`Wireless computer on a sticker` combines ID with sensing
A Texas company has developed a technology it is hailing as "a wireless computer on a sticker". Axcess International’s Smart Wireless Sticker allows automatic identification, location, tracking, protection, data-logging and condition sensing of items located up to 300m away, at a cost of less than $10 (£5) each.
The sticker (above) combines barcodes, electronic product codes (EPC), short- and long-range RFID tracking, and wireless temperature sensing in a small electronic label that can be stuck easily onto almost any object. The peel-and-stick technology is designed to enhance data management in manufacturing, and to offer automatic product identification during shipping.
The tamper-proof, re-usable stickers are said to be easy to program electronically, and they can communicate simultaneously using different standards-based infrastructures. They can store user-defined data and transmit it in real time over low-cost wireless networks. They can also be programmed to "wake up" and send alerts when preset temperatures are reached.
Axcess expected the stickers to be used in a variety of applications from tracking perishable foods, to monitoring the temperatures of PCs and transmitting alarms if the PC overheats.
