| Feature
of the Month:
In this issue:
| Feature:
White Paper Compares HF/UHF for
Item-Level Pharmaceutical Applications |
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Philips, TAGSYS
and Texas Instruments have collaborated on a joint
white paper, "Item Level Visibility in the Pharmaceutical
Supply Chain: A Comparison of HF and UHF RFID Technologies."
As established providers of radio frequency identification
(RFID) technologies, the companies combined their
expertise to detail the technical capabilities, deployment
characteristics, and applicability of passive high-frequency
(HF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) technology for
pharmaceutical item-level pedigree tracking applications.
The white paper also highlights some of the existing
commercial pharmaceutical and healthcare pilots and
implementations.
The pharmaceutical industry is looking
to RFID as a primary way of improving the safety and
efficiency of the international drug supply chain
through counterfeit prevention, decreased shrinkage
and diversion, improved inventory management, and
faster product recalls. According to the Food and
Drug Administration, RFID provides the most promising
approach for reliably tracking, tracing and authenticating
pharmaceutical products, and it is recommending widespread
use of RFID at the item level by 2007. Despite industry
momentum for RFID, there are still many misconceptions
and issues to be resolved, including the choice of
frequency. While much of the focus has been on passive
tags in the UHF bandwidth, the paper also provides
an in-depth perspective on HF technology, discussing
the technical and deployment characteristics that
make it the most effective path with the lowest risk
for item-level identification and pedigree tracking.
"RFID has the opportunity to
transform the pharmaceutical supply chain," said
Lisa Clowers, vice president, supply chain processes
and technologies, Healthcare Distribution Management
Association (HDMA). "We continue to support collaboration
with all members of the healthcare distribution supply
chain to explore the appropriate RFID frequencies
to drive industry adoption."
To download a copy of "Item-Level
Visibility in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: A Comparison
of HF and UHF RFID Technologies,” visit any
of the authors’ Web sites at www.semiconductors.philips.com,
www.tagsys.net
or www.ti-rfid.com.
Access the paper directly at http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/manuals/whtPapers/jointPharma.pdf.
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TI
Tag-it™ Technology Compliant with ISO/IEC 18000-3
 In
standards news, Texas Instruments is announcing that its
ISO/IEC 15693, high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz tags and readers
are also compliant with the ISO/IEC 18000-3 standard. The
ISO/IEC 15693 standard initially developed for contactless
smart cards has been adopted for item management under the
name of ISO/IEC 18000-3 Mode 1.
For applications such as libraries, manufacturing,
supply chain, pharmaceutical/hospital and access control,
the merging of these two standards allows the same radio
frequency technology to be used for identifying assets as
well as people. Using TI’s HF ISO technology, companies
can simplify their systems and reduce their installation
costs for HF RFID.
TI has been manufacturing its Tag-it™ISO/IEC
15693 compliant 13.56 MHz inlays and readers since the standard
was finalized in 1999. The company has produced hundreds
of millions of high-frequency ISO inlays for a number of
different markets. The ISO 18000-3 standard is at the final
draft international standard (FDIS) stage and is scheduled
for publication by the ISO secretariat by the end of 2004.
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SafeTzone
Adds Cashless Spending Option to Theme Park Guest Location
System
 Launched
in several theme parks and a shopping mall throughout the
United States, SafeTzone Technologies Corporation has now
added a cashless payment option to its Guest Location solution.
Participating venues--Wild Rivers (Irvine, California),
Great America (Santa Clara, California) Wannado City (Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida) and many more --offer watch-like RF
devices containing TI’s 23mm passive low frequency
transponders, combined with active RF technology, to groups
or families for instant real-time location of group members
and amenities at in-park kiosks.
 Wild
Rivers added SafeTzone’s Cashless Spending Module
to its system this summer, allowing
patrons to also use the wristbands as "electronic wallets."
Guests can use cash or a credit card to create a spending
account -which is accessed by passing the wristband over
a reader at the point-of-sale. TI’s low frequency
transponder provides a unique identifier, connecting the
person to the appropriate patron account, allowing the vendor
to debit payment for the items against the amount remaining
in the account. Parents can even set spending limits for
each child, allowing children to buy their favorite keepsake
or snack, while eliminating the worry of overspending or
wet, lost or stolen money.
"TI’s
technology is an essential component of the overall system
- providing the all-important first link," said Regan
Kelly, co-founder of SafeTzone. "A guest account is
created when each guest receives his or her wristband, and
can only be accessed at a kiosk when the correct transponder
is presented. Now that we’re offering a payment option,
the issue of access to accounts and security of guest information
is that much more important - TI’s passive RFID technology
allows us to ensure that information
is only accessible to the person with the right wristband."
SafeTzone plans to expand its Guest Location
Services to a U.S. ski resort this winter as well as other
family destinations in both the US and Europe.
For more information on SafeTzone Technologies,
contact Regan E. Kelly by phone at 949-855-8987 x105, or
via e-mail at regan.kelly@safetzone.com,
or visit the company’s Web site at http://www.safetzone.com.
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Precision
Dynamics Unveils RFID/Bar Code Reader
Precision
Dynamics Corporation (PDC), a Team Tag-it™ member
and leader in automatic wristband identification, demonstrated
a prototype of its new multi-function RFID/bar code reader
at the Smart Healthcare Conference in June. The new dual
handheld reader, created in collaboration with SkyeTek,
will improve patient identification accuracy and patient
safety in the medical industry. Combining an RFID reader/writer
and a two-dimensional imaging bar code scanner into a tethered
reader, the device captures information from RFID tags,
including TI’s 13.56 MHz tags, as well as 1-D and
2-D bar codes.
"In recognizing the need to facilitate
the interoperability between RFID and bar codes, we developed
a device that can read/write to an RFID wristband and read
a bar code," said Irwin Thall, PDC RFID manager for
healthcare, in a recent press release. "The new device
will easily connect to point-of-care mobile carts and devices
such as EKG machines, pulse oximeters and infusion pumps,
allowing for seamless and efficient patient administration,
tracking and care."
Improvements in pharmaceutical identification
technology are needed. According to the Institute of Medicine,
98,000 people in the United States die each year due to
medical errors - mostly as a result of patient, specimen
or medication misidentification - and the economic impact
reaches almost $29 billion annually. By automatically filling
in form fields, eliminating repetitive data-entry into medical
devices, and decreasing common manual errors, the reader
will benefit healthcare practitioners and patients alike.
With anticipated first shipments slated
for September 2004, this product, easily compatible with
most medical devices, will enforce the real-time confirmation
of the "Five Rights of Medication Safety" - Right
Patient, Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Route and Right Time
(visit www.5rights.com).
For more information on PDC’s new
reader, call 800-847-0670 x1320, or visit www.pdcorp.com.
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Dynasys
Launches Online RFID Superstore
Dynasys
Technologies, an authorized distributor and technical support
center for TI-RFid products since 2000, has launched an
expanded version of its Web site to include an RFID Superstore.
The new site features expanded listings of all TI-RFid products
as well as Dynasys customer applications, and a comprehensive
listing of educational RFID resources including articles,
white papers, presentations, FAQs and industry links.
The company plans to offer an eStore for
online product purchases as well as online customer service
in the near future.
For more information, visit the RFID Superstore
at http://www.rfidusa.com/superstore
or contact Bob Scher, CEO, Dynasys Technologies Inc. at
bobs@dyna-sys.com
or at 727-443-6600.
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RFID
Educational Events Expand to Europe and Asia
TI-sponsored
RFID educational opportunities are making their way around
the globe this fall. Event producer, Shorecliff Communications
LLC, is expanding its conference series to include European
and Asian destinations through the RFID Europe Conference
Series, RFID China and RFID Japan. Now integrators, IT professionals,
engineers and executives internationally can reap the benefits
of sessions covering the basics of RFID and EPC technology,
step-by-step guides for RFID integration, and insight on
the various solutions available in the market today.
RFID Europe Conference Series
The RFID Europe Conference Series provides
three opportunities for attendees to learn the basics of
RFID from industry leaders and technology experts, in collaboration
with RFID International. The daylong program offers
insight to help participants select, build and deploy RFID
systems. In addition, technology experts will address the
overall business case for RFID and discuss how enterprise
users, integrators and value-added resellers can improve
their businesses by incorporating RFID into their solutions
portfolios. The events will be held on October 19, 2004
in London, England, October 21, 2004 in Brussels, Belgium,
and on October 27, 2004 in Munich, Germany.
RFID China and RFID Japan
RFID China and RFID Japan are the first
conferences providing comprehensive RFID technology information
from leading technology suppliers and showcasing a comprehensive
suite of RFID technologies and applications in these countries.
The conference and exhibition will give attendees the opportunity
to choose from a variety of classes, workshops and discussions
with exhibiting solutions providers. Events will be held
on October 7, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan and October 11-12, 2004
in Beijing, China.
For additional details or to register, contact
Shorecliff Communications by phone at +1 800-608-9641 or
via e-mail at info@scievents.com,
or visit www.shorecliffcommunications.com.
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