RFID News Roundup

• Nedap Creates Secure RFID Checkout Tech for Retailers
• Ecom Instruments Offers Smart Devices for Oil and Gas Workers
• Wonder Robotics Launches Smart Autonomous Drone Solution
• Samsung Electronics IoT Platform Helps Users Find Lost Devices

Jul 21, 2022Presented here are recent news announcements in the radio frequency identification and Internet of Things industries.

Nedap Creates Secure RFID Checkout Tech for Retailers

Nedap, a supplier of RFID solutions, has announced the launch of its iSenseGo suite of solutions designed to secure checkout for grocery stores, as well as health and beauty retailers. According to the company, iSenseGo allows stores to offer fast, frictionless checkouts without uncontrollable shrinkage levels. The solutions include labels, deactivation functionality, electronic article surveillance (EAS) and a data-analytics platform.

More than 10,000 stores to date have deployed Nedap's RFID-based iD Cloud platform, which provides real-time, item-level insights into stock levels and products' exact locations. "New retail experiences like 10-minute grocery delivery apps or 'checkout-free' store concepts, in combination with radically different lifestyle and working patterns, have changed the way we shop," said Robin van Stenis, Nedap's global marketing director, in a prepared statement.

Van Stenis added, "Shoppers now seek to experience the same fast and frictionless checkouts they do online when visiting physical stores. Focusing on self-service and the speed of checkout can meet these expectations, but it can come at a high cost. Studies have shown that stores with self-checkout options are experiencing double the shrinkage levels that traditional checkout stores have."

What Nedap envisions, van Stenis said, is "a world where technology leads to zero waste and no losses for retailers." The executive added, "This means innovation is key. By focusing on four key loss-prevention areas, preventing theft does not have to be in conflict with a seamless shopping experience. It's about putting the needs of the shopper first, and then looking at technology and data to protect retailers from theft."

Ecom Instruments Offers Smart Devices for Oil and Gas Workers

The use of smart devices in the offshore oil and gas industry can be challenging. With inhospitable environmental conditions, confined spaces and limited WLAN connectivity, there are many obstacles to digitalization. With that in mind, ECOM Instruments says it subjected its Visor-Ex 01 system, consisting of smart glasses and a smartphone certified for hazardous area use, to such an environment during development. The practical test, according to the company, revealed the potential for rollout in future applications.

The stringent requirements for hazardous areas restrict the choice of smart devices that can be deployed, Ecom explains, often forcing personnel to use a manual pen-and-paper method—for example, to provisionally document inspection results before transferring that information to digital files at a computer desk. For mobile workers, this practice often involves traversing long distances along multilevel oil platforms.

Aboard drilling rigs, Ecom notes, hazardous areas can change depending on current conditions, so the highest level of protection is essential for the equipment used. Since crews need to be kept to a minimum for safety, cost and time reasons, remote support solutions for maintenance and repair are in demand, as are digitization solutions that can ensure real-time knowledge transfer for employees. With up to 10,000 maintenance activities per month, the company adds, streamlined processes can improve efficiency.

Ecom cites an unnamed oil and gas company that sought smart devices to digitize its processes. In addition to remote support, the most important application scenarios included data harvesting during inspections and storage system overhaul. Potential devices had to meet numerous requirements, and wearables were of interest because they allow hands-free work—essential since mobile workers must safely navigate long distances along steep staircases. The company subjected Ecom's explosion-proof Visor-Ex 01 smart glasses to an extensive test on a drilling rig.

The device weighs 180 grams, Econ reports, and offers high camera quality and reliable communication capability. The wearable features three integrated cameras, allowing remote support workers to observe a situation from a natural perspective and with an unrestricted field of vision. When the device is not in use, users can fold the Visor-Ex 01's OLED display out of their field of vision to gain an unobstructed view of analogue reality. During the field test, the company was in close contact with Ecom's development team, and feedback helped to guide the smart glasses' development.

According to Ecom, the Visor-Ex 01 passed the field test, particularly in the area of data harvesting. With the help of cameras and image processing, QR codes from devices and machines can be read to gain access to such sensor data as pump pressure, enabling numerous Internet of Things (IoT) application scenarios. The smart glasses are designed to improve the documentation of incidents both quantitatively and qualitatively, Ecom notes, since mobile workers can not only record the causes of malfunctions, but also add photos and video recordings. The digitized information can then be shared with external support experts or employees on other rigs, or at the company's headquarters.

Wonder Robotics Launches Smart Autonomous Drone Solution

Wonder Robotics, a technology company specializing in the autonomous flight and landing of commercial drones, has announced the closing of a $4 million fundraising round led by Elron Ventures in conjunction with Besadno Investment Group. The funds will be used to scale up operation and marketing efforts, the company reports, as well as to develop technology for additional applications.

Safe, autonomous operation is vital for drone use, Wonder Robotics explains. The technology for operating drones beyond visual line of sight is lacking, the company notes, hindering the ability to provide safe, autonomous drone flights, and making the commercialization of drones expensive and unscalable. In response, Wonder Robotics developed its WonderLand solution for precise autonomous landings, which can be installed on any drone.

Clearing landing zones in real time enables emergency autonomous contingency landings in unprepared, uncharted and unattended sites. Wonder Robotics' smart safety layer includes vertical awareness and robust precision landing, permitting drone safety beyond the operator's or mission manager's visual line of sight. In urban environments, this can prevent collisions with people, as well as with natural and infrastructural impediments, such as trees, cables, buildings and other dynamic environmental factors.

The technology is designed for commercial package delivery, infrastructure inspection, mapping and advanced urban mobility. The company hopes to expand its offering to include horizontal situational awareness for navigation, obstacle detection, avoidance and safe precision landing in the case of denied GPS.

"We are thrilled to take part in the drone revolution, by partnering with major industry players leveraging on our technology to launch their commercial multi-drone operations," said Idan Shimon, Wonder Robotics' cofounder and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Since raising the seed round, we have partnered with Spright, Air Methods' new drone division, helping it realize its mission to improve access to urgently needed medical supplies for healthcare providers."

Samsung Electronics IoT Platform Helps Users Find Lost Devices

Samsung Electronics has announced that its SmartThings Find service now comprises more than 200 million find nodes. The company explains that find nodes are users' devices that have been registered on the SmartThings Find service to help other Samsung Galaxy users locate their misplaced devices.

SmartThings Find, according to Samsung, enables Galaxy users to quickly locate registered devices ranging from smartphones, tablets, watches and earbuds to personal belongings, such as keys or wallets with a Galaxy SmartTag or SmartTag+ device attached. The solution leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies to locate lost items. If a device is outside a phone's range, other nearby Galaxy users who have opted into SmartThings Find can help to locate it. Users can grant permission for the technology to alert them if they leave devices behind.

Ensuring the security of location data and other sensitive information is vital, Samsung explains, so SmartThings Find encrypts user data and keeps it protected via the Samsung Knox defense-grade security platform. A device's location data is only revealed to other people with a user's permission, while the ID number of each user's device changes every 15 minutes and is stored anonymously. In addition, SmartThings Find can help users identify unknown SmartTags that follow them for a specified period of time.

"We're proud and excited to see the rapid growth of the SmartThings Find service," said TM Roh, the president and head of Samsung Electronics' Mobile eXperience Business, in a prepared statement. "In less than two years, 200 million devices have opted in to help fellow Samsung Galaxy users find their misplaced devices, making it one of the fastest-growing services at Samsung. Losing a device can be stressful, but SmartThings Find makes it easier to quickly locate and recover your device. It's just one example of how a connected ecosystem of devices creates meaningful experiences for Samsung Galaxy users all over the world."