Canadian Cogiscan Develops RFID Smart Feeder System

Cogiscan, a Canadian manufacturer of on-site material tracking systems, and several companies jointly develop an RFID project to promote the application of standardized RFID technology in the electronics manufacturing industry.

Cogiscan designed and tested an RFID smart tag with Fuji Machine Co., Ltd., Juki Automation Systems, and Siemens Ltd., which can be attached to the feeder of electronic components to automatically identify various types of electronic products during production. Components and assembly products.

François Monette, Cogiscan's deputy head of sales and marketing, said: “Seven years ago, we have started our own research on RFID technology.” Founded in 1999, Cogiscan provides on-site material tracking control and on-line material handling systems for electronics manufacturing. Currently, the company sells RFID intelligent feeders, which integrate RFID technology into feeders and component placement devices. “In the past, we have always focused on our own industry. Now we will expand from a closed-loop factory environment to an open supply chain environment.”

The RFID smart feed system developed by Cogiscan operates at a low frequency of 125 kHz. Each feeder is affixed with an RFID tag, each tag containing a unique ID number. The feeder transports the electronic components to the placement machine via a reel. The placement machine also carries a 125 kHz RFID tag that is placed on the circuit board. An RF antenna and reader are mounted on the feed slot of each feeder. The tag communicates with an antenna that uses a proprietary air protocol to automatically determine the unique characteristics of each feeder and its precise position at the feed inlet.

The production of a circuit board generally requires hundreds of components. In the past, companies used barcodes to identify feeders, but scanning all feeders required a lot of time and there was an artificial error.

Now that Cogiscan and its partners add an RFID tag to the feeder, they can be converted to "smart" feeders that automatically identify the components in each feeder and their precise position at the feed inlet.

RFID smart new feeder advantages:

- Component validation and feeder devices.
- Exclude human error.
— Eliminates bar code scanning.
- Avoid mistakes completely.
— Shorten the modification time.
- Track feeders and components offline and online.
- Easy integration with any software application.

Cogiscan is now working with partners to test 13.56 MHz high-frequency electronic tags. Monette said that they plan to use RFID technology that conforms to the ISO 15693 standard and the EPCglobal HF Gen 2 specification. "The challenge we are facing is to determine the shape, size and placement of smart tags," Monette said.

Cogiscan will test the technology at Cogiscan Laboratories in Quebec, and they hope to develop working prototypes for smart labels and read-write systems within the next three to six months.

Reprinted from: RFID World Network He Lin translated