According to Impinj, Europe has now the chance to become the global leader in the use of UHF RFID technology!
On October 11 2018 the European Union announced its Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1538 on the harmonisation of radio spectrum for use by short-range devices within the 874-876 and 915-921 MHz frequency bands.
In an interview last week with RFID & Wireless IoT Global, Chris Diorio, founder and CEO of Impinj, expressed his pleasure that his company was able to present a number of new UHF RFID readers:
“With this extension of the product family, Impinj can now present readers that take advantage of the opportunities created by new EU regulations.”
Double the power and the bandwith
According to Chris Diorio, it is now possible within the EU to transmit in defined frequency bands with a maximum transmission power of four instead of two watts:
“Under ideal conditions, doubling the transmission power results in doubling the reading range. This greatly expands the application spectrum for UHF RFID-based applications. Also the Commission's decision states that 400 kHz wide channels can be used in the upper frequency band from 915 to 921 MHz, which is also twice as much as the lower frequency range from 865 to 868 Mhz.
The doubled channel width enables a significant increase in reading speed.“
Putting the EU at the forefront of Rain RFID application opportunities?
Chris Diorio stated that this step is not "just" an extension of the reader portfolio. According to the Impinj CEO, it could rather be a significant step for user companies in the EU:
“With the new regulations, by far the most powerful RAIN RFID solutions in Europe will be possible worldwide. The combination of doubled transmission power and doubled bandwidth will ensure that RAIN RFID can be used more efficiently within the EU than in any other region of the world.“