More and more retailers are pushing their suppliers to use RFID as a means of tracking products more efficiently through the supply chain. Last year Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, announced it would require its top suppliers to implement RFID. In Germany, Metro has an ambitious programme to use RFID for all products to the point of sale.
RFID is a method of identifying unique items using radio waves. Typically, a reader communicates with a tag, which holds digital information in a microchip. But there are chipless forms of RFID tags that use material to reflect back a portion of the radio waves beamed at them.
The EU's RFID communications standard uses a different wavelength from that of North America. However many European food manufacturers and retailers are also turning toward a new international standard called EPC Class 1 Gen 1 and EPC Class1 Gen 2.
Finland-based Nordic ID, said its handheld PL3000 computer comes with a UHF RFID reader based on the EU communications standard.
"This is believed to be the first device of its type that can be used on European frequency bands and provide truly mobile data collection," the company stated yesterday. "It is smaller and more light weight than other UHF RFID readers introduced so far. It can be said that it is first really mobile UHF reader using European radio frequency band."
Currently, the handheld supports ISO18000-6 B, UCODE and EPC 1.19 standards. ISO18000-6 A, EPC Class 1 Gen 1 and EPC Class1 Gen 2 versions will be introduced shortly.
Nordic ID's PL3000 weighs 500g. Its level of power consumption and ergonomic design allows it to be used for long periods with a single hand, the company claims.
The instrument combines data collection, processing and storing capacity with a variety of wireless communication technologies including WLAN and Bluetoothfor local networks. It uses the GPRS or GSM standards for remote applications.
In addition to the UHF RFID reader, the PL3000 can be equipped with barcode and 2D code readers.