News and Media: Latest 10 News Items

Guidelines for Temperature Control of Drug Products during Storage and Transportation

IDTechEx staged its annual conference on Active RFID and Real Time Locating Systems RTLS in Dallas USA 5-6 December. Delegates at over 240 and exhibitors at 20 were again sharply up, reflecting this prosperous and innovative industry. Here we look at aspects relevant to printed electronics. Passive RFID is most amenable to being totally printed because, in most cases, the logic consists of just a memory chip. However, although printing the microprocessors commonly used in active RFID is probably ten years off, the opportunity to print the antennas, sensors, interconnects and batteries is much closer. The primary motivation is to make these devices thinner, flexible and lower in cost.

RFID technology is conceptually easy to understand. So is data warehousing, and we know there's a lot to data warehousing. RFID is a tagging technology that uses electronic transmitters, or backscatters, containing (usually) a standard code representing the item that it is attached to - whether that is a shirt, an automobile, a cow, a bird, a computer, a pallet of goods or a passport. The tags are read by readers, which are usually in a fixed location.

A slew of new technologies, ranging from RFID and printed electronics, through shape memory alloys to novel battery and display technologies, is enabling a new kind of packaging: smart packaging. Smart packaging relies on the use of chemical, electrical, electronic, or mechanical technology, or any combination of them to add numerous features and functions to packaging.

Smart packaging opens up new opportunities for enhancing inventory tracking, product safety and security, user friendliness and brand enhancement. Its impact is already being felt now in packaging for sectors as diverse as retailing, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, military and toys. The use of smart packaging is also being pushed forward by changes in demographics and environmental concerns.

The report analyzes the market from all perspectives including materials suppliers, technology providers, printers and converters, product manufacturers and retailer/distributors. Companies mentioned in the report include:

* 3M
* Aveso
* Campbell
* Coca Cola
* CSIRO
* Cypak
* DuPont
* DHL
* Duracell
* Heinz
* IBM
+ Information Mediary
* Intel, Konarka
* Marks & Spencer
* MeadWestvaco
* PowerPaper
* Proctor and Gamble
* pSivida
* Wal-Mart

Evidencia LLP (distributor/integrator) won this award for cold chain management of temperature and delivery of avocados, an application spanning 6,000 miles—from the Rio Blanco farms (end user) in Chile to the end customer in California, a subsidiary of Green Giant. Using RFID-enabled temperature logging technology from Evidencia’s affiliate, Information Mediary, the pilot produced 100 percent read rates despite challenging temperature and humidity conditions.

CMP Technology has added award winners and all applicants & their partners to the RFID Excellence in Business Awards website.

The pharma industry sees great opportunities in using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology during clinical trials, a new survey has revealed.

Intelligent Devices Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian smart packaging experts Information Mediary Corp., has been awarded a sweeping anti-tampering Intelligent Active Packaging patent in the US and Europe. In its actual implementation it involves an ECM® (Electronic Content Monitor) RFID sensor tag and printed traces on a packaging box detecting openings and unauthorized openings or penetration.

Information Mediary Corporation and its affiliates retain the exclusive rights to use XINK formulations for its award-winning Med-ic Digital Package and pharmaceutical smart label technologies. Information Mediary Corporation will continue to provide pharmaceutical packaging and smart label technologies design, development and prototype services in their Ottawa-based Intelligent and Active Packaging Laboratory facilities.

RFID is still an emerging solution, but it's quickly becoming a realistic answer to the challenges of many businesses, and it must be implemented by each company on its own terms. As I mentioned in my first article on this subject, the RFID industry is rapidly changing. This statement still holds true today. Companies looking to adopt the technology must understand the truth behind the myths.