The Korea RFID/USN Convergence Association held the RFID/USN Korea 2011 International Exhibition and Conference under the theme of “Smart Mobile!, Smart Enterprise!, Smart Life!” at Seoul’s COEX from November 16 to 19.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) refers to a system consisting of tags, which contain information, and readers that wirelessly recognize the information, and use software and networks for sharing and utilizing the information. USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) means an information infrastructure that offers knowledge and information, about people, objects and surroundings through sensors installed at various locations.
This year, RFID/USN Korea 2011 celebrated its seventh anniversary, and once again promoted the use of RFID/USN technology and offered the general public a chance to use the technology via various RFID/USN products and solutions. A wide variety of events were held with the aim of promoting the RFID/USN market by raising people’s awareness of RFID/USN and IT convergence services. RFID/USN Korea 2011 suggested the latest trends and an outlook on the RFID/USN industry, highlighting an increase in the possible uses of RFID/USN devices, such as object identification and situation recognition in the latest smartphones. The event propagated successful applications of the RFID/USN technologies and services in industrial sectors such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles, steel, distribution and logistics and liquors. Korean and foreign specialists actively exchanged their opinions.
In addition, visitors were able to understand changes in smart technology close to people’s lives, by experiencing a wide array of IT convergence services demonstrating the introduction of RFID/USN technology in transportation, education, administration, the environment and medicine. About 150 companies and organizations took part in the RFID/USN Korea 2011, which attracted about 30,000 visitors.
The exhibition center consisted of the RFID/USN Business Hall of the Korean Government, the Hall of Telecommunication Companies (SKT and KT), RFID/USN Product and Fusion Hall, the Foreign Company Hall, the Patent Consulting Hall, and the Practice and Educational Material Hall.
RFID and NFC loaded in smartphones as basic applications will make a positive impact on lives of people, as they will be used for various purposes such as financial settlement and information search. In the food industry, RFID helps create a safe food culture through a food history tracking system, which makes the distribution of products transparent by enabling people to check whether or not products are genuine.
RFID also contributes to protecting nature and laying the foundation for a safe society. For example, the technology can be used to monitor forests, rivers and valuable cultural heritage sites. Companies in the automobile, shipbuilding, and pharmaceutical industries are actively introducing this technology as a solution to reduce costs and elevate efficiency through an improvement in work processes.
45 RFID/USN specialists from five countries made presentations in four sections. Anand Mehta, a director of Motorola Solutions read a paper on “Current RFID Issues in the World”, whereas Lee Myung-jong, a professor of the State University of New York delivered a lecture on “Trends in Ubiquitous Sensor Network Technology.”
40 specialists presented their views on RFID use in the technological, industrial, and public sectors in three specialized tracks -- “New RFID/USN Technology & Standard”, “Industry Convergence Service” and “Safety & Smart Life Service.”
In addition to exhibitions and conferences, a wide variety of concurrent events were held to help participating companies and organizations make the most of participating in the event, and to offer visitors a chance to obtain information and engage the technology.
Special Events were also popular, too. The u-IT Tour was a program to visit the sites where the introducing and manufacturing of RFID/USN is taking place. The visitors included employees of Aoen, JPR, and Might Card of Japan, Cofotune of China, Sofin Technologies of India, and Nordic ID Oy of Finland. They took a tour of the Diagio Plant in Icheon and the Logistics Center of CJ GLS where RFID enhances productivity. The Business Meeting offered one-on-one business consulting meetings between buyers and exhibitors.
Visitors paid much attention to the presentation of new products, solutions and transferring technology by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), and three specialized Korean companies -- KIC Systems, Cubit and Seyon Technology.
ETRI made presentations on the EPC Global standard passive RFID security technology, IEEE802.15.4e DSME MAC S/W stack technology, and UHF band RFID electric lathes and special tags. KETI explained the real-time traffic adaptive USN protocol and industrial environment adaptive RFID special tag design. KIC Systems and QBIT Inc. introduced RFID/USN-related readers, a pharmaceutical management solution, and an EPC Gen2 compatible passive RFID solution. Seyon Technology presented smart lathes and conveyor systems based on RFID technology.
Participants from Korea, China and Japan discussed exchanges of information and cooperation on IT-based health care, disaster management, and medical product management at the Private Round Table held among the three countries.
