The growth in digital transformations for businesses spanning from healthcare to logistics has presented a significant opportunity for the deployment of BLE- and RFID-enabled tags which, simply put, give these businesses the in-depth insights they need. Kirsten Newquist, CEO of Identiv understands this better than most, and spoke to IoT Insider about their collaboration with customers, design considerations for tags, and what a growing market means.
Identiv is an IoT company that designs and manufactures BLE- and RFID-enabled tags, with its solutions having been integrated into more than 1.5 billion applications worldwide to date.
The reasons for deploying BLE- and RFID-enabled tags can be manifold. Sustainability regulation requiring greater transparency into an item’s origin and the journey it took to reach its final destination (like the EU’s Digital Product Passport) means slim, compact tags are a well-suited technology to be attached to an item and to record data about its journey.
In another example, a company could also be wanting to understand why items are arriving damaged, or going missing. Attaching these tags allows the company to track these items carefully and identify any issues.
RFID-enabled tags are well established in the world of retail, where a close eye on inventory management is a necessity, so stores have a good grasp on what items need to be ordered when, to avoid surplus or being understocked. The RAIN Alliance recently launched a work group to spearhead their mission of integrating RAIN into smartphones, so that customers can do inventory searches themselves, demonstrating their personal belief in the power of RAIN RFID technology.
Newquist also accredited “the rising need for business intelligence, and consumer engagement for global brands” as being responsible for driving growth.
“One of the strongest adoption areas today is logistics, particularly cold chain and high-value asset tracking,” she said, “where our BLE solutions deliver real-time visibility, environmental monitoring, and compliance assurance.”
As an example, its partnership with Tag-N-Trac combined its BLE smart labels with its RELATIVITY IoT platform, “enabling pharmaceutical companies to monitor environmental conditions across the supply chain to ensure the safety of temperature-sensitive products like vaccines and biologics. This level of visibility is critical as the industry evolves towards smarter, data-driven operations,” added Newquist.
In another example – reflecting how tags can be used to support consumer engagement and brand protection, Identiv worked with ZATAP and Genuine-Analytics to authenticate wine.
“Our NFC-based tags, combined with Blockchain and scientific content analysis, allow collectors and producers to verify not just the bottle, but the wine inside,” said Newquist. “This addresses a global wine fraud issue and opens new possibilities for using IoT to build digital trust.”
Design considerations
The design of a tag depends on the final application. Newquist noted “accounting for challenging form factors or materials such as metal or liquids and ensuring durability in real-world environments. This involves selecting appropriate adhesives, considering surface materials and shapes, and utilising specific top layers and lamination techniques for harsh environments”.
When designing labels, you need to be cognisant of material interference, form factor and shape, environmental durability, adhesive selection, and sensor integration.
“Round, curved or miniature surfaces such as wine bottles or medical vials require labels that conform to their unique form factors without losing adhesion or signal quality,” explained Newquist. “For some healthcare applications, tag or inlay adhesives must be biocompatible; in logistics, these adhesives must withstand industrial cleaning and rough handling.”
As an example, Identiv’s BLE smart label portfolio utilises an InPLay ultra-low-power BLE system-on-chip and customisable sensor inputs, “to support applications from cold chain logistics to condition monitoring.”
Close collaboration
Identiv’s close collaboration with customers means it oversees the entire design and manufacturing process, and can create several iterations before reaching the final design, to ensure that it fulfils the brief.
“When partnering with Genuine-Analytics and ZATAP to develop a tag that physically integrates with premium wine bottles and digitally links them to Blockchain-based identities, we designed a custom NFC inlay using secure NTAG 424 DNA TagTamper chips,” said Newquist. “The solution had to support resealing after non-invasive content sampling, remain tamper-evident, and preserve the aesthetic integrity of the label.
“It was only through close collaboration with the wine producers and our technology partners that we were able to deliver a tag that balances security and elegance, while delivering the necessary performance,” Newquist continued.
The important thing to note with tags, is there is no “one size fits all approach”, meaning customer collaboration is essential.
Once a tag’s design has been finalised, production is scaled at Identiv’s manufacturing facility. “Sometimes we discover we need to go back and fine tune the design,” explained Newquist. “We follow a stage gate process for product development, which includes approvals at key milestones to ensure the manufacturability of the product is considered at each stage of development.”
Drawing on this in-depth understanding of the design considerations for tags means Identiv are well-positioned to take advantage of the growth in this area – and are excited about it too.
“We are excited about the growing opportunity space for specialised IoT solutions and helping to drive the implementation of these solutions across multiple industries and applications,” Newquist concluded.
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