SML introduces small form factor retail RFID inlay

The GB4U8 RFID inlay is fully compliant with the GS1 EPC/RFID Gen2v2 standard, supports RAIN RFID with global UHF frequencies, and meets the following Auburn University RFID Retailer Performance Specifications: Spec A, B, C, D, M, G, Q, F, and Spec N.

GB4U8 RFID inlay, measuring only 42 x 16mm, is the first small format inlay in the RFID history to pass all active categories including F and N, making it ideal for use by omnichannel retailers in store and supply chain deployments around the world, according to SML.

With GB4U8’s small inlay size, broad use case applicability, strong read performance and price/performance ratio, the new RFID tag is claimed to have set the new benchmark for RFID tags in retail.

The new SML inlay can also be fitted on the vast majority of tagged products at a retailer, improving the consistency of read performance for inventory tracking in large scale retail deployments. In addition to supporting apparel/footwear/home product segments, the new tag also supports other retail product areas such as cosmetics and fragrance, sporting goods, wine and spirits, pharmaceutical and food.

Dean Frew, chief technology officer and senior vice president of RFID solutions at SML Group, commented: ‘Our global technology team at SML is working tirelessly to be on the forefront of all RFID technology advances so that we can deliver innovative solutions to our retailer and brand owner customers who are working just as hard to transform their operations to RFID.

‘While other companies may design an inlay using the NXP Ucode 8, SML has achieved a step-function change in performance with this very small form factor inlay resulting in faster encoding speeds and more accurate stock counts in store and supply chain environments.’

Dr Jeremy Liu, RFID technology innovations manager at SML Group, added: ‘We are extremely impressed with this latest performance provided out of the Ucode 8 chip from NXP. It has helped us to bring to market the world’s highest performing inlay for the retail industry. Our use case and lab testing have shown this breakthrough design enables more than 30 percent performance improvement over inlays of similar size on the market today enabling the technology to be even more effective in stores and supply chains.’

SML has moved into six tangential markets that can benefit from item-level RFID technology.