EPCglobal
Inc.™ Hardware Certification
Program
MET
Laboratories, Inc has partnered with EPCglobal
Inc,™ a joint venture of EAN International
and the Uniform Code Council, Inc. ®
(UCC®), to develop and manage the
EPCglobal Hardware Certification Program
(HCP) and the Global Performance Test
Center Accreditation Program.
For the HCP, MET Laboratories, is the
official testing provider for the EPCglobal
Hardware Certification program. MET Laboratories
is testing readers and tags for interoperability
and conformance to the EPCglobal Generation
2 protocol specification.
MET
Labs successfully completed testing of
seven companies, and ten pieces of Gen
2 hardware as meeting EPCglobal UHF Gen
2 standard protocol. The companies and
hardware were given compliance certificates
at the EPCglobal US Conference 2005 in
Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia World
Congress Center, September 14th. This
was the first event in the world to feature
and award companies that completed the
EPCglobal Hardware Certification Program.
Test Requirements for Test Mode Requirements for EPC
Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID
Interrogators - click here.
Test Mode Requirements for EPC
Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID IC’s
and Tags - click here.
Read more in RFID Journal's article.
To view the EPCglobal Press Release
click
here.
Global Performance Test Center Accreditation
Program is a program through which qualified
facilities can be assessed and approved
for RFID performance testing. MET performs
the facilities assessment. Workgroups
have been formed to develop the specific
criteria for this program.
MET
has completed facility assessments of
over 10 testing centers. The sites, in
Europe, Asia, South America, and in the
United States have been accredited as
sites using a standard set of performance
test profiles to simulate real-world conditions
in testing the readability of end-user
products tagged with EPC certified tags.
EPCglobal Inc. Software Certification Program
MET Laboratories has been selected by EPCglobal to manage and perform certification testing of third party software that incorporates EPCglobal ratified standards. The software certification program is offered exclusively by MET. The certification testing is conduced remotely, using the internet. It is available 24/7.
MET Labs offers certification testing for the following EPCglobal software standards:
-Reader Protocol (RP)
-Application Level Event (ALE)
-Electronic Pedigree (ePedigree)
-EPC Information Service (EPCIS)
Certification testing for the recently ratified standards will be available in Q4 2007:
-Reader Management (RM)
-Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP)
Based on the user input, EPCglobal and MET have recently updated the program to provide vendors with more testing capabilities. The key components of the program is the annual subscription, the new competitive prices and additional discounts.
The annual subscription allows vendors to keep certifications current (end-users will appreciate it). Therefore, this will offer a significant competitive advantage. As part of this program, the vendor may:
· re-certify new versions of their products
· certify multiple products from the same company
· certify combination of new versions or products
· certify product for newer version of EPCglobal Specification
This flexibility will allow vendors to keep their certification current.
The key features of the new pricing models are lower prices, and additional discounts. The discounts provide incentives for vendors wishing to submit hardware device for testing. This especially applies for reader vendors who implemented several software standards and also wish to be certified for Gen2 compliance.
For pricing information please contact rfid@metlabs.com.
Approved RFID Testing Center (ARTC) Program
The ARTC program provides the opportunity for regional test centers to offer a broad range of testing and certification services based on EPCglobal RFID standards. Accredited ARTCs will offer RFID testing based on EPCglobal specifications for UHF, HF and other (such as sensor technology) as they become available. This program is offered in partnership with AT4Wireless and is endorsed by EPCglobal.
On October 9th, 2007 at the EPCglobal Joint Action Group Meeting in Hong Kong, MET Laboratories was pleased to present the first gorup of accredited ARTCs. These labs are:
Article Numbering Center of China (ANCC), GS1 China, located in Beijing, P.R. China (http://www.epcglobal.org.cn/artc/artc.jpg)
Telecommunication Metrology Center of MII, located in Beijing, P.R. China
(http://www.emcite.com)
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) located in Chutung, Taiwan, ROC (http://www.rtc.itri.org.tw/eng/index.jsp)
Interested in becoming an ARTC? Click here for more details.
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