Tutorial 2

Flexible RFID-Tags for Smart Label Applications in Retail and Logistics

Niels Benson
University of Duisburg – Essen

Abstract: One of the basic building blocks for the internet of things or industry 4.0 concepts are RFID-Tags, as they enable digital communication with otherwise analog objects and things. The potential for RFID-Tag use extends all the way to a replacement of the barcode, which would allow a new level of automation and process robustness, as line of sight readout is no longer required. As the barcode is almost omnipresent in our current society, this in turn means that the major market for RFID-Tags is almost everything, especially when thinking of smart labels for retail and logistics applications.

Therefore, this tutorial will first discuss the different types of available RFID-Tag technologies, their working principle as well as their typical applications and limitations. The tutorial will then move on and answer the question why the barcode has not been replaced yet by smart, digitally integrated RFID-Tag based labels. A situation which is mainly price point and as such also technology related. The tutorial will then conclude by discussing solutions which in the future might solve this existing gordian knot of price point, functionality and mechanical robustness, to enable a true barcode replacement by mechanically flexible smart labels on (almost) everything.

Biography: NIELS BENSON received a Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Stuttgart, in 2004, and the Dr-.Ing. degree in materials science from the Technische Universität Darmstadt, in 2009. Since 2008, he was a Senior Scientist for Polymer Vision on rollable active matrix displays. In 2010, he joined the University of Duisburg-Essen as a Research Group Leader on thin film photovoltaics and electronics. In 2018, he was appointed a W1-Professor with the University of Duisburg-Essen on printable materials for signal processing systems. His current research interests include charge carrier transport in disordered semiconductor systems, passive chipless RFID systems, and additive manufactured ceramic components for sub-mm and mm wave signal processing applications.