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Recently, Impinj has unveiled a new Gen 2 RFID chip that allows wireless communication with the processor inside an electronics device unlocking a wide range of benefits for electronics manufacturers, retailers and end users, besides laying the groundwork for innovative other applications and products.
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1 – Wireless activation and configuration of devices
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Combining all the functionalities of a common Gen 2 RFID chip with the ability to communicate with an I²C bus, the Monza X-2K Dura is designed to be mounted directly on the PCB inside an electronic device and allow wireless communication between the device processor and a standard UHF Gen 2 RFID reader, even when the electronic device is powered off. This unlocks a wide range of extended capabilities such as device activation, configuration and upgrading at point of sale (1).
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The possibility of activating the device only after it is sold to the end user brings also great advantages in terms of theft deterrence (2), while the perma-lockable memory blocks of the Monza X-2K Dura avoids tempering of data for secure product warranty management purposes (3).
 2 – Device unlocked at the point of sale for theft deterrence |
 3 – Secure and efficient product warranty management |
Other interesting applications are PCB tracking, wireless programming of display tags (4) and place-based management of use privileges of electronic devices such as PCs (5).
 4 – Wireless programming of display tags |
 5 – Place-based management of electronic devices |
6 – Development of Gen 2 RFID sensor tags
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The Monza X-2K Dura chip can be used also to develop Gen 2 RFID sensor tags (6), and high-memory UHF RFID tags for applications such as aerospace part tracking and maintenance. The Monza X-2K Dura chip can work in passive mode providing read range up to 15 m or in BAP mode with over 30 m read distance.
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7 – Monza X-2K Dura ports
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The chip features the Impinj QT technology for privacy and security purposes and has two RF independent antenna ports that can be used for a loop antenna for near-field Gen 2 applications and a dipole antenna for far-field applications, or both for dipole antennas for creating orientation insensitive RFID tags. The two antenna ports can be switched-off separately (7).
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8 – Design options
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There are three basic options for integrating the Monza X-2K Dura chip inside an electronic device: chip and RFID antenna(s) on PCB, chip on PCB with off-PCB RFID antenna(s), off-PCB chip and RFID antenna(s) (off-PCB tag). See picture (8).
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The Monza X-2K Dura features 2176 bits of user memory and is already available in volumes. Impinj can provide also samples of the Monza X-8K Dura that has 8192 bits of user memory and will be available in volumes soon.
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