Smart Agriculture Is Bringing Some Changes You May Touch

Smart farming, an extension of precision agriculture, can increase total yield by up to 5% and total profits by up to 20%.

In precision agriculture, “Internet of Things” devices, global positioning and new technologies are used. Their job is to measure and respond.

With this, we might be able to tackle the challenges of the future in enhancing how we produce and manage food.

As the global population is set out to increase, the total food requirements are likely to follow. The growth estimate for farming lies at 70% by 2050.

The main drivers are the population growth and the rise of average calorie intake. The increase of average calorie consumption lies at 10% (2010–2050).

Fewer Experts

A big challenge for the agriculture industry these days is the low profitability and industry attractiveness. This causes a shrinking number of experts, on whom the traditional agriculture depends on.

Low Efficiency

The cultivation of grains and vegetables suffer from inefficiencies in farming. One of the main causes is a of information and predictability. This leads to a loss of product, waste in irrigation, fertilizing, and pest control. With fewer experts in the field, results become more reliant on the skills. The environmental impact caused by the use of consumables and resources to be considered and minimized.

The keeping of livestock aims to realize yields in milk, wool, eggs, and meat. Specific challenges are the overview of livestock health. Otherwise, the spreading of diseases and lower fertility are possible results. Also, the strain on livestock needs to minimized for best yield and low mortality.

High Yield Risk

A general risk are the long periods between seed and harvest or birth and slaughter. During this time price fluctuations for the product are likely to occur. With the resulting uncertainty the future payout and profit is subject to risk.

If, at the time of sale, the price for cattle is lower than expected, the farmer is subject to a lower margin. The planning accuracy suffers from incomplete information and uncertainty.

Solutions

Farming accuracy is the result of the use of connected devices and new technologies. Benefits include:

Enhanced efficiency

Optimized yield

Higher planning accuracy

This leaves a higher profitability for agriculture, increases industry attractiveness, and provides tools to better handle future challenges.Grains, Fruit & Vegetables

Scouting

Scouting of land is an important factor in success in agriculture. For example, farmers need to think about how to position crops, how to rotate, when to seed and harvest. During growing season, scouting helps to coordinate fertilizing, irrigation, weed and pest control.

Data Sources

Satellite, plane or drone-based imaging technologies use visual scanning: Satellite imaging gives an image resolution of 0.5–10m. Drones, or “RPAS” (remotely piloted aerial systems) deliver up to 2–10cm image resolution.

The cameras deliver imaging in thermal, infrared and visible spectrum. Steve blank’s post about practical use of hyper spectral cameras and customer value is a great example.

A high scanning speed of up to 1000 acres/h makes RPAS suitable for large scale agriculture. They can gather data on moisture level, weeds and chlorophyll content in plants.

In-ground sensors can be installed at fixed locations or they can be attached to vehicles. Typical vehicles include smart tractors or “agri-bots” (ground based unmanned vehicles). Soil sensors can detect electrical conductivity, moisture, radiometric, and pH data. Fixed sensor installations can also include acoustic technology to monitor for larger pests.

The data pool can include more data sources such weather forecasts and climate data. An added benefit can come from interlinking data pools, for example, between neighbouring farms and with farming equipment providers.

Seeding

During seeding, the effectiveness of seeds can be enhanced with precise placement. The necessary field and soil analytics and can come from autonomous or guided agri-bots.

Cultivation

During cultivation, lower manual labour effort can come from remote controlled and automated equipment. Modern farm equipment can also feature maintenance prediction to reduce the inspection effort.

An excellent fuel economy comes from guided tractors that are able to choose the most efficient routing. Also, the field monitoring ensures that tractors are only deployed when needed. With these techniques, one tractor manufacturer reported a decrease of 40% fuel consumption.

The reduction of water, pesticides and fertilizer consumption has an immediate impact. First, on the profitability, and second, on the environmental strain. Information about moisture level and weather predictions by zones are gathered.

More RFID blog at http://www.asiarfid.com/blog/smart-agriculture-is-bringing-some-changes-you-may-touch.html

Mobile RFID Asset Tracking Demonstration

Do you know clearly RFID & NFC SMART LABELS?

RFID IN DETAIL

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is the generic name for a type of auto-identification technology that uses radio waves to identify unique items. Typical RFID systems are made up of two major components: the reader and the tag.

The reader, which is also known as the interrogator, may be either a fixed or mobile reader or indeed, in many applications, can be a combination of both. Its role is to read and write information from/to the tag through radio waves via the reader’s antennas.

The tag, or transponder, is made up of a microchip that stores the information, an antenna and a carrier to which the chip and antenna are mounted. RFID tags come in many different forms and sizes and can be either Active or Passive.

RFID technology is used in many applications from security and access control through to transportation and logistics. Essentially, RFID can be used in any application where there is a need to collect multiple pieces of data on items for tracking and counting purposes and where other auto-ID technologies such as barcode, etc. are not suitable.

NFC IN DETAIL

Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few inches.

Present and anticipated applications include contactless transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a “tag”.

NFC devices can be used in contactless payment systems, similar to those currently used in credit cards and electronic ticket smartcards, and allow mobile payment to replace or supplement these systems.

VERSATILE

NFC chips do not need elaborate additional readers to scan the encoded data and can be read and written to with many leading smartphones available to the general public.

We use a specialist insertion machine to convert a regular label into a smart label by applying an RFID or NFC tag to the rear. our high speed manufacturing process and in-house design and development team, can deliver everything from small quantities of RFID and EAS labels for pilot application tests right through to larger runs of into the millions of tags per year. We also offer customers the option to overprint and/or encode their RFID/NFC labels with their own unique information, such as EPC or serialised barcode numbers.

Our expertise lie in designing technical labels to perform in the most challenging of environments, you can be assured that no other label converter will beat this reliability and consistency. This commitment to deliver quality RFID/NFC labels is further backed up by our ability to 100% test RFID/NFC labels during the manufacturing process and either mark or replace any failures, or both, depending on the specific requirements of your application.

TINY

The chip itself is very small and once behind a label is hardly noticeable. This helps make the technology unobtrusive and perfect for visual aesthetics.

More info at http://www.asiarfid.com/blog/do-you-know-clearly-rfid-and-nfc-smart-labels.html

4 Key Takeaways from IoT World 2018

IoT World 2018 in Santa Clara united thousands of organizations and attendees, hundreds of speakers and exhibitors and dozens of IoT startups.

It’s one of those yearly events where you can meet all cross-industry giants at one place – Microsoft, SAP, Avnet, Boeing, UPS, MasterCard, Bank of America, T Mobile, Google, Amazon, Comcast, General Electronics, etc., and take a peek at the image of the future they suggest.

1. The Power of Data

Data is one of the core pillars in IoT. I’ve already brought up the staggering opportunities IoT data brings to enterprises, governments, and entire countries.

Not surprisingly, data was the center of attention at the event. Speakers and panelists unanimously called data the new gold. Industry leaders envisioned business and industry growth using insights, suggested that companies learn how to understand data and use both new and legacy data, and showed examples with real revenues.

One such speaker was Juan Perez, Chief Information Officer and Chief Engineering Officer at UPS, who showed us how the clever use of IoT data helps UPS save millions of dollars every year.

Juan Perez defined the value of data analytics by a series of insightful examples. At UPS, analysis of sensor data allows them to optimize delivery driver routes, package tracking, and maintenance schedules. This approach helps the company receive impressive bottom line numbers: by reducing one mile per driver a day, for example, the delivery giant saves up to $50 million in the course of a year.

Analytics … is taking raw data and making that raw data be converted into insight, so we can make better decisions. We live by this day in and day out– Juan Perez

This vivid example of UPS shows us how a delivery company – and today also a serious technology company – relies on IoT and data strategy not only to improve efficiency, but to completely reinvent operations and processes and reach formerly unavailable performance standards.

2. Building an IoT Ecosystem

The whole event in Santa Clara projected the concept of an IoT ecosystem for over the course of 4 days. Multiple platforms, products, hardware and software, new standards and connectivity solutions, vendors and innovative ideas represent what can be called an emerging IoT environment.

Avnet, one of the leading global technology companies and a chief sponsor of the event, highlighted the importance of building a unified environment and creating an IoT ecosystem.

The company believes that creating an integral space can help break the barriers and solve the challenges related to IoT – insufficient connectivity, unsettled standards, fragmented market. The company’s presentations, product showcases, and platform demonstrations revealed how Avnet contributes to this goal.

Avnet offers an unmatched ecosystem of products and services to help customers overcome obstacles related to IoT… IoT World presents a unique opportunity for us to meet with engineers, designers and inventors to share our vision and solutions to enable IoT and transforming the way business is done – Lou Lutostanski, Avnet’s vice president global IoT

3. The Synergy Between IoT and Other Technologies

Building a unified ecosystem is necessary for the future of IoT itself, and for all the industries and verticals it impacts. Therefore, it requires tight cooperation between IoT and other technologies that shape the markets and economies today.

There were many briefings and keynotes at the event that demonstrated the connection between IoT and security systems, blockchain, AI, autonomous vehicles, and even semiconductors.

In particular, Frank Mong, a COO of a young company, Helium, explained how the synergy of IoT and blockchain principles can help IoT evolve from a disconnected, fragmented environment into a truly open source and secure network. The entrepreneur showed what happens when you apply the benefits of blockchain’s fail-safe and reliable block connection in IoT and how it can enable building decentralized networks effectively and cheaply. You can watch the whole briefing here.

4. Market Expansion

Last but not the least, an important key of the conference was the growth of the IoT market geography and influence. IoT World is an international event that gathers the enterprises and startups of different scales and origin. This year, the expansion of market boundaries was especially visible.

For example, one of the most exciting briefings, in my opinion, was focused on IoT in Asia and the impact this region has on the global arena.

Wrap-up

IoT World was undoubtedly a big event. On one hand, it allowed industry leaders and emerging companies to showcase their latest products, platforms and solutions, and define and share their vision of connected future. On the other side, it enabled better understanding of industry trends, demonstrated the state of IoT today and forecasted the IoT environment of tomorrow.

More info at http://www.asiarfid.com/blog/4-key-takeaways-from-iot-world-2018.html

What is the Application Direction of RFID in Near Future?

Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that is here to stay for a longer period of time. Many of the world's leading companies are making huge investments for the advancement and growth of this technology. RFID has the potential to offer similar prototyped tools for businesses and consumers. The applications that RFID has today have evolved a lot with time and came to its present structure. And it is assured that, in near future it will turn into something even more advantageous and fruitful for the businesses. 

Presently, RFID devices have a stable international standard, with increased performance and decreased cost of equipment and tags. RFID technology has significant utilization in 2 specific areas; healthcare and financial services for the tracking of IT assets. RFID is used widely for the personal identification, can be used for attendance tracking, payroll and to maximize resource allocation. RFID also have its application for anti shoplifting systems. 

The process of evolution of RFID can divide itself into various eras; proprietary era, compliance era, RFID enabled enterprise era, RFID-enabled industries era and the Internet of things era. Till now, the world has witnessed the evolution of RFID from proprietary era to compliance era. In the upcoming time, it will come the era of RFID enabled enterprise, which will help organization to improve their functioning using RFID information. The era of RFID-enabled industries will be advanced enough in to share information with partners on a secured network, in accordance with the standards. Currently foreseeable, the final era would be the era of Internet of Things (IoT). 

By this time, other technologies and RFID, combined with customer demand for high standards and unique products based on this infrastructure, will step towards the big bang changes in the way of understanding the relationship between physical objects, locations and information. It is unlikely to happen that RFID will replace the barcodes, but it will grow in its own niches and will be applied where bar code or other optical technology is not effective. RFID technology will see a rapid growth in retail, healthcare and many other markets. RFID will also have its applications for anti-counterfeiting. With the overall growth in the technology, it will turn into a bit easy process for RFID in becoming cost-effective and reliable for its numerous applications.

More info visit http://www.asiarfid.com

How to provide better help for Inventory Management with RFID?

Recently, we wrote about the consequences of an outdated inventory management system. If you can relate to inventory management issues such as human error, slow processing times and a lack of automation, RFID is the solution you’ve been waiting for.

Effective inventory management means efficient control of items in the inventory to avoid either under-stocking or over-stocking. Item tracking is also important to ensure that no theft or diversion happens. The standard method of inventory management is using printed bar codes and with handheld or fixed scanners to control and track inventory and equipment. RFID provides a much more efficient and comprehensive solution.

RFID vs barcodes

RFID technology performs better and is more efficient in inventory management than printed bar codes. RFID tags can be read at a distance of up to several meters, while, bar codes need line of sight to scan items. Unlike bar codes which can be easily damaged, RFID tags are also durable since they can withstand exposure to heat, moisture, dirt and contaminants.

With RFID technology, it is possible to read tags simultaneously, thus allowing the entire load of a pallet to be checked at one time. When using bar codes, checking each load is accomplished by checking items one at a time. Each RFID tag can also have a unique identification code making individual product tracking possible. There are also types of RFID tags with codes that can be overwritten remotely, an advantage when there is a need to update the item information. With bar codes, once the code is imprinted with data, it cannot be changed.

Prevent inventory blind spots

Implementing RFID technology in inventory management makes way for better inventory control. Since RFID does not need direct line of sight to check items, it can track items anywhere in the warehouse, thus preventing blind spots in your inventory. With RFID readers installed to cover shelves and other storage, inventory records are also automatically updated since the items removed are instantly recorded.  The inventory manager can keep track of the flow of items in the warehouse with software such as Stratum Global’s TagNet.

Avoid over-stocking and under-stocking

With RFID, every item in the warehouse is efficiently monitored allowing for real-time inventory of items in stock in relation to warehouse space. This can help you avoid under-stocking or over-stocking and help you save on shipping and inventory costs.

Ensure stock security

RFID’s ability in real-time and accurate monitoring of items protects inventory from theft.  RFID makes it easy for management to spot if an item have been stolen from warehouse racks or shelves. RFID readers can easily detect whether an item is removed or taken without authorization.

Ready to try RFID?

Inventory management requires effective and efficient tracking of items. This prevents a list of common issues in inventory such as over-stocking, under-stocking, and even theft.(from abetech)

More info at http://www.asiarfid.com/blog/how-to-provide-better-help-for-inventory-management-with-rfid.html

Some Basic Knowledge About RFID

What is RFID?

RFID is an acronym for “radio-frequency identification” and refers to a technology whereby digital data encoded in RFID tags or smart labels (defined below) are captured by a reader via radio waves.

RFID is similar to barcoding in that data from a tag or label are captured by a device that stores the data in a database. RFID, however, has several advantages over systems that use barcode asset tracking software. The most notable is that RFID tag data can be read outside the line-of-sight, whereas barcodes must be aligned with an optical scanner.

How Does RFID Work?

RFID belongs to a group of technologies referred to as Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). AIDC methods automatically identify objects, collect data about them, and enter those data directly into computer systems with little or no human intervention.

RFID methods utilize radio waves to accomplish this. At a simple level, RFID systems consist of three components: an RFID tag or smart label, an RFID reader, and an antenna. RFID tags contain an integrated circuit and an antenna, which are used to transmit data to the RFID reader (also called an interrogator). The reader then converts the radio waves to a more usable form of data. Information collected from the tags is then transferred through a communications interface to a host computer system, where the data can be stored in a database and analyzed at a later time.

RFID Tags and Smart Labels

As stated above, an RFID tag consists of an integrated circuit and an antenna. The tag is also composed of a protective material that holds the pieces together and shields them from various environmental conditions. The protective material depends on the application. For example, employee ID badges containing RFID tags are typically made from durable plastic, and the tag is embedded between the layers of plastic. RFID tags come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are either passive or active. Passive tags are the most widely used, as they are smaller and less expensive to implement. Passive tags must be “powered up” by the RFID reader before they can transmit data. Unlike passive tags, active RFID tags have an on-board power supply (e.g., a battery), thereby enabling them to transmit data at all times. For a more detailed discussion, refer to this article: Passive RFID Tags vs. Active RFID Tags.

Smart labels differ from RFID tags in that they incorporate both RFID and barcode technologies. They’re made of an adhesive label embedded with an RFID tag inlay, and they may also feature a barcode and/or other printed information. Smart labels can be encoded and printed on-demand using desktop label printers, whereas programming RFID tags is more time consuming and requires more advanced equipment.

RFID Applications

RFID technology is employed in

many industries to perform such tasks as:

– Inventory management

– Asset tracking

– Personnel tracking

– Controlling access to restricted areas

– ID badging

– Supply chain management

– Counterfeit prevention (e.g. in the pharmaceutical industry)

Although RFID technology has been in use since World War II, the demand for RFID equipment is increasing rapidly, in part due to mandates issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Wal-Mart requiring their suppliers to enable products to be traceable by RFID.

Whether or not RFID compliance is required, applications that currently use barcode technology are good candidates for upgrading to a system that uses RFID or some combination of the two. RFID offers many advantages over the barcode, particularly the fact that an RFID tag can hold much more data about an item than a barcode can. In addition, RFID tags are not susceptible to the damages that may be incurred by barcode labels, like ripping and smearing.

From the read distance to the types of tags available, RFID has come a long way since World War II and there is a bright future ahead. 

More info at http://www.asiarfid.com/blog/some-basic-knowledge-about-rfid.html