The life and times of an RFID chip

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
08/03/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* McCarran International Airport to embed RFID chips in baggage
  tags to improve security and handling
* Links related to Networking Technology Update
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:

The life and times of an RFID chip

By Sandra Gittlen

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is launching a $125
million program to embed RFID chips in baggage tags as a way to
meet post-Sept. 11 security screening mandates and to improve
the accuracy of baggage handling at the airport.

McCarran, which handles more than 68,000 pieces of luggage
daily, is committed to buying 100 million RFID tags over the
next five years, according to Samuel Ingalls, assistant director
of Aviation, Information Systems at McCarran.

This is the story of one of those chips. We'll call it Chippy.

Designing Chippy

The design of an RFID chip depends on its intended use, says
John Shoemaker, vice president of business development for
transportation and aviation solutions at Symbol Technologies.

"There are different chips for different applications," he says.
"In the process of making the chip, you need to be clear on the
architectural design."

McCarran chose an architecture developed by Matrics, which was
acquired by Symbol last year. Chippy will be a Class 0 UHF tag
that is read-only and operates in the 900-MHz range. Ingalls
says he chose this design because read-only RFID tags offer high
levels of security , don't require batteries or line of sight
and can be read from up to 25 feet away. Also, the passive tags
are less expensive - as little as 20 cents per tag - than their
battery-powered counterparts, which can run $20 to $100 each.

Shoemaker says the gestation period for an RFID chip can be up
to six months or more. "You have to do a pilot and run
prototypes," Shoemaker says. Matrics spent more than a year and
millions of dollars to develop the passive UHF RFID chip and
bring it to production, he says.

Before committing to the chip design and overall project in
October of 2004, McCarran put Symbol/Matrics through a
several-months-long RFP process. "We had the screening
requirement post 9/11 and we became sure pretty early on that
that we wanted to move to RFID rather than stay with bar codes,"
Ingalls says.

For the entire story please see:
<http://www.networkworld.com/research/2005/080105-rfid.html>

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To contact: Sandra Gittlen

Gittlen is a freelance technology editor in Northboro, Mass.She
can be reached at sgittlen@charter.net
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=109253
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