NXP and Siemens collaborate on RFID project
NXP, a Dutch independent semiconductor company founded in the 1950s by Philips, is to work with Siemens on an RFID-based supply chain pharmaceutical project designed to improve efficiency from manufacture to retail.
NXP, a Dutch independent semiconductor company founded in the 1950s by Philips, is to work with Siemens on an RFID-based supply chain pharmaceutical project designed to improve efficiency from manufacture to retail.
Using NXP's Application and System Centre (ASC, formerly known as the RFID Reference Design Centre) in Graz, Austria, which evaluates RFID applications, the Siemens IT Solutions & Services team have created a customised RFID system to ensure a high read accuracy throughout the supply chain.
The system is based on NXP's ICODE high frequency (HF) RFID technology incorporated into the labels of pharmaceutical products. It is configured to comply with the HF Gen2 standard, which is currently under final review by EPCglobal.
The ASC enabled Siemens to achieve industry benchmark HF read accuracy results using an advanced high speed anti-collision concept.
"We selected NXP as the chip supplier for our innovative RFID pharmaceutical project," said Matthias Bruckschen, principal consultant SCM/RFID at Siemens IT Solutions and Services. "By simulating the interactions between the readers and samples, we were able to obtain first qualitative results and calibrate the solution accordingly. The support provided by ASC saved us a lot of development time."
As well as helping systems engineers tackle common problems and support the development of RFID projects, the ASC is used to build and test full-scale supply chain scenarios to evaluate the robustness of an RFID-based system.
"NXP's aim in founding the ASC was to create an environment which would spur the advancement of RFID and industry-wide research through methodological analysis, test and validation of all elements of an RFID system," said Dirk Morgenroth, marketing director of RFID at NXP.