German license plate manufacturer TONNJES cooperates with global semiconductor provider NXP and AutoID solution provider in Bavaria, Kathrein Solutions GmbH to develop and manufacture RFID tags and stickers based on RAIN RFID technology, focusing on the field of Electronic Vehicle Identification (EVI).
TONNJES’s goal is to give all vehicles in the world an ID card.
With RFID, all cars, trucks and motorcycles can be freely identified in moving traffic through authorized readers. This innovative technology has replaced the previous method of optical recognition with naked eyes or cameras. It also provides new digital possibilities for future traffic and mobility.
EVI can completely change the traffic situation
The bigger the cities are, the more cars there will be, but there is not yet a final solution to deal with the huge amount of traffic.
“The global population continues to grow,” said Jochen Betz, general manager of TONNJES. “it is not just megacities with more than 10 million residents that need to focus on dealing with complex modern traffic management solutions-sooner or later all cities need to do so. We believe that based on efficient and modern process identification capabilities, EVI technology will be the basis for smart city applications.”
RAIN RFID technology can communicate wirelessly between the license plate on one side and the authorized reader on the other. In addition to targeted traffic management, EVI innovatively offers the sustainable potential in access control, toll systems, setting up the regional environment, updating modern payment processes related to bridges and ferries, vehicle security and license plate security.
In recent years, TONNJES has also developed hardware and software, which is a key prerequisite for EVI, and has partnered with Kathrein Solutions and NXP to produce RFID license plate IDePLATE and windshield sticker IDeSTIX. This technology has been put into practice in many different applications in various countries.
For example, Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco uses IDeSTIX to control access to its premises; in the Philippines, scooters and motorcycles are equipped with IDeSTIX headlight tags from TONNJES.
“Scooters and motorcycles are very popular ways of transportation, especially in Asia,” Betz explained. “IDeSTIX headlight labels are an effective and reliable way to register and identify all these vehicles. ”
Flexible and user-friendly: passive chips run in static and moving traffic
Both anti-counterfeit license plates and glass stickers will be destroyed when they are removed, and they are equipped with a passive RAIN RFID chip, UCODE DNA®, customized by NXP. It transmits data within a few meters in a contactless and secure method.
The chip contains a unique encrypted identification code that can be decoded by an authorized reader in both stationary and moving traffic.
Christian Schnebinger, deputy director of sales at Kathrein Solutions, said: “Every country should strive to register all vehicles nationally, which ensures safety and transparency. If the vehicle is registered with a passive UHF RFID transponder, it can be further developed and applied in non-stop charging, road charging, parking, refueling and access control.”
Passive UHF RFID is a global standard that is flexible, user-friendly, and does not require any maintenance for battery-free transponders.
The importance of electronic vehicle identification will increase day by day in the future. The latest statistics from the German Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) also emphasize the high importance of EVI to highways. It is estimated that by 2023, the volume of road freight in Germany will reach about 4 billion tons. BAG says COVID-19 also has a direct impact on truck mileage. Since the outbreak began, the infection rate in Germany has risen by 5.5%, which may be due to an increase in freight volume.
RFID Technology is the core to Digitalization
“With our technology and comprehensive expertise, we are helping the authorities to carry out vehicle registration and other tasks more efficiently in the future,” Ralf Kodritsch from NXP explained. He believes that the application of RFID technology has also laid an ideal foundation for the comprehensive and rapid realization of digitization in the whole field of vehicle identification.
“What is often mentioned in cooperative discussions are key areas such as public safety or anti-theft, which have a high priority in our considerations. In fact, end users can also see tangible benefits, such as automatic access to the parking lot or automatic refueling by reading the RFID tag. ” In addition, given the “urgent need” for digitization, electronic records may also be a significant improvement to the status quo. So far, visibility and weather conditions have played a vital role in optical recording and greatly reduced the prosecution rate of speeding cases.
Click here to learn more details about the RFID windshield sticker for EVI.