Paxar's RFID Shipping Label Test Provides Durability Data
November 22, 2006 – Paxar Corporation (NYSE: PXR), a global leader providing bar code, RFID and identification technologies for the retail supply chain and the supplier of Monarch® products and services, today released the results of its radio frequency identification (RFID) shipping label durability transit test.
In Paxar's recent shipping study, the read strength of RFID transponders embedded in shipping labels affixed to 25 cases, was initially measured inside a precision anechoic chamber located in Paxar's Miamisburg, Ohio RFID laboratory. The cases were palletized and shipped ground via common carrier and were processed through nine separate routing facilities across the United States before reaching California where they were de-palletized and shipped individually with a major package delivery company via ground, back to Paxar's Miamisburg facility.
Despite the exposure to vibration, impact, electrostatic interference, compression, friction and variations in temperature and humidity, the post-shipment RFID measurements taken inside the anechoic chamber showed a negligible change in read performance. At a read range of more than four meters, the entire lot of 25 RFID labels was verified as undamaged and effective.
The labels used for this transit test were Paxar's plain white, die cut, thermal transfer paper construction labels with permanent adhesive backing, (standard shipping labels), encoded in the Monarch® 9855™ RFMP printer manufactured by Paxar. The Gen 2 RFID transponders were constructed using Alien Squiggle antennas with Impinj Monza integrated circuits. The temperature and humidity recorder placed inside one of the cases, measured fluctuations in temperature from 69.1° Fahrenheit to 95.2° F and relative humidity between 29.0% to 65.4% RH.
According to Paxar's Director of Global RFID Development, Rick Bauer, "Paxar is committed to the continuous study of RFID technologies. This domestic shipping test was the first step in a series of research projects we have planned in order to provide our customers with the advantage of our expertise. We are planning an international shipment study in order to test how extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity affect transponder stability. We are also planning a test to measure performance characteristics of moisture-resistant labels against standard shipping labels in order to provide our customers with recommendations based on the very latest 'real world' test data," Bauer concluded.
A full disclosure of the test results including photographic records, read-strength charts, pallet loading patterns, temperature and humidity graphs, and tracking information is available in Paxar's latest white paper entitled, Shipping Test Examines RFID Label Durability.