RFID is Poised for Change

The most significant announcement?

When we look back at 2007, we may realise that the most significant announcement was that at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA conference in San Francisco in November www.idtechex.com/peUSA. We refer to the presentation from Kovio, a newcomer that is printing transistors. Most of the developers of printed electronics concentrate on photovoltaics on low cost flexible substrates. This is often transparent and it will be useful for energy harvesting in the vast number of RFID sensor tags planned for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks USN backed by the Korean Government, the Holst Centre in the Netherlands, Intel, the US Military and others. Photovoltaics can be printed on top of printed batteries and the printed antenna and the printed transistors can be under them. After all, no one would put a silicon chip in a barcode or anti-theft tag and RFID intended for such huge volumes must not use a sledgehammer to crack a nut either. Another use for the new electronics would be very low cost disposable RTLS which is needed for many uses including the ultimate supply chain. Another will be low cost cards and tickets with moving colour displays.