LF RFID (125–134 kHz)
ISO 11784/11785. Short range and tolerant of its surroundings; common for tool identification and animal ID.
Tracking & inventory
RFID, NFC & LoRaWAN tracking and inventory automation
Automatic identification and wireless sensing that keep track of products, totes, pallets, tools, and assets without manual scans, feeding your PLCs, WMS or ERP, and SCADA.
RFID
RFID: frequencies & standards
Each RFID band behaves differently. Choosing the right one is the first step to reliable reads.
HF RFID (13.56 MHz)
ISO 15693 and ISO 14443. Short range and dependable near metal and liquids with the right tags; also the basis for NFC.
UHF RAIN RFID (860–960 MHz)
EPC Gen2v2 (ISO/IEC 18000-63). Long read range and many tags read at once; the supply-chain standard for pallets, cartons, and items.
Active RFID & RTLS
Battery-powered tags and real-time location systems, often BLE or UWB, that report where assets are, not just that they passed a reader.
GS1 EPC Tag Data Standard
Defines how identifiers are encoded on tags: SGTIN (GTIN plus serial), SSCC for logistic units, and GRAI for returnable assets such as totes.
EPCIS events
Reads become business events (what, where, when, why) that partners can share, including for DSCSA in pharma distribution.
Industrial RFID for automation
Industrial read/write RFID
Tags on carriers, pallets, and fixtures hold work-in-process data, recipes, or routing so each station knows what to do.
Readers we integrate
Industrial systems such as Balluff BIS, Turck BL ident, SICK RFU, Pepperl+Fuchs IDENTControl, Siemens SIMATIC RF200/RF600, Rockwell 56RF, and Keyence RF series.
PLC connectivity
Readers connected to the PLC over IO-Link, EtherNet/IP, or PROFINET, so tag data is just another part of the control logic.
Supply-chain RFID
Fixed portals & tunnels
Dock-door portals and conveyor tunnels read cartons and pallets as they move, without stopping for scans.
Readers & handhelds
Fixed readers such as Zebra FX9600 and ATR7000, Impinj R700 and xArray, plus handhelds for counts and searches.
Middleware
Software that filters and deduplicates reads and turns them into events for the WMS, ERP, or EPCIS repository.
Use cases
Where RFID pays off
Dock-door receiving & shipping
Confirm what arrived and what left against the order or ASN.
Cycle counts & inventory accuracy
Count stock quickly and often without line-of-sight scanning.
Totes, pallets & returnable assets
Track where reusable containers are and reduce losses.
WIP tracking & routing
Carriers tell each station what product is arriving and where it goes next.
Tool & die identification
Confirm the right tool is installed and load its setup automatically.
Error-proofing
Right part, right station, before the process starts.
Cold chain
Temperature-logging RFID tags record conditions along the way.
Healthcare & pharma
Item-level tracking of products and supplies.
Yard & trailer tracking
Know which trailers are at which doors and in the yard.
Design
RFID design considerations
Tag selection
On-metal and liquid-tolerant tags chosen for the item and surface.
Antennas & read zones
Antenna placement and power tuned so reads happen where intended.
Avoiding stray reads
Shielding, read-zone tuning, and RSSI or phase filtering to ignore tags that are nearby but not in play.
Read rates at line speed
Reader settings and zone length matched to conveyor speed and tag counts.
Data handling
Deduplication, filtering, and event logic so systems receive clean, meaningful events.
Integration
Results delivered to the PLC for control and to the WMS or ERP for inventory.
NFC
NFC for panels, maintenance & devices
What NFC is
A close-range subset of HF 13.56 MHz (ISO 14443, ISO 15693, NFC Forum tag types and NDEF) that most phones can read.
Panel & equipment tags
Tap a panel or machine to open drawings, manuals, or service history on a phone.
Maintenance check-in
Tap-to-log inspections and service visits for an audit trail.
Device commissioning
Many sensors, drives, and power supplies, including some from Siemens, Schneider Electric, Phoenix Contact, and ifm, can be configured from a phone app over NFC.
Operator login
Badges that log operators into HMIs with the right permissions.
Authentication
Tags that help confirm genuine parts and products.
Security
Read-only or locked tags, and no sensitive data on open tags.
LoRaWAN
LoRaWAN wireless monitoring
What LoRaWAN is
Long-range, low-power wireless in unlicensed sub-GHz bands (US915 in the US, EU868 in Europe), with battery life measured in years for small, infrequent messages.
Architecture
Star-of-stars: end devices talk to gateways, gateways forward to a network server, and the network server delivers data to applications.
Device classes
Class A (lowest power, listens only after sending), Class B (scheduled receive windows), and Class C (always listening, mains powered).
Security
AES-128 encryption at the network and application layers, with session keys set up through over-the-air activation (OTAA).
Know its limits
Low data rates and delays make it right for monitoring, alarms, and maintenance, not for safety functions, control, or fast I/O.
Private vs public networks
Many plants run private gateways and a private network server to keep data and coverage under their control.
Uses
Tank level & flow
Remote tank and flow monitoring without running wire.
Temperature & humidity
Cold storage, warehouses, and data halls.
Vibration & condition monitoring
Early warning on motors, pumps, and conveyors.
Leak detection
Water and fluid leak sensors across a building or campus.
Energy metering
Meter data collected from spread-out equipment.
Asset & trailer location
Coarse location of assets and trailers in a yard.
Lift stations
Remote water and wastewater sites monitored from one place.
Environmental monitoring
Air quality and conditions across a campus.
Integration
Network servers
Private ChirpStack, The Things Stack, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN, or Actility, depending on how you want to host and manage devices.
Into your systems
Data delivered by MQTT or REST into SCADA (Ignition, for example, has MQTT and LoRaWAN-friendly modules), historians, MES, or CMMS.
Comparison
How the technologies compare
Typical values; actual performance depends on tags, readers, environment, and installation.
| Technology | Typical range | Data | Power | Best for | Integration path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UHF RFID | Up to roughly 10 m or more, depending on tag and reader | Identifier plus small user memory | Passive tags; powered readers | Bulk reads, pallets, cartons, items, assets | Reader → middleware → WMS/ERP/EPCIS; PLC for control |
| HF RFID / NFC | A few centimeters (NFC) up to around a meter (HF, setup dependent) | Identifier plus user memory; NDEF on NFC | Passive tags; powered reader or phone | WIP, tooling, panels, phone access, badges | Reader → PLC (IO-Link, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET); phone apps |
| LoRaWAN | Kilometers in open areas; less indoors | Small, infrequent sensor messages | Battery devices, years of life | Remote and wide-area monitoring and alarms | Gateway → network server → MQTT/REST → SCADA, historian, CMMS |
| Barcode | Line of sight, centimeters to a few meters | Printed data, fixed once printed | No power on the label | Low-cost labeling, GS1 compliance, verification | Scanner → PLC/WCS → WMS |
What we provide
What we provide
RFID system design
Read zones designed and tuned for reliable, intended reads.
Reader, antenna & tag selection
Hardware matched to your items, surfaces, and speeds.
PLC integration
IO-Link, EtherNet/IP, and PROFINET reader integration.
WMS, ERP & EPCIS middleware
Clean events delivered to your business systems.
NFC-tagged panels
Panels and equipment tagged for quick documentation access.
LoRaWAN sensor networks
Private gateways and network servers with sensors placed for coverage.
SCADA & historian dashboards
Tracking and sensor data visualized with alarms.
UL 508A panels & enclosures
Panels and enclosures built to UL 508A for readers, gateways, and controls.
Retrofits
RFID added to existing lines and systems.
Would you like to know more? EPC encoding, metal and liquids, and LoRaWAN airtime basics
EPC encoding
A UHF tag’s EPC memory holds a GS1 identifier in a compact binary form. SGTIN combines the product’s GTIN with a serial number for item-level identity; SSCC identifies a logistic unit such as a pallet; GRAI identifies a returnable asset such as a tote or container. Encoding to the standard lets partners decode the same tag the same way.
Metal, liquids, and on-metal tags
UHF signals reflect off metal and are absorbed by water, which detunes ordinary tags and creates dead spots. On-metal tags use a spacer or a design that uses the metal surface as part of the antenna, and placement and orientation are chosen to keep tags readable.
LoRaWAN spreading factor and duty cycle
A higher spreading factor reaches farther but sends data more slowly and uses more airtime and battery. Regional rules limit how much airtime a device may use (duty-cycle limits in EU868, dwell-time limits in US915), which is why LoRaWAN suits small, periodic messages.
Next step
Want to track it without scanning it?
Tell us what you need to track or monitor and where, and we’ll help scope the RFID, NFC, or LoRaWAN system and its integration.