Some RFID/Biometrics news from RCG :
http://www.rcg.tv/html/eng/about/newsroom/industry_news/rfid_news/2009_details_3.jsp
RFID for vehicle recharging stations
5 Jan 2009
A start-up company in California has recently introduced a network of vehicle electronic recharging stations within the region. Batteries of specific vehicles can be recharged in the stations when drivers are away from home garages. RFID cards are used in money rechargeable cards in the form of pay-as-you-go and monthly unlimited access subscriptions. Data transfer between the RFID card and the reader is encrypted to ensure data security during the transfer.
Vehicles will be parked at specific locations, where drivers hold their high-frequency RFID cards to the kiosks with the embedded RFID interrogators. Information collected will be transferred through GPRS to a centralized server which verifies the card information, and an authorization packet will be sent back for initiating charges. According to statistics, 20% of cars in the United States will be electric by 2012, representing a market potential for the widespread growth of the technology. Approximately 8 million charging states may be deployed by the company which uses RFID as means for secure payment.
Source: rfidjournal; RFID Is the Key to Electric Vehicle Recharging Stations (Nov 21st, 2008)
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http://www.rcg.tv/html/eng/about/newsroom/industry_news/rfid_news/2009_details_2.jsp
World's smallest active RFID tag announced in India
5 Jan 2009
According to a recent announcement, a company based in India has recently introduced an active RFID tag which claimed to be the smallest in the world at the moment after 18 months of research and development. It can be used for asset tagging including notebooks, servers and vehicles in industries including healthcare, manufacturing and IT etc.
Active RFID tags include an embedded battery for powering up signal transmission through the antenna, which is one of the barriers to developing smaller tags. The newly introduced tag has a reading range of 20 meters, with dimensions of 26 x 23 x 7.3 mm which is believed to be the smallest among the tags in the market. The active RFID tag has been deployed at a telecom company in India for asset management.
Source: RFIDnews; Indian Company claims 'world's smallest' active RFID tag (Nov 24th, 2008)
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http://www.rcg.tv/html/eng/about/newsroom/industry_news/biometrics/2009_details_3.jsp
Biometrics passport facility built in Malta
5 Jan 2009
According to a recent announcement, a factory facility has been purposely built for research, development and production of biometrics passport located in Malta. The factory was said to be the first site in the world for manufacturing biometrics / e-passports required by many countries for enhanced border security.
The facility occupied 2,600 square meters and has a capacity of producing 2 million biometrics passports annually, which could be expandable. The factory, which costs at EUR 6 million, is capable of manufacturing biometrics passport, which contains embedded chip storing digitalized facial image or fingerprint images for authenticating travellers and visitors.
Source: findbiometrics; World's first purpose-built 'epassport' factory opens in Malta (26th November, 2008)
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http://www.rcg.tv/html/eng/about/newsroom/industry_news/biometrics/2009_details_2.jsp
UK consumers preferred biometrics
5 Jan 2009
According to a recent research project on consumer's security concerns, consumers in the United Kingdom preferred biometrics and are most well-adapted to the technology throughout Europe. Statistics showed 75% of the UK consumers accept fingerprint as means for identity verification in banks and government agencies, compared to 63% in Italy, 62% in Germany and 59% in France.
The area receiving most concerns from the UK consumers was financial security, such as misuse of credit and debit cards - has been increasing throughout the last six months. In terms of iris recognition, 74% of the UK consumers were prepared of such means of verification, compared to 72% in the Netherlands, 48% in Germany and 45% in France. The survey showed a general preference of UK citizens towards biometrics technology compared to other parts of Europe, and the increasing concerns of identity theft and border security within the region.
Source: findbiometrics; Brits ready for biometrics to tackle ID fraud (November 25th, 2008)