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"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
--Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
 At our DASH7 panel discussion last month at RFID Journal Live, participants contrasted the way the DASH7 Alliance achieved interoperability in less than 12 months, with the process the passive RFID industry experienced with Gen1 and, later, Gen2. The kudos we received from the panelists for our rapid progress are all nice to hear, but there's a bigger message worth emphasizing: DASH7 is just easier than many other wireless technologies. DASH7 uses a single global frequency, a single PHY, and single MAC layer in its architecture. Any DASH7 device will be interoperable with any other DASH7 device out of the box. No "application profiles". No gateways. In terms of ease of implementation and maintenance, this is a really big deal. As wireless sensing devices proliferate across new markets and applications, DASH7's ease will matter not only to our end users, but also to developers looking to minimize costs and time to market.
Cheers,
Pat Burns
President
P.S. Last week we announced the addition of global logistics giant Maersk to the DASH7 Alliance membership roster. We're thrilled to be working with their team on multiple initiatives and look forward to other 3PL's and carriers following their lead.
First DASH7 Plugfest - Interoperability in under 12 months!
 In April in beautiful Union City, California, the team at MET Labs played host to teams from Evigia, Identec, and Savi who for two days worked hard to ensure their respective ISO 18000-7 devices passed a variety of compliance and interoperability tests created by the alliance.
Special thanks to the team at MET, especially Ted Osinski, who brings a wealth of interoperability experience including his experience doing the same for passive RFID. The achievement of getting to interoperability in less than 12 months is an impressive feat by any measure.
Interoperability: What Is It and Why Is It Important?
By: Dusmantha Tennakoon, MET Labs RFID Conformance Programs Manager
Simply put, interoperability is the concept of all readers working with all tags. It is the compatibility of tags and readers not just from the same manufacturer but from different ones too.
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ID TechEx
Munich, Germany
May 26-27, 2010
Fall Member Meeting
Washington, DC
Oct 5, 2010
Winter Member Meeting
Seoul, Korea
December 1, 2010
Annual Member Meeting
San Diego, California
Feb 1-2, 2011
RFID Journal Live
Orlando, Florida
April 12-14, 2011
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Why is interoperability important? In a diverse global market, a product with a tag traversing the supply chain is certain to encounter multitude of readers from various manufacturers. Unless the tag is able to be read correctly by all readers, the tracking of the shipment is compromised. In order for RFID technology to be successful, all tags and readers have to be interoperable across the board.
There are many reasons why devices from one manufacturer may not work with another manufacturer's device. Some examples of these are software bugs, timing issues and different interpretations of the specification. Although devices are designed to conform to the 18000-7 standard, a manufacturer's interpretation of the standard can vary. This can lead to inoperability between equipment from different manufacturers. That is why testing for interoperability is so important. The DASH7 Alliance and MET Laboratories understand the importance of this fundamental concept. Click here to read more.
RFID Journal Live 2010
Orlando, Florida. It's more than Disney, you know. It's the convention city that Vegas will never be. We had our first shared booth at a trade show under the DASH7 Alliance banner . Special thanks to Dawn Antle (Identec), Christine Hopman and Mark Nelson (Savi), as well as the folks at MET Labs for making it all happen. We will do this again next year... Oh and Ricky Purnell from IDTechEx was the winner of our first-ever DASH7 giveaway. Ricky is the lucky owner of a new pair of BOSE quiet comfort headphones.
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Outside the DASH7 reception, the titans
of active RFID conversed
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JP Norair and Ernesto Castagnet
dutifully man the DASH7 booth
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Pat King (Michelin), Ted Osinski (MET Labs),
Denton Clark (Lockheed Martin)
and Ann Grackin (ChainLink Research) take questions from the audience on
the bright future of DASH7
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Pat Burns explains the DASH7 12-step program
for IEEE 802.15.4 developers
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Product News
Texas Instruments announced details of its partner ecosystem for its CC430 system-on-a-chip... Evigia announced its active/passive RFID platform... and Savi and ODIN announced a partnership relating to their integrated active/passive RFID software suite... Arira Design is now shipping its SMART HDK for DASH7, which includes a STM32 microcontroller based board with
onboard GPS and a series of sensors. Recent customers: cargo handlers, home automation developers, inventory management firms, universities, and Arrow Electronics in Israel. Additional modules such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and
GSM/GPRS, also available.
New Members
The Download on OpenTag
An Interview with Technical Working Group co-chair JP Norair
Why should we be excited about OpenTag?
OpenTag is an open source library for implementing DASH7 devices, namely tags, but also readers or any other type of DASH7 device. It is the first and only project of its kind, and this is exciting if you are a DASH7 product developer because OpenTag can save you a lot of time and money. In developing any standards-based product, engineers have to spend a lot of time not only getting the product to work, but also verifying that all of the requirements of the standard are addressed. OpenTag can greatly reduce the amount of effort for both of these tasks.
How easy or difficult is it to program with OpenTag?
OpenTag is written in C, and as of now it supports three different compilers. Engineers used to developing embedded electronics should have no problem understanding all of OpenTag's features, and tweaking them as desired. Teams with less experience (or less time), however, can still rapidly build solutions as long as they don't stray too far from one of the reference projects included in the OpenTag distribution.
What is the plan for porting OpenTag to other silicon platforms?
Click here for the answer
Why should you drink beer out of a glass rather than out of a bottle?
Click here for the answer
DASH7 Product of the Month
 Evigia Systems Data Rich Tag (EV3-DRT):
This tag features 256kB non-volatile memory, enabling extended monitoring and visibility at the asset site. EV3-DRT tag has a battery life exceeding 5 years and range of over 350 feet. Additionally, it includes a USB interface. EV3-DRT tag is fully compliant and interoperable within US DoD ISO 18000-7 and DASH7 interoperable systems. More info: http://www.evigia.com/products/hardware/tag/
DASH7 is a Top 10 Mobile Trend to Watch
Member of the Month
Interview with Sharon Barnes, CEO of RFind
So why is DASH7 important to RFind?
Active RFID has yet to experience mass adoption. This is primarily because of the lack of interoperability between vendor solutions. Every technology that has reached mass adoption has only done so following adoption of a standard by manufacturers and selected end users. DASH7 has the commitment from both the manufacturers and a very significant end user (the US DoD). It also has an internationally recognized standard, ISO 18000-7, and its frequency is unlicensed in most countries. DASH7 is well poised to solve the interoperability problems and offer true solutions to the market.
RTLS @ 433 MHz using DASH7... how is this better than ultrawideband or ZigBee?
Click here for the answer
If you were to recommend a single wine from the Okanagan Valley there in BC, which one would you recommend and why?
Click here for the answer
New NFC + DASH7 White Paper
We published a very cool white paper on how DASH7 and NFC (Near Field Communications) can co-exist on the same silicon while allowing DASH7 to extend the functionality of existing NFC applications. Not trying to market DASH7 as a payment app, but there are loads of non-payment apps that DASH7 can "augment". Click here to read it. So many apps that are uniquely suited to DASH7...very exciting
3 More Reasons to Join the DASH7 Alliance
- The DASH7 Alliance Extranet. Available only to members. Specifications, working group minutes, confidential presentations, unauthorized photos of Canadian members behaving badly, etc.
- Exclusive customer opportunities. End users are contacting us with requests for DASH7 products and when they do, we pass the request along to our members.
- Exclusive opportunities to promote your DASH7 product or services. Let's just say that some heavy-hitting end users who "matter" read this newsletter, read our blogs, and attend our webinars.
For more information, send an email to paul@dash7.org
How to Join
Send us an email! Info@dash7.org
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DASH7 Alliance | Become a MemberAbout | Contact | Feedback | Privacy | Legal
The DASH7 Alliance was formed to promote interoperability among DASH7 wireless sensor networking devices, develop extensions to the standard, and educate the market about DASH7 technology. Formed in 2009, the Alliance now has more than 40 members. Device integrators, semiconductor manufacturers, systems integrators, regulators, and end-users all work together to promote the use of DASH7 technology in expanding array of industries and applications.
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