UCODE 9xm: performance and capacity to expand industrial RFID tagging

What's new

NXP Semiconductors has announced the new UCODE 9xm, featuring a combination of high-capacity, flexible memory, and solid read/write performance. Designed to improve overall system reliability and accuracy, the UCODE 9xm enables customers to utilise smaller tag antennas, allowing smaller objects to be individually tagged and incorporated into smart manufacturing processes, supply chain management and tracking applications.

This gives users the flexibility to tag a wider variety of object types, delivering a more complete view of the supply chain.

Why it matters

RAIN RFID tagging has become a crucial component in the world of automated industrial processes. However, tags with the memory needed to support these processes often do not deliver the same read and write performance as lower memory devices, making it difficult to tag all necessary items and therefore reducing system efficiency.

UCODE 9xm addresses this by combining flexible, high-capacity memory options with advanced read and write performance, making it easier to deploy and increasing the overall system performance.

More details

“From smart manufacturing to supply chain management, Industry 4.0 environments require complex process flows and advanced automation,” said Ralf Kodritsch, Senior Director, UCODE, NXP. “Our UCODE 9xm can streamline these processes by making it easier to individually track the products and tools involved. Building on the same foundation as the high-performing UCODE 9, UCODE 9xm delivers the necessary combination of high-capacity flexible memory and industry-leading performance to take on today’s biggest industrial IoT challenges.”

UCODE 9xm delivers a significant upgrade in performance compared to previous UCODE memory products, making it easier to read tags in RF-unfriendly environments. A read sensitivity of ~ -24dBm facilitates a smaller tag antenna design, enabling smaller objects to be tagged, while a write sensitivity of ~ -22dBm ensures tag encoding is both faster and easier.

UCODE 9xm features a total of 880 bits of memory space shared between the EPC and user memory banks, with three flexible memory configurations, selectable by the customer based on their use case, that offer up to 496 bits of EPC memory and up to 752 bits of user memory, to store manufacturing data such as lot number, production date, process parameters, etc. This means a single IC can be used to fulfil a number of different use cases.

UCODE 9xm is equipped with a Memory Safeguard to protect data and ensure accuracy, including an Error Correction Code (ECC) algorithm and parity checks. Integrated BlockPermalock protects sections of data from change, while still allowing other sections to be added, edited, or deleted. Independent access and kill passwords provide additional data security, preventing unauthorised users from erroneous or malicious actions.

UCODE 9xm is available now.