RFID

Macaw has been an active partner with BT Auto-ID from its inception and, as well as developing a number of bespoke systems for them, has collaborated to develop standalone products to facilitate the adoption of RFID technology in a variety of business sectors. Macaw actively promotes one product, VeriTag, as a demonstration of its capability within this sector.

VeriTag is a system for the verification of assets/objects using either active or passive RFID tags. In summary, an operative can take a handheld unit into the field to scan an RFID tag, barcode or just type a unique identifier and receive a real time verification of the items identity. For instance, it could be used to verify the colour, mark/type, number plate and status of a car from the cars unique Vehicle Identification Number. Or, the credentials of a designer garment for being sold in a particular location.

VeriTag demonstrates a wealth of functionality including: store and forward data capture, wireless communications, wired and wireless reader integration using Bluetooth, use of passive or active identification systems and Host Server integration using Web Service messaging. But Macaw has collaborated with a number of RFID technology companies to modify this core application to incorporate: item to tag association, active tag search using RSSI values, asset location and movement and a variety of combinations of each of the above.

Whilst VeriTag could be used off-the-shelf, its primary purpose is to demonstrate to a user the ease with which an RFID solution could be developed at moderate cost, because Macaw has the built the framework already and has real implementation experience with all aspects of the technology.

To verify that the technology exists, Macaw can allow users to download a time limited version of VeriTag onto any Microsoft Mobile 5, or above, device. This will communicate with one of our servers via GPRS and the user will be able to log in and see the data changes in real time.