy issues can be deleted when delivered to end users. The use of technologies such as data in IC labels has gradually stabilized, so these issues are gradually being resolved.
[图3] UHF band
RFID application methods that meet business needs
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