Jadak announces Bluetooth RFID reader for health-care applications ••• RFID market to reach $9.56 billion in 2015, IDTechEx CEO says ••• NEC Display Solutions of America uses Impinj RFID technology for contest ••• Google unveils Eddystone formats for Bluetooth beacons ••• ParkerVision's PV5870 demodulator selected for RFID products ••• Skytron inks deal to distribute Mobile Aspects' RFID-enabled smart cabinets.

By Beth Bacheldor

The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations: Jadak; IDTechEx; NEC Display Solutions of America, Impinj; Google;ParkerVision; Skytron, and Mobile Aspects.

JADAK ANNOUNCES NEW BLUETOOTH RFID AND BAR-CODE READER FOR HEALTH-CARE APPLICATIONS

Jadak, a manufacturer of machine vision, RFID and bar-code scanning products for the health-care and life-sciences industries, has announced the HS-2R, a cordless Bluetooth RFID reader and linear (1D) and matrix (2D) bar-code scanner designed specifically for health care. The HS-2R is designed to help medical technicians improve workflows, according to the company, and is suitable for point of care, blood tracking, drug inventory, reagent scanning, surgical part tracking and more.

Jadak HS-2 reader

The HS-2R, which Jadak says is the world's first cordless Bluetooth RFID reader and 1D and 2D bar-code scanner designed specifically for health care, reads and writes to 13.56 MHz high-frequency (HF) RFID tags, including those supporting the ISO 14443A, ISO 15693 and ISO 18000-3 standards, as well as the Felica specification. The handheld, which measures 4.6 inches by 2.0 inches by 1.3 inches (116.8 millimeters by 51.3 millimeters by 33.4 millimeters), features a sealed medical-grade housing with an IP 54 rating to protect it from exposure to liquids and multiple drops onto hard hospital floors.

The new dual-function device will be made available later this month, the company reports, and can be tailored to meet specific customer requirements.

RFID MARKET TO REACH $9.56 BILLION IN 2015, IDTECHEX CEO SAYS

The total RFID market size and outlook for 2015, which includes active RFID and real-time location system (RTLS) technologies, passive RFID services, networking, software, passive RFID interrogators and passive RFID tags, is expected to reach $9.56 billion in 2015, up from $8.73 billion in 2014, according to the presentation made by Raghu Das, IDTechEx's CEO, during a recent meeting of the RAIN RFID Alliance.

IDTechEx, headquartered in Cambridge, England, provides market-research reports on a variety of technologies. The RAIN RFID Alliance's mission is to promote awareness, increase education and support the universal adoption of ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology complying with the EPC Gen2v2 UHF RFID specification, incorporated into the ISO 18000-63 standard.

According to Das, applications for retail apparel and shoes using RAIN RFID UHF tags are expected to continue dominating the market growth, with 4.75 billion UHF tags expected to be sold worldwide in 2015. Sales for passive UHF tags is forecast to total $324 million in 2015 (UHF tag sales came in at $241 million in 2013 and $278 million in 2014).

High-frequency (HF) tags for smart cards and payment key fobs captured the greatest market share for cumulative sales, while UHF tags used for retail apparel and consumer packaged goods (CPG) pallet- and case-tracking applications came in second. Applications including smart tickets, the tracking of manufacturing parts and tools, animals (including livestock and pets), and books, and car clicker applications rounded out the top seven.

Approximately 7.5 billion digitally encoded RFID tags were sold worldwide in 2014, according to Das. From 1943 to the start of 2015, a total of 34 billion digitally encoded RFID tags were sold worldwide, IDTechEx estimates. Of those 34 billion, the vast majority—or 33 billion—have been passive tags, while the remainder have been active and/or RTLS tags.

NEC DISPLAY SOLUTIONS OF AMERICA USES IMPINJ RFID TECHNOLOGY FOR CONTEST

During InfoComm 2015, held last month in Las Vegas, NEC Display Solutions of America, a provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, used a RAIN RFID-powered digital camera to take photographs of attendees and carry out a contest, according toImpinj. The solution, created by Inmotion, included Impinj's Indy RS500 reader system in package (SiP) and RFID cards made with Impinj Monza 4QT chips.

An Nikon D5300 camera cabled to an RFID reader and antenna

Inmotion used an optical cable to link aNikon D5300 digital SLR camera to a small reader built on the Impinj Indy RS500 SiP. An antenna was attached to the reader and the camera, and the system was designed to register a read event each time the flash went off. As attendees arrived at the party, they were given a RAIN RFID prize card featuring a Monza 4QT tag chip. When the photographer took a picture, the reader registered the read event via a timestamp.

After the party, Impinj reports, the photographer downloaded the pictures, after which the Inmotion software linked the card reads to those photos. The next day, party attendees were able to visit the community wall in the NEC booth, swipe their prize card, view their image on the screen and have a chance to win a prize.

PARKERVISION'S PV5870 DEMODULATOR SELECTED FOR RFID PRODUCTS, SATELLITE RECEIVERS, AND MORE

ParkerVision, which is focused on the commercialization of its proprietary RF communication technologies, has announced that one of its component products, the PV5870 wide-band IQ demodulator, is being designed into RFID products, as well as a number of other commercial and industrial RF applications, including satellite receivers and avionics test equipment. The PV5870 is currently being evaluated by additional customers for a wide range of high-performance commercial applications, the company reports.

According to a ParkerVision spokesman, the ultra-low-power, high-performance IQ modulator/demodulator is suitable for both portable and fixed RFID readers. It is designed for typically challenging communication systems, the spokesman says, and features strong linearity and low power consumption of less than 130mW. The device is optimized for wide-band applications utilizing RF carrier frequencies ranging from 400 to 3,600 MHz, and is based on ParkerVision's patented energy transfer sampling receiver technology and pulse shaping transmitter technology. Benefits include excellent amplitude and phase balance, low conversion loss with low noise figure, very low DC offset, and low power dissipation, ParkerVision says.

ParkerVision reports that it has been shipping evaluation boards and sample components for customers to evaluate and, in some cases, implement in early pilot production units.The firm plans to ship units in volume during the coming months through ParkerVision's distribution partner, RFMW.

SKYTRON INKS DEAL TO DISTRIBUTE MOBILE ASPECTS' RFID-ENABLED SMART CABINETS

Skytron has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to distribute Mobile Aspects' RFID-enabled smart cabinets for health care, including the iRISupply, iRIScope and iRISecure product lines. Skytron is a medical equipment supplier that provides a full line of health-care products. In addition to RFID asset tracking, the company offers surgical tables, lights, booms, video integration, patient lifts and infection-prevention solutions. The Mobile Aspects products are the latest addition to the Skytron Process Solutions product category designed to increase clinical efficiencies in perioperative and procedural workspaces.

Mobile Aspects' iRIS suite of solutions is intended to help health-care facilities increase their revenue reimbursement and improve their process and workflow efficiencies, while helping them to comply with regulatory agency guidelines.