Blog

RFID Asset Tracking and Surveillance - Video from RFID Journal Live 2012

2012-04-23T20:26:37Z

Want to track all your equipment? Know if it went out the wrong door or who took it?

Impinj made a nice video demo of our Nox system at RFID Journal Live 2012.

Interop: Free Full Conference Pass Contest ($2,000 value)

2012-04-20T19:38:19Z

We scored an Interop Las Vegas full conference pass and we're giving it away to 'whoever wants it the most'.

Don't know what Interop is? This is not a contest for you. But, for the techies, this is the full conference, one week pass to every session and is worth $2,095.

So if you've been trying to justify the trip, here's some more reasons:

You'll see SimplyRFiD there. You can test the latest surveillance and tracking technology to see if it's right for your IT equipment.
Cloud Computing: Nox surveillance works on the cloud (we run on AWS / Amazon Web Services elastic servers) or locally. Don't know what the cloud is all about? Interop has a dozen sessions on transitioning to the Cloud and you'll more than save your airfare in how much you can save.
Axis cameras: Catch the talk on implementing camera systems - along with IT systems - for even more surveillance.

How to win:

Tweet a message with a hashtag of #SimplyRFID saying why you need the pass the most. We'll compile them and based on the most RT's and how much we love it -- we will select the winner on Friday, Midnight Eastern, April 27, 2012.

Example of a potentially winning enty:

"SimplyRFiD has awesome RFID Surveillance stuff for IT I must see at Interop 2012! #SimplyRFiD"

Terms and conditions for contest:

- Free pass restricted by Interop's requirements on entering the show. If you are underage or not permitted to enter the USA or get arrested or wear a poor choice of clothing or over sleep or can't pay for late-night entertainment and are shipped back to your office and fired, we aren't responsible.

- Our total responsibility is to give one winner a free pass to Interop based on a crowd-based / social-mob agreement that they have the most need for it. Actual need is subjective and no doubt the less needy person will win, but we hope it's a fun experience for all. If something goes terribly wrong with trying to do this, we bear no responsibility and reserve the right to cancel the contest with no winner.

- The total value of this promotion is between $0 and $2,095, depending on how many lawyers get involved and make our lives less wonderful.

- Sorry.

SimplyRFID First To License The Key Patents for Asset Surveillance and Spy Chips

2012-04-18T18:13:20Z

18 April, 2012 3:00pm

Warrenton, VA; April 18, 2012 – Automated Tracking Solutions, LLC (ATS) announced today it has granted SimplyRFID, a leader in RFID tagging productivity systems, a non-exclusive license to four ATS Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) patents (U.S. Patent No. 6,933,849; U.S. Patent No. 7,551,089; U.S. Patent No. 7,834,765; and U.S. Patent No. 7,834,766). Automated Tracking Solutions’ RFID technology includes processes and systems that permit users, in near-real time, to identify, track, locate, and/or provide surveillance of tagged objects at the item level anywhere within a facility.

"SimplyRFID recognized the strategic value that licensing ATS' RFID patent portfolio, and we are happy to announce this agreement today." said Adam S. Malamut, Chief Executive Officer of ATS.

"The ATS patents are key to the future of RF surveillance. We licensed these to ensure our customers can deploy the best tracking solution possible -- without compromise." said Carl Brown, President of SimplyRFiD. "We licensed the ATS technology for all past and future customers of SimplyRFiD Nox Tracking Systems and can't wait to show what this will enable us to do."

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SimplyRFiD

SimplyRFiD's Nox system combines RFID chips and video that tracks IT assets, equipment, people, tools, and more. Nox enables the future of ID badging, automated check out, covert surveillance, and high-speed asset accounting. SimplyRFiD serves more than 2,000 customers from its headquarters in Warrenton, VA. SimplyRFiD is privately held.

Automated Tracking Solutions

Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Automated Tracking Solutions, LLC offers licenses to its intellectual property in the art of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Guided by its executive management team, including inventor, Dr. Fred Sawyer, ATS' mission is to encourage the use of RFID in applications requiring the identification, location, tracking, and/or surveillance of movable objects or people. Potential licensees include governmental agencies, State and Federal government, equipment manufacturers, integrators, middleware and software firms, and end users. For more information visit: http://www.automatedtrackingsolutions.com.

Hand-made RFID Spy Chips?

2012-04-17T19:33:34Z

Hitachi Chemical showed this chip @ the RFID Journal Live 2012 show. It's tiny and has a read-range of about 0.3 inches (1cm). But, what's cool about it is you can place a piece of foil or metalic thread and it will increase it's range to 2-5 feet (1-2 meters) depending on how you tune it.

We took a paper clip (6" long) and unfolded it.

All we needed to do was align a piece of the chip on the antenna and we extended the read range to 2 1/2 feet. We also tried it with a 12" and a 3" antenna. Neither of these gave the range of a 6".

Finally, we tried placing it on a metal laptop, but the tuning just doesn't work that way and we had no read range improvement. The interesting thing for this chip is easy embeding with metalic threads into textiles and ID badges, and documents.

TECH NOTES:

Hitachi indicates this tag can handle more than 1,000 cycles for -55C to 125C and short term to 260C for soldering applications and can survive 24 hours soaked in gasolie, tulene, and even plain old salt water.

It uses the Impinj M5 chip and has a 64-bit TID and 128-bit ID built in.

SimplyRFiD receives Best In Class Asset Tracking from "The RFID Network"

2012-03-31T04:56:24Z

Next week (April 3-5) at the RFID Journal Live 2012 show in Orlando Florida.

Come see what the RFID Network calls a

"Jaw dropping experience."

On hand will be James Martin, the CTO/Vice President of SimplyRFID to talk about the technology and capabilities of the Nox system.

See us in Booth #107.

TransTech Systems to Provide Distribution for SimplyRFID’s Line of Tracking Systems

2012-03-27T11:33:05Z

We're proud to announce TransTech as our distribution partner for Nox systems.

So, what does this mean? We'll have more options to make implementing RFID easier for you -- to increase our ability to deliver bigger systems -- and to expand how these systems integrate everything from ID badges and access control to equipment control.

Please take a look at the full press release, here.

Check Out SimplyRFiD at ISC West 2012

2012-03-12T17:56:25Z

SimplyRFiD will be heading west this March for the International Security Conference. This will be a great opportunity to learn about asset tracking with RFiD and Nox. We will have a booth showcasing our asset tracking and security system, Nox.

Our Nox system uses readers to track people and objects labeled with passive RFID tags. When readers detect the tags performing any action the user wants to record, high-definition video cameras record the event. For example, the reader might detect a tag being taken out of a secure area, or loaded into a truck. All videos are then indexed. With a quick search, users can pull up the exact moment when the tagged action was detected. All videos and recordings are done automatically. The system does not require anyone to monitor the RFID reader or video cameras.

Don't miss this opportunity to get in-depth details on what Nox can do for you!

The show dates are March 28-30, 2012.

Managing Assets with Nox Check In/ Out

2012-03-08T17:18:32Z

Tracking your assets, especially those of high value, has never been easy! Items get checked out, but many times they don’t get returned. Then, you find yourself looking for those items for hours. SimplyRFiD's NOX system lets you find those items instantly. The Check In/ Out feature of Nox provides records: who took a specific item, when it was taken out, and if it was checked back in. Click HERE and see what Nox can do for your organization!

Catching Professional Thieves with Nox

2012-03-07T19:56:39Z

It seems that many people have heard of the ‘Booster Bag’, the bag that professional shoplifters are using. This bag has the ability to prevent items to be detected by surveillance systems. Shoplifters can easily take tons items out without being caught. This is where NOX comes in handy; our Nox system uses a long- range sensor that monitors everything within 30-40.’ If an item is dropped in a ‘Booster Bag,’ it would disappear from the sensor grid and we’d know we need to look and see what’s happening to that item.

Article ran in SF Chronicle

Photo Credit: Michael Maloney / The Chronicle

PREVIEW: NordicID Morphic selected for NoxVault Micro Edition

2012-03-06T16:26:23Z

Our NoxVault is the most powerful RFID handheld on the market -- pushing a full watt of RF power and locating tags 30' away. But, not everyone needs that kind of power and so we have been looking for something awesome -- and, a lot smaller.

And here it is: The NoxVault Micro Edition which is built on the Nordic ID Morphic. What follows are some previews of the Morphic, spec changes between the NoxVault and this new Micro sized version -- and why you might like one over the other. We will release our souped-up Morphic version on April 3rd at RFID Journal Live in Orlando.

The Morphic Package

Unboxing the Nordic ID Morphic is an excellent experience. The original box has raised-lettering giving it a finished feel that says, "Hey, we thought about how your first experience should be." Really, starts you going down the right direction.

Getting Started

All we needed to do was insert the battery and press the power button. We were scanning RFID tags and barcodes in about 30 seconds.

The 'Battery Lock' is a precision piece of steel designed and planned thoroughly to fit, not be too big, and do its job exceptionally well. In fact, everything on the Morphic is first class. The sides have nice rubberized grip, the buttons are just the right-amount of squish/rubber to feel like they will last a lifetime.

And, speaking of the battery: Estimated 10 hours run time per charge with RFID.

The Buttons!

All of the buttons are rubberized and have a solid feel. We especially like the simplicity of the interface and the huge 'SCAN' button dead-center of the unit.

The Screen

This picture doesn't do it justice. The screen is super-bright with excellent resolution. Yes, it's small -- very small. Which makes it pretty funny that it's also a touch screen. However, if we limit the inputs to about six choices, the screen is very useful as touch.

In fact, one feature we thought that was nice is the 'guitar pick' that comes with the unit on the wrist strap. This replaces the hugely-over-priced 'stylus' found on most units that have a lifespan of two uses before they go missing. (Seriously? Where are they all disappearing to?)

Little touches like this are all over ther Morphic making it great feeling unit.

Handheld - Truely...

The Morphic easily fits in a pocket and gives you so much capability.

Comparison

So, clearly... This is a small unit. (Left: Symbol 9060, Middle: NoxVault Micro (Nordic Morphic), Right: NoxVault V2)

Performance

Read Range (Using SimplyRFiD Nox-2 outdoors / open air: Monza 3 with Avery AD-223 Inlay)

Symbol: 6 feet
NoxVault Micro Edition: 11 feet
NoxVault V2: 21 feet

Read Speed (Nox-TM4 Tags, 2,000 tags within 5' of reader):

Symbol: 28 Tags in 8 seconds.
NoxVault Micro Edition: 158 tags in 8 seconds
NoxVault v2: 580 tags in 8 seconds.

RF Power:

Symbol: Unverified.
NoxVault Micro Edition: 0.5 Watts
NoxVault v2: 1.0 Watt

Battery Life:

Symbol: Unverified.
NoxVault Micro Edition: 10 Hours
NoxVault v2: 1.5 Hours (comes with 2 batteries for 3 hours use and dual battery charger)

Why the NoxVault Micro Edition?

The Micro Edition will be great for short-range applications where the need to have a handheld RFID reader is necessary but massive power isn't required. Supply chain for shipping pallets and checking/verifying pallet tags, pallet build operations where isolation of single tags is needed, WIP applications, and other 10-20 RF tag in-range type applications. It's also great for expedited asset inventory where long-range room scans aren't needed but compact size is.

The NoxVault v2 is better on large scale location of asset tags where thousands of items must be inventoried as quickly as possible.

The Morphic can be ordered in a number of configurations.

The base model we will initially offer:

RFID UHF Gen2
WiFi
1D Barcode
BlueTooth

Options:

GPRS (Cellular)
2D Imager Barcode
Charging Base
2nd Battery (can charge in base at same time as unit)