Chipmaker Shows Battery-Free 2-Way Bluetooth Sensor Tag at Retail Show
Semiconductor company Wiliot demonstrated a battery-free Bluetooth sensor tag at NRF 2019 with applications for manufacturers, retailers and consumers. A Wiliot chip glued to an antenna printed on plastic or paper can authenticate proximity of a product by transmitting an…
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encrypted serial number along with weight and temperature data from a device the size of a postage stamp, said the company. The tags use nanowatt computing to communicate with devices enabled by Bluetooth Low Energy, such as smartphones, Wi-Fi access points and IoT devices that connect to digital displays, Wi-Fi and LTE cellular networks. Bluetooth tags can be embedded in the production phase of consumer goods, allowing real-time tracking through the manufacturing process, to the warehouse and from the store to the end consumer. At retail, the Wiliot transponder can overcome limits of human-readable product information on packaging, sending information to a consumer’s phone or displays, it said. Among use cases: Consumers can communicate with products to get instructions and reminders of how to use them, and Wiliot-enabled containers can “automatically reorder themselves when empty,” said the company. Valuable products using the technology can be tracked in case they are lost or stolen, it said, and clothing with Wiliot tags can communicate with washing machines to ensure the correct washing cycle. The company announced a $30 million Series B funding round with investors including Amazon Web Services, Avery Dennison and Samsung. Wiliot’s strategy for battery-free Bluetooth transponders, “which sense and communicate without needing specific action by consumers,” matches with Avery Dennison’s intelligent label strategy, said Francisco Melo, Avery's general manager-global RFID.