The Auckland-based company claims to have produced a low-silicon chip that can be manufactured for around 6 cents. Many industry analysts believe that 5 cents is an appropriate economic price point that will drive wide-scale deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
Sandtracker says it has five companies seriously trialling its cheaper tags. One of these is sports-event software firm Codenz which is putting the tags on the running bibs of athletes to count and order them across finishing lines. Another is reported to be using RFID for more traditional crate and container management and security applications.
RFIDs are thumbnail-sized microchips that are expected one day to replace traditional barcodes. RFIDs have no power source of their own. Rather the tag draws its power from an RFID reader when it comes in close proximity. Then the RFID tag broadcasts information about itself (or the product it is attached to) – i.e. where it’s been, where it’s going, and other information.
Sandtracker says its technology uses less silicon than conventional RFID chips and that its bare-bones design (it only contains a number identifying the good tagged) allows it to be manufactured for under 10 New Zealand cents. The company adds that it has developed its chips to work in different environment, particularly those that are troublesome for conventional RFID chips and readers.
However the unique design of Sandtracker’s RFID technology means it doesn’t conform to EPC global standards. This could be a major stumbling block for Sandtracker since its tags can’t be used in supply chain applications where goods have to be moved to different locations. As things stand right now Sandtracker tags are restricted to single business location applications like inventory.
