Background

Electrical Article Surveillance (EAS) is the technology widely used to protect merchandise from theft within the retail sector, and is a £1bn market. There are two main frequencies used globally for EAS in the retail sector, 58 kHz (AM – acousto-magnetic) and 8.2 MHz (RF – radio frequency), and two types of tag: reusable (hard tags) and deactivatable (label tags).

Existing EAS tags used in the retail sector do not work on metallic products, as the metal interferes with the ability of security gates to register the presence of the tag. Attempts to overcome this problem include adding a piece of foam between a tag and the product, so that the metal does not interfere with the tag. However, attaching a piece of foam in this way negatively impacts the appearance of a product, by making the packaging bulky and unsightly. This is particularly an issue for high value items such as liquor bottles housed in metallic tins, as product appearance and branding are an essential part of the product’s appeal.

Technology Overview

Academics at the University of Exeter have developed an inconspicuous and effective solution to the problems identified above. They have created a hard tag that, unlike existing EAS technology, works on metallic products, is inconspicuous (the tag is less than 2mm thick), and can activate industry standard pedestal gates at 8.2MHz. It consists of a Nickel-Zinc ferrite block wrapped with layers of dielectric laminate.

Benefits

Works directly on metallic products and packaging.
Cheaper alternative to existing EAS tagging technology.
Greatly improved product appearance – as the tag is small and thin - in comparison to existing hard tags - the impact on product appearance is minimised.
Works with existing security infrastructure – the tag can activate gates already used in retailers. Therefore, no investment in new gates is required to use the tag in stores.

Applications

The primary application of this tag is to provide a security solution on metallic surfaces. Therefore, the tag could be used on any metal products, or products housed in metallic packaging. More specifically, we have identified several products and applications that would benefit from using our tag technology:

Metallic tins for liquor bottles, paints, and power tools;
Baby milk powder containers;
Cavity resonators;
NFC.
Personal Electronic Mobile Devices.

Opportunity

The technology is available for licence. A number of prototype devices are available for review and a demonstration video is available on request.

Radio Frequency Detectable Device – EAS Hard Tag for Metallic Products

Patents

IP Status

Seeking