Meet TrustTag at Euroshop 2017

Dear Customer,

We are excited to announce you that we will attend EuroShop 2017 in Düsseldorf, Germany from March 5-9, 2017. Our booth No. is Halle 6/A42.

We hereby sincerely invite you to visit our booth at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre.

We focus solely on solving the problem of retail theft with solutions. Our objective since day 1 has been to help increase retail sales while decreasing shrinkage through the use of innovative and high quality loss prevention and products. With this opportunity, we are launching our RFID hang tag and  hard tag recirculating solutions.

Finally, if there are any questions specific to our company and products, we are asking that you visit us at the EuroShop to talk face to face.
We thank you, our valued clients, and look forward to meeting you at the exhibition.

Sincerely,
Simon Shi
President
TrustTag

Thank you for visitng us at EQUIPMAG

This September TrustTag participated in EQUIPMAG in Paris and showcased its most recent loss prevention products. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your visiting at our booth.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information regarding on our products and services.

EQUIPMAG 2016, Paris – France

The EQUIPMAG trade show is one of the largest events for professionals in the retail industry.

This year at EQUPIMAG, TrustTag will be showcasing a variety of high quality loss prevention source tagging solutions including sew-in labels, EAS Seal Tag, hard tags and RFID. We intend to set a benchmark at this show as we are expanding our business globally.

Join TrustTag at EQUIPMAG to find out more about our range of retail loss prevention solutions, services and other information.

SEE YOU SOON AT BOOTH 3A076.

Thank you for visiting us at NRF 2016

Dear Valued Customer,

This June, TrustTag participated the NRF 2016 retail show in Philadelphia and we are happy to announce that our NRF 2016 was a big success thanks to our team effort and all the participants. Our participation in this show is a huge milestone as we took a huge step forward to thrive and expand our business in North America. In the retail show, TrustTag displayed its latest high quality, innovative and precision engineered retail loss prevention products which are designed to meet the needs of retailers. As one of the world leading EAS manufactures, we sent a clear message to all the retailers during the show that our main philosophy since day one is to provide our business partners with high quality, innovative and precision engineered retail loss prevention products.

Last but not the least, we’d like to thank all the participants for visiting us during the show and our dedicated team for making this a great show.

Eas Tag

Everything You Need to Know About EAS Tags

What’s an EAS?

Before we move on to the tags, let us first define what EAS means. EAS stands for electronic article surveillance. They are systems designed to help retailers and anyone else who needs to secure and keep track of merchandise and other assets do just that using various technologies like RF, magnetism, acoustics and even microwave.

What’s an EAS tag?

An EAS tag is one of the three basic components of an EAS system. It is essentially a security device that is attached to a product or any other similar asset to make it constantly visible to a reader and an antenna (the other two components of the system) and ultimately prevent theft.

In most cases, alarms are triggered whenever anyone tries to bring unpaid tagged merchandise out of a store or forcefully removes a tag from a product.

What kinds of EAS tags are available?

 There are two basic categories of EAS tags: active and passive. Simply put, active tags have a built-in power source and are designed to withstand extreme conditions and possess over 100 meters of read range, while passive ones rely on readers and antennas for power to work and have a much smaller read range (up to six meters maximum).

In terms of physical design, however, a tag can come in so many different forms. It can be a hard tag, a sticker, a label, a cable, a hang tag or even a sewn-in piece of cloth. Some are small and practically invisible, while others are big enough to act as a deterrent for would-be shoplifters.

How do they work?

Active EAS tags constantly send out signals to the antennas and readers in fixed time intervals. Passive ones, on the other hand, wait until they receive a request from an antenna and a reader before they can send a signal back. They wouldn’t be able to function otherwise because they work by converting the electronic requests they receive the power that they need to generate and send out a signal of their own.

In either case, the signal the tags send out contain various types of information that the reader then interprets or sends to a data analytics software.

How much do they cost?

In general, active tags cost so much more than their passive counterparts. You can get them for anywhere between $20 and $100 per piece, while passive ones typically cost less than $1.

Why the big price difference? Well, active tags are designed to withstand much harsher working conditions and are able to transmit more information to a wider read zone than passive ones. This is why they are more popular in heavy industries like mining, logistics, gas and oil.

Does this mean you should count passive tags out? Of course not. While active tags may have the advantage in some industries, passive tags are still more cost-effective solution in industries like retail, payment processing and manufacturing.

So, which one should I use?

At the end of the day, it all depends on your needs and budget. But regardless of the option you go for, the bottom line is that EAS tags are a great way to secure your products and other similar assets.

Active Rfid

What are Active RFID EAS Systems?

The basics

Active RFID EAS systems use tags that have their own power source. This enables them to emit a signal of their own, possess impressive read ranges and have massive storage capabilities. The batteries typically last anywhere between three and five years, but when they finally run out of juice, the whole RFID tag will have to be replaced.

The system comes with three basic components: a reader, an antenna and, of course, a tag. It’s more or less the same as any other type of tag-based EAS system.

In most cases, active RFID tags operate using two primary frequencies: 433 MHz and 915 MHz. Choosing which frequency to use depends on the environmental conditions where the tags would be used. 433 MHz tags are generally preferred for non-RF-conducive environments because they emit longer wavelengths that are better able to withstand interference caused by materials like metal and water.

Types

There are two types of active RFID tags: beacons and transponders. As the name implies, beacons continuously emit a signal (typically every three to five seconds) regardless of whether or not it receives a request from a reader. In contrast, transponders function almost just like passive systems where they wait for an actual request from a reader before sending out a signal.

Beacons generally have a much wider transmit range than transponders (hundreds of meters away), but transponders make up for its limited range with its superior battery life.

Applications

With either type having its own set of pros and cons, which one should you choose? Well, it all depends on what you need the tags for.

Beacons are typically used in the mining, gas and oil industries, but are also popular for their cargo tracking capabilities. Transponders, on the other hand, are more suited to close-range applications like secure access control and toll both payment processing.

Cost of ownership

Active RFID systems are typically more expensive than their passive counterparts, with tags costing anywhere between $20 and $100 apiece, depending on how tough and feature-rich you need each tag to be. Considering how you can get passive tags for under a Dollar per piece, active tags are indeed a much more significant investment.

What you are paying for

Let’s start with the most important thing: unparalleled durability. Because active RFID systems are typically used in high-stress situations, harsh weather conditions and extreme temperatures, they are built much tougher than their passive counterparts.

They also give you so much more in terms of functionality. Aside from their vast read ranges, they can also be used to keep track of location, moisture levels and even temperature, which could be vital information depending on the industry that you are working in.

At the end of the day, there are just some applications that passive systems are not equipped to handle. Going the cheaper route, in this case, could easily cost you so much more money in the long run in the form of repairs, replacements, and additional components.

Passive RFID Tag

Passive RFID EAS Systems: A Primer

What’s in it?

A passive RFID EAS system has three basic components: an RFID interrogator or reader, an RFID antenna, and, of course, an RFID tag. It’s practically the same as any other EAS system that uses some form of electronic tags.

Each tag is typically made up of two parts: an antenna and an IC circuit or microchip. It does not have a battery (unlike active RFID tags) and just gets its power from the signal sent by a reader.

How does it work?

The reader sends a signal to the antenna, which converts it into RF waves. The waves are then broadcast within the EAS system’s read zone to be picked up by the tags. Each tag, in turn, uses its internal antenna to convert the waves into energy that is then used by its IC circuit to send a signal back to the reader.

Also known as a backscatter, this return signal is slightly different from the original one. This difference is what ultimately gives the reader all the information that it needs from each tag.

What are its frequency ranges?

Passive EAS systems typically use three frequency ranges: low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF).

Despite their very short read ranges, LF waves (125-134 KHz) are extremely long and have the best resistance to interference caused by metal or water. This is why LF tags are commonly used in animal tracking applications.

HF waves (13.56 MHz), on the other hand, fall right smack in the middle in terms of read ranges with its range of up to one meter. They are typically used for data transmission, access control, passport security and pretty much any other similar applications that don’t require long-range readings.

Finally, UHF waves (865-960 MHz) are very short and possess high levels of energy, which gives them a five- to six-meter read range. This makes them perfect for applications like in-store asset or inventory tracking and even race timing.

What do the tags look like?

Passive tags come in all shapes and sizes and are made with all kinds of different materials so there’s no uniform look to speak of. It all depends on what the intended application is. There are tags that are as small and thin as a price tag, but there are also those that are a lot bigger and are made with harder materials like plastic or metal.