A inovação é um meio utilizado pelas empresas para se manterem no mercado, crescerem economicamente e gerarem vantagens competitivas. Seja a inovação referente a processo, produto, ou melhorias incrementais ou radicais, é importante estabelecer os fatores que devem ser levados em consideração no processo de adoção. Contudo, os gestores enfrentam dificuldades neste processo, dada a carência de ferramentas ou modelos que possam auxiliálos, oferecendo-lhes uma abordagem sistêmica dos fatores envolvidos. Desse modo, os objetivos desta pesquisa são identificar e analisar: 1) os fatores que devem ser levados em consideração na decisão de adotar-se a tecnologia RFID, Radio Frequency Identification, nas empresas e 2) as barreiras e facilitadores à implantação da tecnologia RFID na manufatura. Descoberta em 1935, pelo físico escocês Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, esta tecnologia foi utilizada inicialmente na Segunda Guerra Mundial para identificação de aviões inimigos. Entretanto, também pode ser empregada para rastreamento na cadeia de suprimentos, monitoramento de pessoas, verificação de autenticidade, identificação de pessoas em áreas de segurança e controle eletrônico, entre outros. O modelo apresenta quatro fatores (ambiente externo, ambiente interno, redes de inovação e tecnologia), todos passíveis de desdobramento em subfatores. Esta pesquisa limitou-se a apenas um grupo de subfatores, tendo partido da revisão bibliográfica sobre inovação tecnológica, adoção de inovação, tecnologia RFID, redes de inovação e manufatura. Na etapa seguinte, foram elaborados um questionário e um roteiro de entrevista para coleta de dados e informações. Para validá-los, foram realizados pré-testes e em seguida as modificações sugeridas pelo teste, chegando-se ao modelo conceitual final. Este foi aplicado com base na metodologia de estudos de casos múltiplos em um grupo de quatro empresas, duas das quais localizadas nos EUA e as demais no Brasil. O estudo demonstrou a utilidade dos modelos na decisão da adoção da tecnologia RFID e para a identificação das barreiras e facilitadores à sua implantação na manufatura. Por se tratar de uma tecnologia nova e dada a escassez de estudos já completados nesta área de gestão, sugere-se pesquisar elementos adicionais aos abordados nesta pesquisa. Estes incluem fatores relativos à especialidade ocupacional do indivíduo que irá operar a tecnologia, perfil, cultura e porte da empresa, influência do processo de comunicação e mensuração do retorno do investimento, bem como nível de centralização e modelo de gestão da empresa, além de outros fatores envolvidos nas redes de inovação, como governança, desenvolvimento de competências, tipo de relacionamento entre os integrantes e a sua influência no processo de internacionalização de empresas. A metodologia adotada não permite a generalização das conclusões. / Innovation is one of the means companies resort to, in order to safeguard their market position, grow financially and gain competitive advantages. Regardless of whether the innovation concerns process, product, and incremental or radical improvements, it is important to establish the factors that must be taken into account in the process of adopting it. Managers, however, have difficulty in this process, because of the lack of tools or models capable of helping them and of providing a systemic approach to the factors involved. Thus, the objectives of this research study are to identify and analyze (1) the factors that must be taken into account when deciding whether to adopt the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology within a firm and (2) the barriers and facilitating elements for the implementation of RFID in manufacturing. Discovered in 1935 by the Scottish physicists Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, this technology was first used during World War II, to identify enemy aircraft. However, it can also be used to track the elements of a supply chain, monitor individuals, verify authenticity, identify people in security areas, or conduct electronic control, among other possibilities. Our model presents four factors (external environment, internal environment, innovation networks and technology), all of which can be broken down into sub-factors. This study focused on one sub-factors group. The research starting point was a bibliographical review of technological innovation, innovation adoption, RFID technology, innovation networks and manufacturing. The next stage consisted of developing a questionnaire and interview guidelines for data and information collection. These tools were then pretested for validation, which led to their adjustment and to the final conceptual model. This was then applied, based on the multiple case studies methodology, to a group of four enterprises, two of which were in the USA and the other in Brazil. The study showed the usefulness of the models for the decision of adopting RFID technology and for the identification of the barriers and facilitators connected with the implementation of RFID in manufacturing. Because it is a new technology, and given the scarcity of completed studies in this management area, we suggest researching other elements besides those addressed in our research, including those that concern the occupational specialization of the individual that will operate the technology, the profile, culture and size of the firm, the influence of the communication process and the return on investment metrics, as well as the enterprises level of centralization and management model, in addition to other factors involved in innovation networks, such as governance, development of competencies, type of relations among the network members and influence on the enterprises internationalization process. The methodology used, however, does not allow one to generalize the studys conclusions.

Gapet mellan större och mindre lokala aktörer på transportmarknaden ökar vilket leder till krav på kostnadseffektiva och differentierade verksamheter. Detta bidrar i allt högre grad till effektivisering och automatisering av verk­samhetens processer. Ett problem för verksamheter i logistiska samman­hang kan vara att lastbärare försvinner i leveransflödet vilket kan vara både kostsamt och reducera kundnöjdheten. RFID, Radio Frequency Identificat­ion är en teknik som kan användas i logistikprocesser för att ge en ökad synlighet på både lager-och logistik­aktiviteter i flödet från leverantör till kund. För att kunna driftsätta en sådan lösning och få tillgång till den tänkta nyttan bör de invol­verade aktörerna engageras i ett gemensamt system som kräver uppsättningen av en lämplig infrastruktur.  Brunskoggruppen AB är ett mindre logistikföretag beläget i Ljungby som upplever ökade kostnader för förlorade lastbärare i leveransflödet och ett be­hov av effektivisering av informationsflödet gällande densamma. Syftet med denna studie var att genom litteraturstudier, intervjuer och inslag av aktionsforskning undersöka och ge ett exempel på hur Brunskoggruppen AB kan införa en automatiserad lösning för spårbarhet på lastbärare. Under­sök­ningen skulle även visa vilka motiv som fanns för ett införande av RFID, vilka framgångskritiska faktorer som kan påverka ett införande och vilka förändringar som kan åstadkommas jämfört med dagens system i verksamheten.Resultatet visar hur förväntningar och motiv kan påverka att en teknik antas och hur den införs i verksamheten. Motiv för införande är en ökad effekti­vitet vid automatisering av de interna processerna tillsammans med att tek­niken skapar affärsmöjligheter för unika kundlösningar. De riktlinjer som tagits fram för införandeprocessen på Brunskoggruppen AB sammanfattas i åtta steg.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Dale A. Blasi / Low-frequency (LF) radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders (n = 1,993) representing both full-duplex and half duplex air interface technologies were evaluated. Transponders representing five manufacturers and seven types were evaluated for read distance (RD), resonance frequency (RF) and voltage response (VR). LF RFID transceivers (n = 24) were also evaluated for performance and variance as tested by read distance. Transponders were sorted into four categories based on RD performance on three transceivers, “Top 25%,” “Middle 50%,” “Bottom 25%,” and “No Read.” These categories were used for evaluation of transponders and transceivers in experiments one and two, respectively. In experiment one, the mean RF of the “Top 25%” transponders were closer to 134.2 kHz (P < 0.05) within a transponder type (TT). TT and mean RD performance category interacted to affect the VR of transponders (P < 0.05); transponders with lower VR tended to have longer RD within a TT. In experiment two, sixty transponders from the “Middle 50%” were used to evaluate transceivers. Transceivers represented five manufacturers and five transceivers per manufacturer; one transceiver was eliminated from testing due to mechanical problems. There was a significant interaction (P < 0.0001) for TT and transceiver manufacturer. This indicated that transceiver performance was greatly dependant on TT being interrogated. TT and transceiver manufacturer interacted to affect RD variance (P < 0.05) demonstrating that transceiver RD will vary depending on TT being interrogated. In the final study, electromagnetic interference (EMI) was evaluated in fourteen livestock auction markets, four feedlots and five cattle abattoirs. The presence of EMI is known to impair the performance of RFID equipment. However, this phenomenon in livestock management settings has not been quantified in the scientific literature. EMI (134.2 + 25 kHz) was observed in all abattoirs. However, the extent and duration of EMI varied depending on individual abattoir. The processing, load and unload areas were evaluated in commercial feedlots. The most EMI was observed in the processing area. Finally, EMI was observed at the sale ring exit at two livestock auction markets. EMI exists in livestock management settings and may negatively impact the performance of LF RFID.

Millimeter-wave Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology presents itself as the most viable solution for the development of RF systems. It is a cost-e ective solution, suitable for mass production of such systems. Like planar circuits, SIW structures are compact, light weight and easy to fabricate. They also preserve some of the major advantages of metallic waveguides, namely, low loss, high quality factor and high power handling capabilities. In RF systems, rectangular waveguide horns have found various applications due to their exceptional radiation properties. From their simple construction, ease of ex- citation, usefulness and high gain, they are readily used as feed component in various RF systems, they also aid as the standardization for calibration and gain measure- ments of other high gain antennas. We are aware that, in an H-plane horn antenna, the rectangular waveguide is flared in the direction of the H-field. A large aperture in the H-plane presents the narrower half power beamwidth whereas a small aperture in the E-plane gives a wider beamwidth. In this research, the design of a SIW H- plane horn antenna with approximately symmetric half power beamwidths in both the E- and H-planes is proposed, using the commercially available electromagnetic field solver CST Microwave Studio to design and simulate proposed antenna characteristics and performance. Also, radiation patterns are analyzed and in order to validate the simulation results, measurements are performed on a fabricated prototype antenna. / Graduate

The major advantages of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology over barcodes are that the RFID-tagged objects do not require to be in line-of-sight with the reader for their identification and multiple objects can be read simultaneously. But when multiple objects are read simultaneously there is always a problem of collision which reduces the efficiency of the system. This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the dynamic framed slotted ALOHA (DFSA)-based anti-collision multi-tag identification algorithms for passive RFID system. Performance of various DFSA algorithms is compared through extensive simulation results. In addition, a number of simple performance improvement techniques have also been investigated in this thesis, including improved estimation techniques for the number of tags in each read cycle and a low-complexity heuristic stopping criterion that can be easily implemented in the practical system.

The project deals with a theoretical design of passive ultra-high frequency radio identification (UHF RFID) tag for the measurement of liquid levels. Liquid level has an influence on the input impedance of an RFID tag antenna. The changes of input impedance have been used to distinguish individual liquid levels. Furthermore, this project presents optimization methods for the highest efficiency of an UHF RFID tag in Matlab and it aims to design a suitable antenna within CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

This thesis describes the basic principles of radio frequency identification, basic characteristics of patch antennas, the possibility of their feeding and design of planar antenna series. Are discussed, impedance matching options. The selected antenna arrays were realised, measuring their parameters was down and measured parameters was compared with simulation results.

No description available.

The recent increased focus on patient safety in hospitals has yielded a flood of new technologies and tools seeking to improve the quality of patient care at the point of care. Hospitals are complex institutions by nature, and are constantly challenged to improve the quality of healthcare delivered to patients while trying to reduce the rate of medical errors and improve patient safety. Here a simple mistake such as patient misidentification, specimen misidentification, wrong medication, or wrong blood transfusion can cause the loss of a patient’s life. Misidentification of patients is a common problem that many hospitals face on the daily basis. Patient misidentification is one of the leading causes of medical errors and medical malpractice in hospitals and it has been recognised as a serious risk to patient safety. Recent studies have shown that an increasing number of medical errors are primarily caused by adverse drug events which are caused directly or indirectly by incorrect patient identification. In recognition of the increasing threat to patient safety, it is important for hospitals to prevent these medical errors from happening by adopting a suitable patient identification system that can improve upon current safety procedures. The focus of this master’s thesis is the design, implementation, and evaluation of a handheld-based patient identification system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) and IEEE 802.11b wireless local area networks to identify patients. In this solution, each patient is given a RFID wristband which contains demographic information (patient ID number, ward number, hospital code, etc.) of the patient. A handheld device equipped with IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network connectivity and a RFID reader is then used by the medical staff to read the patient’s wristband, identify the patient, and access the relevant records of this patient. This work was carried out at the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering at the University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), Ireland and the National University of Ireland, Galway. / Ökande de nya fokuserar på patientsäkerhet i sjukhus har givit en översvämning av nya teknologier och bearbetar sökande att förbättra det kvalitets av patient omsorg på peka av omsorg. Sjukhus är komplexa institutions vid naturen och utmanas ständig för att förbättra det kvalitets av sjukvården som levereras till prövas patient för att förminska klassa av medicinska fel och för att förbättra patient säkerhet. Här kan ett enkelt fel liksom patient misidentification, specimenmisidentification, fel läkarbehandling eller fel blodtransfusion orsaka förlusten av ett liv för patient. Misidentification av patient är ett allmänningproblem som många sjukhus vänder mot daglig. Patient misidentification är en av leda orsakar av medicinska fel, och den medicinska malpracticen i sjukhus och den har känts igen som ett allvarligt riskerar till patient säkerhet. Nya studies har visat att ett ökande numrerar av medicinska fel orsakas i första hand av motsatt droghändelser vilka orsakas direkt eller indirekt av oriktigt patient ID. I recognition av den ökande hot till patientsäkerhet är det viktigt att sjukhus förhindrar dessa medicinska fel från att hända, genom att adoptera ett passande patient ID system som kan förbttra på säkerhetsrutin. Fokusera av denna avhandling är designen, genomförande, och utvärderingen av ett patient IDsystem, som använder radiofrekvensidentifiering (RFID) och radion 802.11b, knyter kontakt för att identifiera patient. I denna lösning ges varje patient ett RFID-armband som innehåller demografikinformation (den patient personnumer, avdelning kod, sjukhuset kod, osv.) av patient. En handdator, som utrustas med trådlös IEEE 802.11b och en RFIDs ändare/mottagare, används därefter av den medicinska personal för att läsa armbandet för patient och för att identifiera patient. Detta arbete bars ut på avdelningen av medicinskfysik och bioteknik på Universitetssjukhuset Galway (UCHG), Irland och den Nationella Universitet av Irland, Galway.

The state-of-the-art commercially available radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponders are usually composed of an antenna and an application specific integrated circuit chip, which still makes them very costly compared to the well-established barcode technology. Therefore, a novel low-cost RFID system solution based on passive chipless RFID transponders manufactured using conductive strips on flexible substrates is proposed in this work. The chipless RFID transponders follow a specific structure design, which aim is to modify the shape of the impinged electromagnetic wave to embed anidentification code in it and then backscatter the encoded signal to the reader. This dissertation comprises a multidisciplinary research encompassing the design of low-cost chipless RFID transponders with a novel frequency coding technique, unlike usually disregarded in literature, this approach considers the communication channel effects and assigns a unique frequency response to each transponder. Hence, the identification codes are different enough, to reduce the detection error and improve their automatic recognition by the reader while working under normal conditions. The chipless RFID transponders are manufactured using different materials and state-of-the-art mass production fabrication processes, like printed electronics. Moreover, two different reader front-ends working in the ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency range are used to interrogate the chipless RFID transponders. The first one is built using high-performance off-theshelf components following the stepped frequency modulation (SFM) radar principle, and the second one is a commercially available impulse radio (IR) radar. Finally, the two readers are programmed with algorithms based on the conventional minimum distance and maximum likelihood detection techniques, considering the whole transponder radio frequency (RF) response, instead of following the commonly used approach of focusing on specific parts of the spectrum to detect dips or peaks. The programmed readers automatically identify when a chipless RFID transponder is placed within their interrogation zones and proceed to the successful recognition of its embedded identification code. Accomplishing in this way, two novel fully automatic SFM- and IRRFID readers for chipless transponders. The SFM-RFID system is capable to successfully decode up to eight different chipless RFID transponders placed sequentially at a maximum reading range of 36 cm. The IR-RFID system up to four sequentially and two simultaneously placed different chipless RFID transponders within a 50 cm range.:Acknowledgments Abstract Kurzfassung Table of Contents Index of Figures Index of Tables Index of Abbreviations Index of Symbols 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation 1.2 Scope of Application 1.3 Objectives and Structure Fundamentals of the RFID Technology 2.1 Automatic Identification Systems Background 2.1.1 Barcode Technology 2.1.2 Optical Character Recognition 2.1.3 Biometric Procedures 2.1.4 Smart Cards 2.1.5 RFID Systems 2.2 RFID System Principle 2.2.1 RFID Features 2.3 RFID with Chipless Transponders 2.3.1 Time Domain Encoding 2.3.2 Frequency Domain Encoding 2.4 Summary Manufacturing Technologies 3.1 Organic and Printed Electronics 3.1.1 Substrates 3.1.2 Organic Inks 3.1.3 Screen Printing 3.1.4 Flexography 3.2 The Printing Process 3.3 A Fabrication Alternative with Aluminum or Copper Strips 3.4 Fabrication Technologies for Chipless RFID Transponders 3.5 Summary UWB Chipless RFID Transponder Design 4.1 Scattering Theory 4.1.1 Radar Cross-Section Definition 4.1.2 Radar Absorbing Material’s Principle 4.1.3 Dielectric Multilayers Wave Matrix Analysis 4.1.4 Frequency Selective Surfaces 4.2 Double-Dipoles UWB Chipless RFID Transponder 4.2.1 An Infinite Double-Dipole Array 4.2.2 Double-Dipoles UWB Chipless Transponder Design 4.2.3 Prototype Fabrication 4.3 UWB Chipless RFID Transponder with Concentric Circles 4.3.1 Concentric Circles UWB Chipless Transponder 4.3.2 Concentric Rings UWB Chipless RFID Transponder 4.4 Concentric Octagons UWB Chipless Transponders 4.4.1 Concentric Octagons UWB Chipless Transponder Design 1 4.4.2 Concentric Octagons UWB Chipless Transponder Design 2 4.5 Summary 5. RFID Readers for Chipless Transponders 5.1 Background 5.1.1 The Radar Range Equation 5.1.2 Range Resolution 5.1.3 Frequency Band Selection 5.2 Frequency Domain Reader Test System 5.2.1 Stepped Frequency Waveforms 5.2.2 Reader Architecture 5.2.3 Test System Results 5.3 Time Domain Reader 5.3.1 Novelda Radar 5.3.2 Test System Results 5.4 Summary Detection of UWB Chipless RFID Transponders 6.1 Background 6.2 The Communication Channel 6.2.1 AWGN Channel Modeling and Detection 6.2.2 Free-Space Path Loss Modeling and Normalization 6.3 Detection and Decoding of Chipless RFID Transponders 6.3.1 Minimum Distance Detector 6.3.2 Maximum Likelihood Detector 6.3.3 Correlator Detector 6.3.4 Test Results 6.4 Simultaneous Detection of Multiple UWB Chipless Transponders 6.5 Summary System Implementation 7.1 SFM-UWB RFID System with CR-Chipless Transponders 7.2 IR-UWB RFID System with COD1-Chipless Transponders 7.3 Summary Conclusion and Outlook References Publications Appendix A RCS Calculation Measurement Setups Appendix B Resistance and Skin Depth Calculation Appendix C List of Videos Test Videos Consortium Videos Curriculum Vitae