A leading provider of high accuracy analytical instrumentation designs its Total Organic Compound (TCO) analysis systems to identify microscopic concentrations of particles in water. These water analyzers prove absolutely critical in hospitals, washing stations and sophisticated manufacturing environments that require the world's purest water.
Part of the analyzer system are liquid calibration samples, used to guarantee the quality and accuracy of the devices' measurements. The authenticity and configuration of these samples is essential to the successful operation of the device, yet these consumables are often prone to tampering or replaced with counterfeits or lower-quality generics. In an effort to protect their brand, assure a positive customer experience and guarantee safety, the manufacturer sought to implement a solution whereby their TOC analyzers will only function when properly configured and sanctioned callibration samples are used.
Requirements:
- Authenticate calibration sample based on correct type, composition, handling and age.
- Ensure proper configuration of calibration samples for optimal device performance.
- Integrate directly on to board schema.
- Accomodate up to four RFID readers into the existing, space-constrained design.
- Ability to upgrade the devices in the field to combat evolving and emerging counterfeits.
- Investment protection via support for future RFID tag protocols as new technologies emerge.
- Compatible with 13.56 MHz HF (high frequency).
- Reliable and rugged to function in high-availability environment.
- Volume licensing to offer economies of scale.
- Application programming interface (API) that does not require RFID expertise.
- Minimal cost impact to the production costs of the overall system.
Solution:
- The manufacturer licensed SkyeTek's ReaderDNA reference designs and integrated RFID at the board level of their TOC analyzers.
- Programmatic control over the interaction between the RFID-enbled TOC analyzer and RFID tagged calibration samples.
- Field-upgradeable firmware and enterprise software to suport future generations of tags, protecting the install base and enabling easy adaptability to counter new counterfeits as they surface.
- Multi-reader licensing provided a 74 percent cost reduction.
- Simple, easy-to-use API allowed developers to read and write data without specific RFID expertise.
- Worked within their exisiting network-connected environment.