A wearable smartcard reader
Research In Motion (RIM) recently announced the BlackBerry Smart Card Reader, a lightweight, wearable smartcard reader that enables controlled access to BlackBerry devices using Bluetooth technology and advanced AES-256 encryption. The BlackBerry Smart Card Reader is scheduled for Beta release in July 2005. The BlackBerry Smart Card Reader is a wearable peripheral that is FIPS 140-2 validated and can be used to comply with certain government or corporate security requirements by enabling two-factor authentication for BlackBerry devices and applications. The BlackBerry Smart Card Reader provides support for a variety of industry standard smartcards and also supports S/MIME.
"The BlackBerry Smart Card Reader combines the convenience of short-range Bluetooth connectivity with the advanced and proven security features of the BlackBerry architecture including the use of AES-based encryption and the ability for IT administrators to set policies to remotely manage the smartcard reader like any other asset on the network," said Scott Totzke, director of Government Technology at RIM.
RFID used in hospital research
Four prestigious French hospital research laboratories are using RFID tags to manage their specimen test tubes in a safe and accurate manner and to increase overall efficiency, availability and reliability of data.
A tag measuring 8,9 mm in diameter is used - small enough to be embedded into the tops of test tubes. The tags are fully functional and readable when subjected to the wide temperature variations typically found in medical research labs. For example, research samples can be maintained and tags read in temperatures as low as -196°C, as would be typical in liquid nitrogen storage, and can withstand a swing up to 125°C in a matter of seconds. The 13,56 MHz HF tags are being used to track and manage pathology samples. This pharmaceutical and medical application-specific tag aims to meet the industry's widespread need for safe, accurate and timely tracking of important laboratory test and research samples.
Applied to large patient samples, the system allows for frequent monitoring of pathology samples, thus increasing the amount of data available and thereby helping to improve the overall quality and timeliness of treatment development. To provide for further efficiency, the tags also feature an anti-collision function enabling the simultaneous reading of numerous tags. This functionality is crucial when searching for a specific sample on a tray containing multiple vials.
When placed on a reading station, up to 100 tags can be read in less than three seconds, while locating a specifically targeted vial.
Each tag carries a unique serial number as well as ample memory that can be read, modified and protected. The serial number sample data is linked to a database housing information on tissue samples, including patient data, tissue treatments and other variables. This information is read from a distance of a few inches using a fixed desktop or ightweight RFID handheld reader.
Air trick gets around metal and liquid issues
Liquids and metals usually interfere with RFID tag operation. But a patent-pending product from Paxar Corporation looks like it might be the answer needed by the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, Tesco, Metro Group, and the US military. While the marking of merchandise with RFID tags is rapidly being adopted by retailers and governments alike, the problem of tagging metal parts/containers and liquid-filled packages presents a distinct reliability problem: radio signals in the conventional UHF 866/868 Mhz frequency range that carry the data traffic between the RFID chip and the reader suffer interference, meaning that metallic or liquid contents are usually considered unsuitable or at least critical for RFID labelling.
Paxar has come up with its own solution - if not entirely original in concept - to the problem, and its simplicity brings the potential for widespread adoption. The idea is to simply use air as a spacer between the tag and the item being tagged. Paxar calls its new product the SpaceTag, and has applied for the necessary patent. A 3 mm to 8 mm layer of water-free foam material is sandwiched between the RFID adhesive label and the shipping unit, fixing a suitable air gap in place (the gap needed depends on the materials and environment involved). The air-padded RFID label can either be applied to the goods before or after the shrinkwrapping process, and is therefore ideal for use on pickup or sandwich pallets.
The SpaceTag is fixed to the pallet in two steps: first, the Paxar 9855 RFID printer produces a regular RFID adhesive label with barcode in a single process. Second, that label is attached to the foam layer either manually or using a labeller, and then fixed to the shipping unit.
The German company, SRD Maschinenbau GmbH, has also developed an automatic labeller for the SpaceTag and, together with Paxar the company has applied for patent protection for the unit. The on-demand design of the labeller accommodates SpaceTags, regular RFID labels, and also barcode labels without RFID tags. What happens if space is tight in the hold? Well, the elasticised foam SpaceTag crushes easily when pressed but immediately resumes its original shape when more space is available (such as when the pallets are off-loaded at the distribution centre or warehouse).
Finmark trust examines finances of the poor
The Financial Diaries project is a year-long household survey that examines financial management in poor households. Fortnightly interviews are conducted in three different areas in South Africa: Langa in Cape Town, Diepsloot in Johannesburg and Lugangeni, a rural village in the Eastern Cape. The Financial Diaries project is funded by SCSSA member Finmark Trust, the Ford Foundation and the Micro Finance Regulatory Council. Initial findings of the Financial Diaries project were launched in May in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Financial Diaries can be found on www.financialdiaries.com. We draw your attention to new material released by Stuart Rutherford on the Related Links page. The Financial Diaries dataset provides a new source of rich data from which to develop insights on the financial lives of low-income households. Please note that all queries on the Financial Diaries can be sent either to Louise Taljaard on [email protected] or to Daryl Collins on [email protected].
Nissan uses RFID technology
Nissan Motor said it has installed a new radio tag die management system at an engine plant to further streamline production. Nissan, Japan's second-largest automaker, said it introduced the world's first die inventory management system with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags at an engine manufacturing plant in Yokohama. 'The new system will allow Nissan to improve the efficiency of its drivetrain parts die management ... and reduce its die inventory by half,' Nissan said in a statement.
Nissan also said it hopes to deploy the new system, which it co-developed with NTT Data Corp, to other company plants in Japan. The Yokohama plant makes the MR engine installed in the Serena and Lafesta mini-vans, and the QR engine that powers the Murano crossover SUV and X-Trail compact SUV. The plant produced about 380 000 engines in the past year to March.
Sun enables 'smart' RFID devices
Sun Microsystems has expanded its RFID portfolio with the Sun Java System RFID Software for Java-enabled RFID devices. Through support for Java SE and Java ME, as well as the Solaris OS and Linux, the new Sun RFID Software will allow RFID devices, such as readers and appliances, to intelligently process information directly, instead of relying on external middleware. This shields both the network and end-user from the potential avalanche of information that can be generated in large-scale deployments and simplifies network management by reducing the number of network components needed.
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