ARCwire -- Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) introduced its Overmolded (OM) transponder family comprised of the most rugged RFID tags in its portfolio of ISO/IEC 15693-compliant transponders. The OM tags are designed to withstand extreme environments, where temperature, high pressure, and harsh chemicals inhibit the performance of line-of-sight automatic identification technologies, such as bar codes and other less robust RFID tags. With their durability and 22 mm circular dimension, TI's 13.56 MHz OM tags reportedly provide increased read performance compared with competitive offerings for applications ranging from industrial laundry and textile rental to process industries such as perishable foods.
TI's OM tags are available in two memory options: a 2 Kb version, with the option for higher functionality and security features, and a 256 bit version offering customers the flexibility to choose the tag best suited to their particular application. In addition, the tag packaging is optimized for mechanical robustness so each tag can be reused hundreds of times in physically demanding environments. For example, the 13.56 MHz tags are capable of enduring more than 200 industrial laundry wash cycles.