AT&T announced the availability of an RFID and GPS based resource management system for K-12 education institutions. This system will allow schools to track assets, both alive and inanimate. The idea is that every object that the school wants to track will have an RFID tag, be it book, computer, school bus, or child. The RFID tags would most likely be on an ID card that the child carries with them at all times. The school will be able to determine if they are in class, off the property, or riding the bus, as long as they are with their ID card. It definitely makes sense for a school to track all their equipment, like computers and tvs, but keeping tabs on children in this method seems way too “big brother”-ish. Shouldn’t the teachers, bus drivers, and school employees be keeping a watchful eye instead?

Some of the capabilities of the AT&T tracking system include:

— Asset tracking. Minimize theft of high-value equipment and assets, including computers, projectors, laptop carts and lab equipment. Also, because many of these assets are mobile, locating them can be difficult in a large school building. Active RFID allows the teachers and staff to easily locate these assets, saving time and optimizing inventory.
– Daily attendance tracking. Automate the tracking of average daily attendance, as well as notify administrators when students are not in school by importing information in the student-information databases.
– School-visitor tracking. Monitor the location of visitors and even alert school administrators when visitors enter unauthorized areas.
– Disaster response. Provide the location of school staff in the event of a man-made or natural emergency or disaster situation.

Source: CNN
Image: Flickr

A Seattle based startup named Pelago is has filed a patent for ‘Pay-For-Visit Advertising’. What is it? The system would use Bluetooth, GPS, Bluetooth, and/or RFID on mobile devices to track people’s visits to shops, restaurants, etc., which appeared in ads shown to you on your device. Phone calls could also be tracked to see if you dial an advertiser’s number, and bank tracking to see if you made a purchase. I have a feeling this just isn’t going to sit to well with some people. Pelago has just raised $7.4M from Jeff Bezos and other investors.

Sounds creepy right? But it’s actually a new way to help acid reflux sufferers. UT Southwestern Medical Center doctors and UT Arlington engineers have developed an RFID chip which tests for electrical impulses that signal acidic or nonacidic liquids moving through your esophagus. The data is then transmitted to a wireless sensor worn around the neck. This system is still in it’s test phase, no word on when it will be fully launched. Via RFID News

On May 4th, IBM is unleashing the new Infoprint 6700 M40 thermal/RFID printer. It will make printing RFID much easier for small to midsize businesses. The printer will do bar codes, human-readable information on labels, and encode the RFID inlay in the labels all at once.

Connectivity options include serial, parallel, USB 2.0, Ethernet and wireless. Pricing for the InfoPrint 6700 M40 will start at $1,750.

Today Hitachi announced a new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm, which they may begin marketing within 2 to 3 years.

By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the chip substrates, Hitachi was able to create RFID chips 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips. Mu-chips have been used as an anti-counterfeit measure in admission tickets, and the new chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number.

These new chips are also 9 times smaller than prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year measuring 0.15 x 0.15 mm.

At 5 microns thick, the RFID powder can be embedded in paper, like paper currency, gift certificates and identification cards. But since existing tags are already small enough to embed in paper, it leads one to wonder what new applications the developers have in mind.

Via Pink Tentacle

Somark Innovations has just announced the success of Biocompatible Chipless RFID1 Ink in cattle and lab rats. It consists of injecting and reading a Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink “tattoo” within the skin of the animals.

Ramos M. Mays, Chief Scientist, says, “This proves the ability to create a synthetic biometric or fake fingerprint with Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink and read it through hair.”

The ink creates a unique ID that is readable “without line of sight.” This technology will be used initially to help track and identify cattle. Secondary target markets include dogs, cats, lab animals, and individual prime cuts of meat. Huh? RFID ink in my meat? PDF [Somark press release]

The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project is installing RFID transmitters all over Tokyo’s Ginza area, a famous shopping area in the city. The RFID tags and transmitters will give location-related information to people carrying prototype readers.

According to Network World, “The system works by matching a unique code sent out by each beacon with data stored on a server on the Internet. The data is obtained automatically by the terminal, which communicates back to the server via a wireless LAN (WLAN) connection and requests the data relevant to the beacon that is being picked up.”

The system will provide people with basic navigation and information about the shops and stores in the area in at least four languages - Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English.

The terminal being used in the trial features a 3.5-inch OLED touch-panel display and a host of networking interfaces. There is RFID, infrared and 429MHz wireless for interacting with the beacons in the trial, WLAN for connection to the Internet and a Bluetooth link. General trials in Ginza are scheduled to begin on Jan. 21 and will run until March.

The Great Wolf Lodge at Paramount’s Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, opening December 14, will begin using new RFID wristband technology to extend more convenience to it’s guests.

Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC) is the creator of the patented Smart Band RFID Wristbands and PDC Smart Kiosk RFID Cashless Point-of-Sale (POS) System which will be used at the resort.

ContactlessNews via The Wireless Report

Sixty specially selected Hertz customers are using RFID (?) - enabled frequent-user cards to speed up their car rentals at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport in France. The service is part of a trial to test how RFID might make the process of renting a car faster and more convenient. “The impetus behind the trial is to provide a more seamless travel experience for Hertz and Air France customers,” says David Trimm, vice president of business systems at Hertz Europe. The new RFID system does not require any counter stops. Instead, renters can go straight through the office to their car, where they can accept the rental and drive away without having to call on any Hertz staff members. The trial involves 10 specially equipped Renault Mégane cars. It will run for six months and is due to end in October.

Instead of stopping at a counter, a customer looks at the display board to learn the location of the rental car, then goes straight to the car and places an RFID-enabled Hertz Accessplus Next Generation membership card within a few inches of the windscreen’s RFID interrogator antenna. The interrogator reads the unique ID number stored on the card’s embedded Philips Semiconductors Mifare RFID chip, which operates at 13.56 MHz and conforms to the ISO standard 14443 for contactless smart cards. Before the customer can drive the car away, a computer display screen, attached to the rear view mirror, asks if the driver has a valid license. If the answer is yes, a vehicle immobilizer allows the car to start with the push of the ignition button. The system utilizes RFID-enabled cards and readers from Geneva-based smart card specialist Icomsat. Full Article Via RFID Journal