RF Controls’ ITCS Delivers 3D Tag Location with a Single Antenna

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RF Controls, LLC, creators of the standards-based Intelligent Tracking and Control System (ITCS^®), which provides real-time location of items that have been tagged with inexpensive passive UHF RFID tags, today announced a further breakthrough in system performance.

“We view the ability to scan specific zones as a key attribute that can help locate missing items, provide real-time out of stock information, improve pick processes and can aid in inventory transfers, all in real-time.”

Using advanced, patent pending signal processing algorithms, a single ITCS Signal Acquisition and Source Location (SASL^®) “smart antenna” can now accurately determine the ranges of all tags it can read, to an individual accuracy of 1’ (30cm). Ranging accuracy is consistent across the full operating range of a SASL. This significant innovation means that each SASL can now accurately locate tagged items in 3D, which in turn means that ITCS provides even higher integrity tag location data. ITCS’ unique capabilities provide end-users with valuable real-time data to address latent business process issues and improve operating efficiency.

In RW Baird’s “Supply Chain Technology – RFID Monthly”, industry analyst Reik Read provided an objective narrative on ITCS, concluding “We view the ability to scan specific zones as a key attribute that can help locate missing items, provide real-time out of stock information, improve pick processes and can aid in inventory transfers, all in real-time.”

RFID Journal Magazine heralded “beam-steerable phased-array antennas” as a top 10 technology to watch during 2009. ITCS Bidirectional Electronically Steerable Phased Array (BESPA™) antenna technology achieves exceptionally long operating range and has transformed the market’s expectations of the capabilities of passive UHF RFID systems.

ITCS’ unique and powerful combination of features gives end-users the ability to automatically identify, locate and track tagged items on a zonal basis; ITCS eliminates the need for restrictive, nodal data capture points such as portals. Tagged items may be arbitrarily situated within the area or volume being monitored. Simply tag items of interest with standards compliant (ISO 180006-C / EPCglobal UHF Gen2) passive UHF RFID tags, deploy ITCS to “light up” the environment in which those tagged items are present, and you get accurate, real-time location of all those tagged items, enabling efficient, automated inventory and asset management.

The ITCS Application Program Interface (API), through which data captured from tags plus 3D tag location information is presented to a user’s business application, is compliant with the ISO/IEC 24730-1 standard for real-time location systems.

RF Controls’ ITCS-A-1xx SASLs are type approved by the FCC to CFR 47 Part 15.247 and compliant with ETSI EN 302 208 RF emissions standard.

ITCS products are sold to end users through systems integration partners.

For more information on RF Controls and ITCS, visit http://www.rf-controls.com, or contact us at by e-mail at [e-mail].