Really Smart Labels
We’ve been hearing about “smart labels”
(radio frequency identification chips laminated into thermal transfer label
stock) for quite some time now, but we haven’t really seen them being
widely deployed. Why? Because they’re disposable.
Um ... wait ... isn’t disposability supposed to be
their real benefit?
Yes. And that’s the problem.
Sufficiently confused yet?
By integrating inexpensive radio frequency identification
(RFID) chips into a self-adhesive label, smart labels offer human-readable
shipping information, bar codes and RFID on one label.
And whether you want it to be or not, it has to be
disposable because the printed information can’t be changed. At around 50
cents each, smart labels are still too expensive to be considered “disposable”
for wide-scale implementation until a better business case can be developed.
But ... what if you could rewrite the optical data too?
This radical concept isn’t quite as far-fetched as you
might think.
A company called E Ink (http://209.61.157.253) has developed
what it calls “electronic ink,” a thin, paper-like display with
extremely low-power consumption and very high contrast.
Electronic ink is a proprietary material that is a fusion of
chemistry, physics and electronics. In one form, e-ink uses millions of
microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair, suspended in a clear fluid.
Microcapsules contain positively charged white particles and negatively charged
black particles.
A negative charge applied to a portion of the material
produces a black image; a positive charge produces a white image. The image
remains readable even after the initial charge is removed.
E Ink is currently working with a variety of partners to
develop flexible displays for PDAs and other devices, but the same technology
could be applied to really smart labels that could, theoretically, be reused
and rewritten — making the cost-per-use for returnable containers quite
attractive.
According to John Thorn, director of business development
for E Ink, it is technically possible to develop an interface between an RFID
chip and the E Ink material. Thorn was previously Director of product
management for Checkpoint Systems, a major electronic article surveillance
(EAS) and RFID company — so he knows what he’s talking about.
Thorn cautions, however, that there are limitations to this
somewhat futuristic scenario.
First, significant development would be required to marry
the electronic ink display with the RFID chip and to resolve packaging and
fabrication issues.
Second, even though the media is far more rugged than LCD
displays, some of the harsher environmental conditions encountered (such as
power washing) might present problems. Thorn commented, however, that “if
packaged properly — and with some development around the application
— the ink may be useful in certain applications.”
Third, E Ink’s current products are capable of
displaying only the equivalent of one bar code symbol such as the SSCC-18. That
might be adequate for some applications, but it’s far short of the ideal.
For complex alphanumeric messages, an active matrix backplane would be
required. While such backplanes are currently under development, Thorn cautions
against overly optimistic cost projections.
For a 4x6-inch label, Thorn says, “Today, think in
terms of dollars per labels — not cents. Longer term — once
significant mass market volumes have been realized — we are confident our
technology will offer more for less than any other display technology. However,
we will never be cheaper than a printed bar code!”
As daunting as these limitations may seem, consider that
some of the early-generation active RFID tags cost $50-$100 each, but were
still adopted for some applications. Why? Because the cost of not adopting the
technology was far greater.
Bert Moore
contributing editor
bmoore@idat.com
