Idesco: excellent feedback for passive UHF parking applications. Innovative passive long-distance RFID technology brings a new type of user-friendliness to parking. It offers a number of benefits compared to existing parking applications. Identification can be achieved from a distance of several metres which means being able to drive the car to the parking space practically without stopping. Passive identifiers – tags – that are not battery operated, function in all environments and weather conditions. In practice, they last forever. Thanks to its excellent features for the identification of moving vehicles, passive UHF RFID technology is a strong candidate for the “de facto” technology in userfriendly parking applications. The Finnish identification solution provider Idesco supplies European car parks with solutions based on this technology and has received excellent feedback from the end users.

Passive UHF

Passive ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification technology creates an ideal solution for automated vehicle identification in parking applications. Compared to the solutions that are currently available, namely, passive LF (low frequency) and HF (high frequency), the reading distance achieved is several times longer. The reader also recognises tags on the windscreen of a moving car, so that drivers do not even need to stop for identification, or to open the car window to dial access codes or push buttons to get a ticket.

Passive UHF technology is also reliable in heavy rain, or in cold, sub-zero temperatures. The passive UHF-tag is non-battery operated. Instead, it uses the energy radiating from the reader – thus eliminating the problem of limited tag lifetime in active, (i.e. battery powered), RFID technology. Idesco’s UHF reader and a small tag on a car’s windscreen can easily manage the car park’s incoming and exiting vehicles.

The tag can be placed on the windscreen permanently, or it can be removable. Depending on the tag type, the same tag can also be used as an access control card in entering the building. The company’s UHF solutions are used in several vehicle monitoring installations e.g. at airports and car parks around Europe. Feedback from both clients and their customers has been excellent.

“Wouldn´t Change for Any Old System”

Idesco’s customers have chosen the passive UHF identification system because of its obvious benefits: user-friendliness, reasonable price and durable identification tags that in practise last forever. But what about their customers – how does a daily user of a UHF based system find it? “I really wouldn´t change back to any old system using tickets, cards or ID codes, says Markku Koivisto, sales manager at If P&C Insurance. He has been using the new system for approximately six months at Frenckell Car Park, near his office in Tampere, Finland.

“All my colleagues using this parking system agree that it is an excellent system! It is so easy and comfortable, when you don´t have to stop and open the car window while entering the car park. You can just drive through the entrance and the system identifies the car from the tag on the windscreen and opens the gate. The system seems to work flawlessly even in different weather conditions. It is also very easy to introduce – all I had to do was to place the tag on the windscreen of my car according to the instructions”, Koivisto concludes.

Technology for vehicle identification

The supplier’s long-distance RFID solutions for parking applications are based on Atmel’s Tagidu technology. The technology is designed for demanding environments where the target is moving – even at the speed of 100 km per hour – thus being particularly suitable for vehicle identification. The UHF tags using Tagidu technology have the smallest power consumption – leaving more energy for communication and enabling longer operating distances, (up to several metres), as well as more reliable operations.

User-friendliness for season ticket customers and cost efficient solutions with no maintenance costs for system integrators are quickly increasing the demand for new generation vehicle identification solutions. With these benefits, the UHF products are becoming the “de facto” technology in parking applications. Based on a proprietary system only available from certain producers they also bring additional safety which is essential in vehicle access monitoring.

The products are compatible with European regulations. At the moment Idesco offers a selection of UHF based IR9000 readers and tag products, which can be integrated into existing controlling systems e.g. through an Ethernet connection. During the next few months the company will launch a new stand-alone UHF reader, which is suitable even for small scale parking systems in condos and hotels as well as other small and medium-sized parking areas where large parking controlling systems are not required.

Contact:

Timo Jauhiainen
Idesco Oy,
Oulu, Finland
Tel.: +35 820 743 4175
Fax: +35 885 514 176
info@idesco.fi
www.idesco.fi