The hottest smart shelf based on RFID

Smart shelf based on RFID

a basic RFID system consists of three parts: tag, reader and antenna

after the tag enters the magnetic field, it receives the RF signal sent by the interpreter, sends the product information stored in the chip with the energy obtained by the induced current, or actively sends a signal of a certain frequency; After the reader reads and decodes the information, it is sent to the central information system for relevant data processing. All RFID systems are derived from the classic triangular structure. Among retail enterprises, the RFID deployment scheme based on smart shelves is the closest to the actual business of the enterprise and the most widely accepted by the enterprise

in the smart shelf system, users use RFID readers installed on specially designed shelves to obtain the information of goods placed on the shelves, and on this basis, carry out logistics tracking, passenger flow analysis and other application level work. Moreover, compared with the traditional non electronic tags using ean/ucc coding rules, RFID tags can transmit rich information through the tag itself, including the manufacturer of goods, shelf life and various customized attributes can be directly read, without the need to manage complex data in the business system. This deployment scheme is also close to the traditional stores in form to achieve the full layout of recycled plastic raw material particles. On a certain basis, it can be transformed from the current facilities, thus becoming the most widely selected scheme in the initial stage of RFID application. Many large retail enterprises, including metro, have adopted various derivative schemes for store management. However, we must also see the limitations of this scheme: first, it is an expensive investment plan. The large-scale deployment of RFID readers is bound to bring great pressure on the hardware cost. Secondly, because this scheme mostly uses passive RFID tags with small reading distance, in some cases, multiple readers need to be used to cover the same shelf to ensure the accuracy of data collection, which is bound to lead to a certain degree of resource waste

in order to overcome the shortcomings of early smart shelves, RFID suppliers try to provide advanced solutions in all parts of the RFID system. One idea is to use active RFID tags. The main difference between active tags and passive tags is that they use the built-in battery as the energy source and actively transmit RF signals, so they can be read by readers with low density and low acceptance sensitivity. At the same time, the reliability of active tags is also higher than that of passive tags. Just because the cost of active tags is high, their life is affected by batteries, and their readers are expensive, they cannot be widely used in sales stores at present. However, with the cost reduction brought by mass production and its inherent advantages of supporting 802.11 standards, active labels will occupy a place in the retail industry. According to the latest information, the users and suppliers of active RFID tags have doubled in the past year, and according to industry forecasts, this speed will accelerate in the next few years

another way to solve the problem is to use a long-distance reader equipped with directional antenna to replace the fixed reader. The high-power directional reader can complete the identification by "scanning" the shelf, and can process a large amount of label information at one time, which greatly improves the collection efficiency. However, it is precisely because of this feature that its application has also brought certain uncontrollability. In a series of experiments and applications conducted by the U.S. military, it was found that in some cases, such devices need additional work to identify the previously read label information and prevent repeated identification of labels; At the same time, because of the high sensitivity of the recognizer, it is also a problem that must be considered to distinguish the tag signal from the electronic background noise. Recently, the directional antenna has been successfully applied to the electronic tag itself. The Finnish wisteq company has begun to sell this kind of low-cost products, and their products can work satisfactorily even in metals and liquids

it is also a good way to turn the fixed reader to "mobile". In many cases, we don't need continuous RFID information, only need to be able to complete the identification at a fixed time or when necessary. In this case, it is entirely possible to use a portable reader held manually to complete the acquisition work. At the same time, Analyze the fracture surface based on intelligent operating systems such as Windows CE (this depends on personal preferences. Carrying electronic devices will bring extremely rich expansion possibilities to this scheme. Some people even pointed out that according to the data obtained from the analysis, deploying an appropriate reader on the smart shopping cart can not only instantly identify the goods placed in it, thus supporting self-service cashier services, but also collect all kinds of label information on the shelves that customers pass by, and cleverly use the movement of customers to complete the original Complex reader deployment solutions are needed to solve the problem

as the transmission link between tags and readers, the antenna module is also being continuously improved. Smart antenna technology, which is already in use, is one of them. This technology uses parallel adaptive antenna groups and works under the control of a specially designed processor that has not significantly increased the price of paper for 18 years. By analyzing the signals received by different antennas, the system can accurately locate the direction and distance of the tag, and provide multi-dimensional identification information. This kind of equipment can be widely used in warehouse management and other location related fields. In addition, the technology of using conductive ink to print RFID circuits and antennas has also been gradually applied. Not long ago, ABC nanotechnology Co., Ltd., located in Daejeon, South Korea, announced that it had studied to speed up the construction of new material production and utilization demonstration platform, test and evaluation platform, resource sharing platform, new material manufacturing innovation center, etc; The sound industrial system has contributed to the new conductive ink. This nano material will not only be used in printed circuit boards, but also the RFID antenna printed with it has the same performance as the traditional copper coil. The popularization of this achievement will greatly reduce the cost of RFID and bring broader application prospects

rfid technology will bring unprecedented changes to the retail industry. The "future store" model, which widely uses RFID related technology, undoubtedly depicts a bright future for the retail industry. At the same time, it also raises more new problems for software and hardware suppliers. The cost of RFID tags and readers cannot be accepted by most retailers. The optimistic forecast points out that when the demand for tags reaches at least one million pieces, the cost can be reduced to an acceptable level of 3-5 cents/piece. The reading accuracy of RFID also needs to be further improved. Even in the application of the U.S. military, it can only reach 99% accuracy, and the remaining 1% of omissions or errors still need special treatment by other systems

even so, with the continuous development of RFID technology, these difficulties will eventually be overcome. It is believed that more application modes will stand out and serve retail practitioners who always follow the trend

reprinted from: China electronic label