Gen II readers reach for the Holy Grail

Sure, Gen II readers can read tags faster than previous specifications. But the most important improvement might be the better read rates being achieved with the new specification.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/23/2006

The Gen II math is simple: better chips and better readers equal higher read rates.

"The Holy Grail for end users is a reader that reads 100% of their tags 100% of the time," says Kevin Ashton, vice president of marketing for reader maker ThingMagic. "We're nowhere near that now, but every day we're getting closer."

While we may not have found the Holy Grail, Gen II users are reporting 99% read rates according to a number of vendors. "The air interface is more robust, plus there are error checking and collision avoidance protocol features that are helping quite a bit," says Bill Arnold, chief strategist for Omron RFID.

Gen II was also designed to operate in something called dense reader mode. That's the ability to read the tags on a specific pallet passing by a specific reader when there are other pallets and other readers operating nearby. "That's the real world of a distribution center, and Gen II was the first standard to contemplate that situation," says Bill Colleran, president and CEO of Impinj. "An end user can choose from handful of vendors with readers with good performance."

While most facilities are using fixed readers, especially at dock doors, the next step will be mobile RFID readers. "A fixed reader makes a lot of sense at the start up," says Justin Hotard, director of product management for Symbol. "But when you think about all the potential applications out there, a mobile device makes more sense. Our handheld devices already include a fully-integrated RFID reader."

In addition to hand-held devices, lift truck-mounted RFID readers are available now from LXE and will be coming from other manufacturers, including Symbol, in the near future.