Current RFID technology has a maximum range of about 3 meters, but with Mitsubishi's new technology, that jumps up to 7 meters.
For us Americans, that's going from a 10 foot maximum to a 23 foot maximum.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced o­n the 11th that they have developed a technology to increase the correspondence distance of RFID tags and readers by eliminating interference.

This newly developed technology avoids interference between the RFID tags and reading devices thanks to an independently developed "Sending and Receiving Frequency Division System" for RFID, a UHF (950MHz) band intended for controlling the flow of products. With the application of a "Feeble Electric Field Rectenna Technology" that will get a higher voltage than that of the weakened electro-magnetic wave, Mitsubishi has said that this allows for passive battery-less RFID tags to be read from a maximum distance of 7 meters.

According to Mr. Hiroshi Takahata, Head of Data Management Technology at Mitsubishi's IT Laboratory, when transmitting signals from readers of existing UHF-band RFID systems, as the responses are o­n the same channel because the reflected waves from the tag were weak, "there was always a fear of not being able to read accurately because of the interference from using multiple readers o­n the same channel within 10 meters." Mitsubishi has said that it is possible divide the frequencies of the reader's waves and the waves that are reflected off of the RFID tags, so that a different receptor can receive the reflected waves in cooperation with the reader. Furthermore, the company has said that it is possible to supply both transmitter and receiver units inside of a single case for purposes of practical implementation.

Also, Mitsubishi has said that it is possible to increase the range in which a reader can detect a response "from the existing 3m to about 7m, though 4 or 5 efficiently," thanks to changing the detection circuitry of the RFID tag to a laminate construction. This is "within the scope that it will be implemented as needed, and is at its highest level with current technology."

At the announcement event, an experiment was carried out in a special room where a measurement of the response from an RFID tag 7 meters away was taken by a machine using this technology. Even if interference waves were created, it seemed to be able to read the signal correctly.

Mr. Takahata showed confidence in the technology because of the predominance of a sending/receiving freqency division system and "that the technology is particularly effective in regions like Japan where the frequencies that RFID use are limited. However, interference from other RFID -- systems that do not employ this new system -- cannot be avoided. Along with standardization propositions in 2005, Mitsubishi plans o­n making the technology smaller and use up less power for implementation.

Inspired by:
http://enterprise.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/hardware/2004/11/11/3871.html

Press Release:
http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/news/2004/1111-a.htm