Europe tunes in to radio frequency ID
Differences in Euro and US standards will not hold back RFID
Differences in standards between Europe and the US will not hold back the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, according to the standards body e.centre.
Concerns have been raised that European radio regulations could compromise RFID use across the continent, negating the benefits of the technology.
But according to e.centre, expected European standards will roughly match those in the US.
Andrew Osbourne, chief technology officer at e.centre, said: "What is important is that resellers get ready for the arrival of RFID."
Resellers should not let standards fears stall widespread adoption of the technology, he added.
Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst Quocirca, said: "Symbol, IBM, Philips and Siemens are all pushing for standards and adoption. We will need solid standards in place because plenty of supply chains run across Europe. The price of RFIDs also needs to come down."
European regulation of power levels will be resolved later this year, but e.centre expects the rules to allow operation at 2W effective radiated power level, or 90 per cent of the range of the 4W isotropic radiated power level allowed by US readers.
The proposed regulations will enable tags to operate in the 865-868MHz band, e.centre claimed.
Tony Hart, senior analyst at Datamonitor, said: "The current lack of standards should not stand in the way of people rolling out pilots. For example, some large firms are trying out RFIDs and finding the RFIDs on products coming from China adhere to Chinese standards.
"They're using RFID readers that read multiple frequencies, and that solves plenty of the standards issues at a single stroke.
"The main concerns should be the physics of RFID tags and where the readers should sit."