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Thanks to the well-circulated myth that passive RFID doesn't work on metal, and rumours that only one or two types of tag can work near metals, ODIN Technologies has conducted and published a scientific evaluation and benchmark of passive RFID tags designed to work on metal objects.
The myths about RFID's supposed failure around metal items are neatly 'busted' by the 'Metal Mount RFID Tag Benchmark report, which showed that even some of the more popular tags designed for metal are not among the top performers.
Working on improvements
Indeed, physicists and engineers from seven passive RFID tag vendors have been steadily improving performance on and around metal surfaces, and the new benchmark report represents the 11th instalment of ODIN's RFID Benchmark series. The report compared 17 UHF RFID tags designed specifically for use on metal.
End-users currently employ metal-mount RFID tags to track a variety of items such as data centre assets, work in process components, laptops, tools, pipes, and aircraft parts. According to Patrick J. Sweeney II, founder of ODIN Technologies, "While metal mount tag performance has improved substantially over the past two years, the benchmark revealed that some vendors clearly outperform their peers."
RFID coming of age?
RFID use is developing more rapidly than ever before with new use-cases coming of age in months rather than years. Many companies are now adopting RFID and trying to tag challenging items such as blade servers, laptops, critical spare parts and tools for manufacturing.
A simple mistake in tag selection can compromise the entire solution, Sweeney warned. Consequently, ODIN has since decided to publish a sanitised, redacted version of the report for free, via its web site.
Six benchmark tests
The report summarised findings from six scientific tests that were conducted on each of the 17 tags evaluated. The tests included:
- Tag sensitivity: the minimum RF power each tag requires to operate;
- Power effectiveness: tag performance results from one milliwatt to one watt;
- Orientation sensitivity: tag performance over multiple power levels and orientations;
- Distance: how well tags are read at distances ranging from 1 to 17 feet;
- Metal proximity: tag read performance when placed next to other metal surfaces;
- Material dependency: metal mount tag performance when affixed to other materials.
New tests added
ODIN warned that choosing a tag that can be read on a metal item while it is sitting alone on a test table is not a viable method of selection. Instead, tags must be tested in operational settings where other metal surfaces (such as other assets, shelves, server racks, cubicles and material handling equipment) are present (and therefore may potentially inhibit successful tag reads). The new metal proximity tests addressed this issue directly.
Similarly, material dependency addresses the notion that one tag will work on all material types. The testing showed that several metal mount tags failed to function when applied to non-metallic surfaces. These findings, among others, can be used to help determine which type of tag performance is most critical to each end user's requirements, and which vendors have the strongest offerings in those areas.
Tags and vendors covered
ODIN engineers selected tags for the report based on a number of factors including size, popularity and uniqueness. There are six large-sized tags represented, seven medium-sized tags, and four-small sized tags. Tag size was measured based on horizontal footprint of the tags which indicates the size of the surface area required to affix the tag to an item (an important factor because many tags cannot fit on the front of a blade server or on small objects).
The vendors and tags evaluated in the benchmark included:
- Avery Dennison: AD-900, AD-902, AD-908;
- Confidex: Halo, Ironside, Steelwave;
- Emerson & Cummings: Ecopad;
- Intermec: Large Rigid, Small Rigid;
- Omni-ID: Flex, Micro, Mini;
- Sontec: C0101, P01016BT;
- TROI: MMT-3001, MMT-3004, PC-102.
The full report can be purchased directly from the ODIN online store.
Source: ODIN Technologies
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