Escort Memory Systems announces the Cobalt HF family for industrial automation

With the introduction of the Cobalt HFTM systems, Escort Memory Systems now sets the pace in RFID solutions for industrial control.  With over 20 years of innovation in design and over sixty thousand installations worldwide, Escort Memory Systems is RFID at Work. 

Escort Memory Systems, President and CEO, Luciano Mattioli, describing the new Cobalt HFTM products says, Escort Memory Systems is now supplying the most advanced HF RFID solutions (13.56 Mhz) in the world.  The new tools; C-Macros, Dashboard, HF SDK and CBx commands make the Cobalt HFTM family the easiest RFID systems for factory integrators to install, debug and maintain.  As always, agnostic connectivity is key.  Agnostic connectivity means that the Cobalt HFTM family connects to both commercial and industrial Ethernet as well as serial connections. This is critical to the RFID factory automator since they encounter many different host systems in the field and must be able to easily communicate with them.  Cobalt HFs modularity lets a factory integrator choose the performance and price point to meet the needs of the job.

This new family of RFID systems supports complex automation projects in many fields including pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics, food processing, clinical and other applications requiring reliable RFID auto-identification of work-in-progress (WIP). 

Taking advantage of Cobalt HFs microprocessor-based controllers, C-Macro programming allows intelligence to be distributed to the point-of-use.  Addressing two of the key concerns with RFID technology for high speed automated lines; network traffic overload and high speed local decision making, C-Macros allow host systems to enable local intelligence.  HUB communication modules with I/O can trigger local events within 100 milliseconds driving local action such as diverters and alarms without host communication meaning that host communications no longer limit the speed with which action can be taken on a manufacturing line. Each HUB connects up to four read points to high speed Ethernet.  The GATEWAY communication modules allows low cost, high speed Ethernet access for up to sixteen read points.  

New software tools (including C-Macros) make the Cobalt HF family ideal for factory integrators and end users including the C-Macros.  The Dashboard, a Windows PC based utility, allows easy configuration, debug and maintenance functions for large or small Cobalt HF installations.  CBx command sets extend the range of Escort Memory Systems ABx Fast commands while providing backward compatibility.  The HF SDK allow integrators building applications for Windows hosts another simple way of configuring and maintaining the Cobalt HF RFID systems while providing utilities such as data filtering and firmware management.  The HF SDK allows integrators to write applications using familiar C Sharp (C#) and Visual Basic (VB). 

The Cobalt HFTM products operate at the universal HF RFID frequency of 13.56 MHz.  Unlike other developing RFID standards such as EPCglobal UHF standards, the HF standards (ISO 15693 and 14443A) have been in use for several years and have the track record of stability essential for meeting ROI goals of complex automation projects. 

The Cobalt HF family now includes integrated reader/antennas covering the complete operating range up to 24(610mm) for HF RFID (13.56 MHz) and featuring point-to-point Ethernet and Industrial Ethernet connectivity for the highest possible communication rates.  Industrial Ethernet connectivity includes Rockwell Automations Ethernet IP and Schneider Electrics Modbus TCP.   Multi-drop Subnet16 networks with up to sixteen integrated reader/antennas per communication module offer both high speed communications and lowest price per point. 

The entire Cobalt HF product family support multi-protocol read and write operations for all ISO 15693 and ISO 14443A passive RFID tags. These include the Escort Memory Systems LRP and HMS series of durable tags as well as tags based on Phillips, Infineon and Texas Instruments technology.   Anti-collision allows multiple tag-in-field reads and write operations.