Enjoyrfid Technical

The Fit 400, measuring 13.1 millimeters by 7.1 millimeters by 3.1 millimeters (0.52 inch by 0.28 inch by 0.12 inch) and weighing 1.6 grams (0.06 ounce), works best in metal hand tools, metal IT assets (for such use cases as covert tracking) and applications in which thetag must be embedded in metal compounds. All three high-temperature tags come with an Alien Technology Higgs3 chip and 512 bits of user memory. In addition, all three have an IP68 rating and are recommended for use on metal.

"We've tested these for hundreds of hours to validate their stability—thermal cycling, exposure, thermal shock, etc.," Gay says. The ceramic tags come with heat-resistant insulation for the RFID chip built inside; however, she declines to describe how the tags were developed or what materials were used to provide that insulation.

Tracy Gay
Several companies in the United States and Europe are already testing the tags. One example is an oil and gas firm that is attaching the tags to drill pipes in order to track their locations and usage, and thus when each requires maintenance, inspection or replacement to meet regulatory requirements. 

An industrial tire manufacturer, Gay says, is applying the Fit tags to its new tires so that they can be monitored throughout the manufacturing process, to ensure efficiency and accuracy. After being tagged, each tire undergoes high-temperature vulcanization to bond the tag to its surface. The tags can then be read at workstations as the tires are manufactured and sent to customers. In the future, she says, the company also hopes to track the tags further through the supply chain for such purposes as verifying warrantees.