A multi-year contract to supply Hong Kong international airport with up to 70 million RFID labels will see speedier and more reliable luggage handling for many of the 48 million passengers that use the airport each year.

Researchers have proved the viability of a new and as yet untapped radio frequency band which will increase the speed and capacity of data transfer to wireless devices like laptops and iPods, and potentially between a home DVD player and high-definition TV.

The RFID business value is expected to grow by five times in the next 10 years. The Active RFID business is growing by about 10 times, driven by the $475 million military order for Savi Technology and innovations such as the first 100,000 RFID labels from Power ID that have greatly enhanced range over alternatives.

Major changes to land mobile frequencies and modes of operation are up for consideration in two papers released by the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) just before its RadComms conference. The two discussion papers, ‘Spectrum Options: 403-520 MHz band’ and ‘Five-year Spectrum Outlook 2009-2014’ were of particular interest to many in the audience and came in for a good deal of discussion.

A particular window of time when mobile signals and radio waves are ‘super strength’ — allowing them to be clearer and travel greater distances — has been discovered by Salil Gunashekar as part of his doctoral studies at the University of Leicester’s Department of Engineering in England.

A system capable of simultaneously measuring hundreds of RFID tags and rapidly testing new RFID tag prototypes has been designed by researchers.

This look at what could happen in the future with radio services is taken from a presentation by Chris Chapman, ACMA chairman, when he addressed nearly 300 delegates at the RadComms conference in Melbourne.

Underground tunnels, usually a difficult environment for radios, can have a frequency 'sweet spot' at which signals may travel several times further than at other frequencies, according to researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in the US.

Wireless sensors in embedded systems in devices from traffic lights to mobile phones, designed to create wireless communications networks automatically, could benefit a range of areas, including emergency management, security, helping vulnerable people to live independently, traffic control, warehouse management and environmental monitoring.

A new antenna structure that works in a wide range of frequencies has been presented by researchers from Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) in collaboration with the National Astronomical Observatory in Spain.

RFID has been moving ahead in leaps and bounds according to reports released throughout 2007. However, what is in store for 2008? Will RFID technology continue to move forwards or will another technology surge ahead and steal the limelight?

In a recent interview with Radio Comms, Asia-Pacific, Scott Austin, president Syscan Australasia, shed a little light on the subject.

This is the second part of a multi-part series looking at various RF effects including sperm count, interruption of sleep patterns and brain tumours. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in America studied 361 men at their infertility clinic to investigate the effect of mobile phone use on semen quality.

A radio system operating at just below 1000 Hz has been designed to send and receive emergency text messages to miners working underground

Over the years there have been ongoing concerns, scare stories and many reports on the possible harming effects of RF emissions, particularly in relation to mobile phones

With the growing acknowledgement of global warming and the effect it has on our climate, in particular our precious water resources, there is now more than ever a realisation of the importance of water conservation