Products become smarter by extending Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) tags to sensing applications. We develop sensors that use no power
when the tag is not in communication with the reader and consume very
little energy when in the range of the reader.
Wireless sensors incorporated in RFID systems are important in several
industrial, consumer and logistics applications: verification of the
environmental conditions during transport or storage, checking on indoor
and outdoor environments, monitoring the state of a product in food or
healthcare, detecting whether a product was tampered with, or protecting
workers in hazardous environments.
RFID sensors or wireless sensors developed at Imego are ASIC sensors and
compatible with both active and passive RFID technology, depending on the
application. The strategy at Imego is to have low power microsensors that
are essential for maximum wireless range and remote energy supply. This
can be achieved with capacitive sensors that use no power when the tag is
not in communication with the reader and consume very little energy when
in the range of the reader.
The detection part of our wireless sensors is fairly generic, so similar
detection techniques can be used to sense a variety of parameters.
Imego’s strategy is to use simple batch processing and miniaturisation to
realise, low cost, low power, repeatable sensor characteristics and
performance.
The sensors can be customised depending on:
- Available power/current for the readout chip
- Required control signals
- Type of interface signal between the generic interface and the sensor
chip (voltage, time, frequency)
- Dynamic range