Material testing labs use RFID to trace specimen progress and release certificate (Business Case Sharing)

Hong Kong RFID ltd has installed a RFID-enabled specimen tracking system (RFID-TSDS) for a commercial construction material testing laboratory in Hong Kong. The testing lab wants to improve their professional corporate image and specimen traceability, so they are now using RFID as a tool to trace the process from collection til the printing of reports.

During the on-site sampling, the gathered sample will be given a specimen ID, with the GPS location and staff  ID recorded using a mobile android terminal. The samples will then be shipped to laboratory by a league of vehicles. The ID will be associated with a series of measurement equipment, environmental conditions measurement, and the testing results/photos by automatic data acquisition, with the least human interruption. And finally, the lab manager can review the data and sign the report with their professional judgments or comments.

The installed RFID system supports 2 types specimen; steel rebar, and concrete sample cube. The far-range UHF technology provides continuous ID-reading during sample measurement, even when doing disruptive compression test or elongation test. This system ensures a 100% association of Sample ID with the measurement data and avoids manual tempering the testing results. And of course, the UHF has it's unique innate ID being recorded and memory being well-protected from copying and overwrite.

Equipment that supports RFID. 

• Compression test equipment (INSTRON)
• Bending and elongation test
• Weight measurement
• 3D size measurement

For more information, please direct contact: Sales@hk-rfid.com

Hong Kong International Building and Hardware Fair

Oct 2015 

The 10th Hong Kong International Building and Hardware Fair has just come to the end gratefully. The exhibition has lasted for four days, from 28/10 – 31/10 and has successfully attracted tremendous amount of construction-related visitors and exhibitors worldwide. All participants have benefited from this opportunity to communicate and shared the latest technology that applicable in construction industry. 

We are pleased to be invited to hold a talk about the latest technological development in building construction industry  

Internet of Things for Building (IoTB) 
Being the major theme of our exhibition this time, IoTB has successfully drawn numerous attentions from the visitors.
IoTB is a well-designed system which supported by both software (online cloud platform, called BCDS) and hardware (RFID tags and readers).
With embedding RFID tags in pre-production stage, IoTB aims to link all building components such as precast concrete walls, floor panels, aluminum window frames etc. to BCDS online cloud platform. In order to enhance accuracy and convenience in construction management, IoTB allows users to record production data, monitoring the progress of the construction and obtaining real-time management information such as cost effective indicators, assembly report, etc.

An online cloud platform for both IoTB and Gearform™

GearForm™ 
GearForm™ is a cloud-based lifting gear record system that attractive to visitors who need to manage a huge number of lifting gears in construction site. This cloud platform which also provides an auto-alert on the expiry date of those safety forms.

Above are some passive RFID tag can be used in both IoTB and GearForm™ system 

Proximity Safety
Worker safety in construction site is another topic that visitors were interested in. Proximity Safety is an RF fencing technology for worker safety which adopt dual-frequency mode with two distinct frequency bands to provide extra safety level. Adopting Proximity Safety in construction site provides a multi-person, 360° all round and an adjustable protective fencing for both worker and machine.

These are the alarm and reader that mount on the vehicle (left) This is the tag that mount on worker’s helmet (right) 

Hong Kong RFID is glad to achieve great success in this exhibition. We are looking forward to participating in future exhibition to promote our RFID products and solutions to the public and facilitate exchange of ideas in the industry.



For details, please contact info@hk-rfid.com

Pipe tracking using Passive RFID

Water Pipe is a highly concerned issue in HK recently for material safety issues. Pipe tracking is also very highly concerned in fuel and power delivery . To ensure or even enhance pipeline safety, a good tracking, recording system is required. Auto-ID system can provide a faster data retrieval  when comparing to visual methods, which data and drawing of the pipeline are hard to obtain or hard to understand. 

With RFID, Information of the pipeline network can be all stored in tiny tags that are easy and convenient to read or write by RFID reader. 

Such as below:

A tiny RFID tag with an industrial ring that can firmly hold on any rod-shape object

A tiny RFID tag with an industrial ring that can firmly hold on water PVC pipeline

RFID system can be applied throughout different processes includes sampling, construction, 

installation and usage stage and possibly provide functions like pipeline tagging, direction tracking, material record and worker maintenance record.......

If you are interested in applying RFID system in your pipeline network, there are few concerns you need to think it through:

1.  Installation method, in-situ or pre-tagged? 

2.  Weather proof of tag? how about explosion-proof?

3.  Any reading range concerns?

4.  The readers and the web-data to back up this system

More information be found in this link.

Feel free to contact us by email: info@hk-rfid.com

Raspberry Pi will change the game in RFID industry [Insight]

Anyone has spent some time on googling "RFID" will soon realise comprehending RFID-product should earn you a doctorate degree. The toughest part is the "RF" in this 4-character word, it involves the selection of right RF reader and tag, system design and installation, not to mention the expensive middle-ware software and application software part. These factors lead to long sales and project cycle, eventually unsuccessful user experience.

HK-RFID has over 10 years of RFID design and deployment experience and we believe Raspberry Pi might be the game changing solution, bringing extra value in the whole RFID value-chain. 

Raspberry Pi is a low-cost mini-computer, with a proper program installed, it will be capable to handle basic RFID reader setting, data processing and provide data output. The user-skills required should be as simple as typical household WiFi router setting. 

We are developing a web-interface on Raspberry Pi (Project code: IMPRESS), so user-friendly that user doesn't require any programming skill or RFID knowledge. One single set of Raspberry Pi and RFID reader would be enough to cope with instant DEMO request, and small-scale business applications such as Attendance, Inventory Listing, Media trigger, etc. All it takes is just mapping IDs to what your names and actions, with a few clicks on a web-interface. 

Automatic data delivery to server by Raspberry Pi, in a customised format, would make system integration so easy that the programmer no need to study the long API document or call any library. They just need to set the network setting and all data will be auto-update into database. 

HK-RFID is capable of integrating Raspberry Pi into any of its RFID reader in their product series, as one single product. However, doing so may add up extra-cost to the product and bringing less value because users have fewer upgrade options. 

Raspberry Pi, as a part of RFID system, will accelerate the wide-use of RFID, including the evolving Bluetooth low energy (or BLE, BT4.0, ibeacon) and near-field-communication (NFC) technologies . The same platform can apply to any BLE dongle to perform more network or database related function. 

We welcome any comment and partnership, or proposal of co-development. Please provide your comment by send to our email: info@hk-rfid.com

Tree are lethal, especially in highly populated cities. That are why we need Tree Tagging!

Whenever there is a strong typhoon or heavy rainstorm, many trees would fall down as a natural process. But in highly populated cities such as Hong Kong, the falling trunks are highly lethal.

The management of trees is a hot topic in Hong Kong; tree experts and inspection teams hit the road and look at the trees by naked eye; general public are encouraged to report the threatening trees. How to keep track on the record of trees? And how to report the location of tree?

Here comes the solution: Tree Tagging by using RFID nail tag.

We recommend using High frequency ISO15693 or so called NFC-V, with a appropriate smartphone APP, it enables us to get the tree information, including its identity, location and type. The firemen can find out the tree and remove it quickly!

For tree expert team, just tap the tag with the RFID reader, they can get the details of health records. The tree tag is a High Frequency RFID tag and can still function when it is wet. It should be noted that the installation of tree tag requires professionals to make sure the tree tagging is safe and sound.

Contact: sales@hk-rfid.com

Watch me replacing the coin battery for Hussar and Garrison Tag.

Many people may not understand how RFID tags work, let alone having an idea of how to change their batteries. Here you will have a deep insight into how easy that can be!

This time our focus is on two tags, Hussar tag (NT02) and Garrison tag (RT02) respectively. The frequency of all our active RFID tags are 2.4Ghz band.  The former one is generally for convenient access tracking with its characteristics of extremely small, slim and light design; the later one is for asset management at industrial level, made of  super hard plastic materials with its characteristics of mount-on-metal, dust-proof and waterproof . Garrison Tag also has bluetooth low energy (BT4.0), which is an open-protocol option.

For these two powerful tags, the process of changing batteries is NOT complicated at all. With its user-friendly design, it only takes you almost 1/6 time of cooking a cup noodle, as easy as changing the battery of your mobile phone!

www.hk-rfid.com  |  www.active-rfid.net
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