An
announcement this week by SecureRF caught
our eye, with the company releasing a new
RFID tag specifically designed for “cold
chain” applications such as those
in the pharmaceutical industry. The company
says the new tag, designed for item-level
tagging, combines several features together
in a single passive tag for the first time.
The new LIME
(Lightweight Multistream Encryption Tag)
is passive, meaning it is charged by the
reader to produce a signal, but yet includes
a battery to enable some of the other functions
available on the tag. The company says it
is compatible with most (but not necessarily
all) current Gen 2 EPC readers.
The new tag
provides tamper-proof data storage, using
encryption technology on the tag itself,
and ensures further security by providing
the capability to permit only authorized
readers to access information. These capabilities
also will enable pharma and other companies
to address problems with counterfeiting
by using a range of cryptographic methods
to create an unalterable electronic “seal.”
The new tag
also includes a temperature sensor, supporting
cold chain management issues by monitoring
and securely recording an item’s temperature
history.
Tags with
some of these capabilities are available
from the company now, with the full set
of capabilities on tags shipping by the
end of the year. |