Confidex Announces New Dual Frequency Product for RTIs

Addressing the growing challenge of industrial and retail companies to uniquely identify goods from cradle to grave, Confidex has released a new label with shared memory for RAIN RFID (UHF) and NFC interface. Unlike legacy dual frequency tags, this latest member of the Carrier product family for washable returnable transit items (RTIs), can store critical data and transmit that data via both RAIN RFID and NFC interfaces on a single IC.

With this unique label - leveraging the EM Microelectronic em|echo-V (EM4425) IC - users can access the same unique information about a product or asset via either a standard RAIN RFID or with an NFC reader or mobile phone. The RAIN RFID interface builds on a widely installed existing infrastructure, adding NFC on top to enable a seamless consumer interaction and remove any barrier to the end user reading the tag.

The Carrier Dual label boasts the same robust structure - proven in the field - provided by Confidex’s other Carrier family products. Its compact size makes it perfect for reusable pallets or consumer goods packaging, at 70 by 36 millimeters (2.75 by 1.41 inches).

“With Carrier Dual we are extending our industrial grade label portfolio by enabling applications that were not possible in the past,” says Confidex’s Marianne Wuorela, Product Line Manager. “Leveraging the field-proven structure used by several global customers in logistics, automotive and manufacturing, we are offering a reliable dual frequency label designed for long-term usage. Our target is always to make our products as easy to use as possible and therefore have also partnered with industry leading printer suppliers to ensure compliancy and easy operation.”

16 Oct 2023 - Pacer

“Our close collaboration with Confidex enables us to deliver a product uniquely fit to the market needs and providing additional value to all stakeholders in the value chain”, says Pierre Muller, RFID BU Leader at EM Microelectronic. “We are very excited about bringing together the RAINFC capability to the industrial application and enabling new market innovation”.

This unique label is optimal for numerous applications in the industrial sector from reusable transport items to other industrial assets that require a long-term label solution. Until now, many businesses have found RFID deployments out of reach because RAIN RFID tags could only be operated by those with a proper RFID reader infrastructure, while existing dual-frequency tags are often too costly and a hassle to operate with two separate technologies embedded together but without a real interaction in between. That entry cost is significantly reduced however, with Confidex Carrier Dual that enables encoding of both RAIN RFID and NFC memories using the industry leading RFID printers. This means, customers can encode also NFC data such as website address with an existing RFID printer.

Some key applications include:

• Supply chain management and logistics - Users can capture data across a supply chain; counting inventory in warehouses or stores using RAIN RFID, while those near the end of the supply chain (without RAIN RFID readers) can rely on NFC reading with mobile phones, to access the same data.
• Retail - Brand protection, inventory management, and consumer engagement can be integrated with a single label that can be read throughout the supply chain with RAIN RFID readers, and then used by consumers for product details and rewards.
• Product authentication - Consumers can verify the authenticity and integrity of purchased items such as pharmaceutical products, by reading the same tag that also served for ensuring supply chain efficiency. Retailers can do the same with returned products by capturing data with the tap of a smart phone.
• Smart packaging - Information such as expiration date, manufacturing details and product ingredients can be stored in a label built directly into a consumer package.