RFID in retail boom

ABI Research forecasts that more than three quarters of a billion radio frequency identification (RFID) tags will be used in global apparel markets in 2011, reports RFID Solutions Online.

RFID systems allow apparel retailers to get a better handle on inventory, reducing costs and preventing out of stock situations that result in loss of sales.

ABI Research principal analyst Bill Arnold says: “The growth in retail item-level tagging is huge, both in shipments and in total spending. The average growth rate is close to 60% for the next three years.”

RFID Tagsource has signed a contract with the Federal Aviation Administration in Canada to do research and development in RFID technology, states RFID World.

The collaborative project will involve researching ways to enhance flight safety operations. This will be done by storing maintenance history information directly on RFID tags that will be placed on aircraft parts.

AeroTag, Tagsource's new high memory passive RFID tag, will be used for this project. It's expected that the Aerotag will improve the inspection process by helping to track the pedigree of the flight's certified parts.

Surgical sponges embedded with a radiofrequency chip were identified 100% of the time, an accuracy rate far better than traditional use of radiographs during surgery, says Health Leaders Media.

The blinded clinical trial, funded by the Veteran's Affairs Medical Centre in the US, showed that an RFID tagging system was far more accurate than taking X-rays and the traditional practice of counting.

Victoria Steelman, a member of the Board of Directors of Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses, says: "Studies have found that 62% and 88% of retained surgical items occurred when the count was reported as correct."