Q&A of RFID for RTIs

Q: We have a requirement for bin tracking which go for washing. What is your recommended tag? And how to handle them once applied on them?
A: For Plastic bin’s we have Carrier labels available supporting industrial washing. For metal bin’s Ironside hard tags are avaialbe. Depending on the use case the tagging position is important. Please contact sales to support your case.

Q: Can we have tags for items in the bins and also tag the plastic bin with same tag?
A: Yes, this is possible however the items in the bin might not require an industrial washing proof tag. A simple tag might be a better and cost effective choice.

Q: We are working on a case whereby we are tagging metal pallets. The pallets when come for maintenance, these are painted along with the tags which are now permanently affixed onto them. Will the reading range be affected in any way?
A: Many paints contain metallic particles which have an effect on the RF performance when hey are spray painted.

Q: ,The list of approved adhesives would be very helpful. Thanks!
A: A list with recommended adhesives is available , please contact your sales person for details.

Q: Is there any tag which can work at high temperature of 250 degree Celsius for steel pallets?
A: Yes, Confidex Corona family support this.

Q: How does pallet load effect the function of a tag i.e. pallet with drinks?
A: The pallet load can effect the RF performance of the tags attached on the pallet load. To solve this issue you can use a separate “master” label on the pallet matching the pallet load information with this “master “label. Second option would be to have a fixed hard tag on the pallet matching he pallet load in the backend.

Q: How reliable is adhesives as washing cycles tend to have high water pressure coming out of jet stream kind of set up? Will it not come out…or how long can it withstand this water stream?
A: ,Confidex Carrier Pro is using specific industrial adhesives withstanding up to 600 high pressure industrial washing cycles.

Q: Will Upper ETSI be available on “old” RFID readers by firmware update?
A: “Old” RFID readers most probably will not support this with a firmware update. For detailed information please get in contact with your RFID reader supplier.

Q: What is the max readable distance for hard tags vs. paper tags?
A: Read range is depending on the size of the antenna. A big paper tag or label can have a better read range than small hard tag. Read ranges up to 10 -12 meters is applicable for both type of tags.

Q: Is it possible to have a “dual frequency” tag. NFC + UHF?
A: We have a label in Carrier family that is having a single IC covering both UHF and NFC technologies with shared memory. We would be happy to discuss this further.

Q: What is your opinion of the BAP tag in dense environments?
A: In dense environments (with a lot of tags in the field) there are some downsides of using BAP and you may see a reduced read rate. We would recommend testing in real environment.

Q: What do you suggest for ESD plastic?
A: Labels need to be quite small (approx.. 60×15).,Confidex standard ESD label is 80 x 35 x 1.2 mm. As part of our DesignStudio service we can optimize this for your application. Please contact your sales person for supporting you.

Q: Which is your best tag for wooden pallet tracking – and placement so forklift can’t damage the tag?
A: We have use cases stapling our Casey labels on wooden pallets. The adhesive is not strong enough to stay on the wood but stapling seems to be something that is common in this. If that is done we would have some instructions on where to staple them as there is also a risk to break the tag.

Q: Do you have a solution suitable to e.g. identify position in a warehouse?
A: Yes we can help by steering you to our partners offering this.

Q: Which countries use the Ironside on trains?
A: Ironside is used in many countries for tagging train sets like United Kingdom, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Switzerland etc.

Q: What kind tag for oil pipes embedded fatigue sensor uhf?
A: For tagging oil pipes we have Silverline Classic on-metal label or Ironside hard tag available. Depending on the radius of the pipes best form factor can be used. We also have non-standard on-metal labels available withstanding high temperatures if required.

Q: Can you provide further information referring to the “Goodpack” project?
A: We do have a similar project”,”See our Success Stories for more information: https://www.confidex.com/success-stories/new-or-used-tyres-confidex-rfid-tags-keep-them-organized-on-the-move-and-in-the-warehouse/

Q: Which type of products would you suggest for plastic jerry cans containing liquids?
A: For this application we recommend Confidex Ferrowave.

Q: How do you see the future of UHF RFID vs NFC, Barcode, BLE (that can be use on smartphones and not require specific mobile reader)?
A: We see these technologies as complementary to each other with each specific benefits. UHF for mass reading over small distances (up to 12 meters), BLE for real time location services incl. possibility of sensor data and NFC for short distance reading of single units by Mobile phone. We see a trend in combination of applications which are supported by rags with combined RF technologies like UHF and NFC on one label with combined memory and BLE in combination with UHF to support inhouse RTLS and customer RFID applications.

Q: What middleware do you recommend?
A: We use standardized Gen2V2 chips which means that our tags are compatible with all UHF RFID readers and middleware. To support end-to end compatibility our tags follow RAIN RFID.

Q: Can you please share by email more details on the UHF/NFC tags?
A: We have a good overview of UHF and NFC tags available on our website incl. possibility to download datasheets: https://www.confidex.com/smart-industries/product-families/

Q: What is the alternative of your SteelWING?
A: We have several on-metal labels available, depending on your application we can find the best replacement for you.

Q: Are Confidex labels compatible with all the readers available in the market?
A: Yes, we use standardized Gen2V2 chips which means that our tags are compatible with all UHF RFID readers in the market.