There are a variety of RFID tags/trackers available in the market, like hard tags, labels, etc. One such type of product is the wet inlay. These are compact, affordable, and effective. This makes them very popular in a large number of industry segments. Meaning there are a lot of industrial applications of wet inlays.
So, let’s not waste time & get right to it.
What is an RFID Wet Inlay?
It is a type of radio frequency identification system. Every tag consists of an inlay inside it. An RFID inlay is the part of a tag that communicates with the reader. An inlay consists of three basic components – An antenna, Microchip, and Substrate layer.
A wet inlay has the antenna connected to the chip, place firmly on the substrate layer. The reason it's called wet is because on the opposite side of the substrate is a layer of adhesive. This layer is pressure activated and helps the inlay have a self-adhesive mounting.
These types of RF are popular because they require a lot less space to adhere to.
Popular Industrial Segments for RFID Wet Inlay
RFID provides exceptional monitoring capabilities at a fraction of the cost. This makes a lot of room for this technology in a vast variety of applications. Leading manufacturers in designing a suite of different types of inlays.
However, before we discuss the different types of wet inlays available, let’s check out their industrial segments. So, these are the popular industrial applications of Wet RFID Inlay in the year 2023.
(A). Apparel
Radio frequency identification technology is very popular in the apparel industry. As they provide an affordable identification & tracking solution for a large volume of items. The additional benefit of inlays is that their mounting methods don’t damage the items, as they use a mild layer of adhesive.
(B). Healthcare
In healthcare facilities like hospitals & labs, management must keep track of a large number of valuable equipment and samples. With the help of wet inlays, employees can easily tag samples to the patient ID, drastically reducing any chances of errors in testing & treatments.
(C). Beauty & Personal Care
Cosmetic businesses use wet inlays to track their products throughout the supply chain. This not only helps them easily manage their operations and prevent theft/stock reduction. It also helps the business collect data about the popularity of certain products, allowing them to create custom strategies.
(D). Asset Tracking
An application as old as the advent of RF technology, this is by far one of the primary use of inlays in any industry. RFID provides excellent asset-tracking capabilities, both inside & outside of a facility. UHF wet inlays provide good communication range & fast reading speed, allowing them to be perfect for large-volume operations.
(E). Automotive
These industries, whether it is a manufacturing facility or an assembly facility, deal with a large number of small components for each complete unit. This makes tracking all the components a difficult task for employees. With the help of RF, or more precisely, wet inlays, users can create an effective & affordable solution to this problem.
(F). Logistics
Every business, regardless of size and product type, needs to engage in logistics operations to get their items from the start to the end of the supply chain. Meaning they have to engage in asset identification & tracking operations. With the integration of wet inlays in their operations, businesses can automate these operations.
(G). Food Transportation
One of the biggest issues with food-related industries is preventing the items from spoiling and ensuring proper storage. With class 3 wet inlays, users can keep accurate tags of the temperature of the products throughout their movement on the supply chain. Allowing them to accurately discern the conditions of the items by the time they arrive at the retail facility.
(H). Home Essentials
Wet inlays allow retail outfits to maintain an effective & accurate asset identification & tracking system. Due to the low price of wet inlays, even small businesses can invest in this technology.
(I). Supply Chain Management
Supply chain refers to the entire journey of a product, from the procurement of raw materials to it reaching the final retail outfit. In order to maintain a productive operation, businesses need to have monitoring capabilities over the items through the supply chain. Using wet inlays can help them track their items throughout this journey, and manage and change the supply chain operations to suit their needs.
(J). Aviation
An airplane has a lot more components than a person from the general population can imagine. And to maintain these components they also require numerous tools. In addition, identification, authentication & tracking is a major part of any aviation facility, in order to maintain security. These agencies use wet inlays to successfully identify & track components, equipment, personnel, and even passengers.
(K). Electronic Equipment
Manufacturers generally design electronics to be ergonomic and take up as less space as possible. This makes using big tags very difficult with electronic components like circuit boards. Instead, using a wet inlay is perfect, as it helps users identify the component and it doesn’t take up much space.
Different Types of Wet Inlays Available in the Year 2023
There are a variety of different classifications of RFID wet inlays, based on certain factors. So, let’s discuss the different types of wet inlays available in the market.
Operational Frequency
The first criteria we can use to classify different types of wet inlays. Based on the frequency on which they operate, there are two types of wet inlays you can choose from. Unlike some tags, inlays do not come in low frequency nowadays. This is due to LF technology becoming obsolete with the introduction of BLE, on-metal, and active tags.
(A). HF Inlay
HF stands for High Frequency; these wet inlays operate within the radio frequency range of 13.52 MHz. RF components in this range can generally operate in environments with metal surfaces & obstacles, relatively easily. They also have a communication range of a few feet.
(B). UHF Inlay
These inlay, also known as Ultra-High Frequency wet inlays operate within the ranges of 850 to 960 MHz (Megahertz). The benefit of operating in UHF ranges is that the system has a way faster rate of data communication, in addition to a communication range varying from 8 to 30 feet (estimate).
However, the one issue with UHF components is that they are significantly vulnerable to detuning & signal degradation from metal surfaces.
NFC Inlay
The next classification of inlays is based on the radio field in which they communicate. When a reader’s antenna broadcast signals, it creates an interrogation zone around it. This zone has two different sections, known as the near-field & far-field. Near-field usually ranges from the antenna and extends up to 10 to 12 centimeters. After that, the rest of the zone is known as the far field.
The practical difference between these two zones arises from the method they use for communication. When inside the near-field, the inlay uses inductive coupling to communicate with the reader. However, in the case of the far-field, the wet inlay uses radiative coupling/backscattering to communicate data.
An NFC inlay stands for Near Field Communication inlay. These use inductive coupling to power up and broadcast their signals. They have a small range of communication (generally a few centimeters), but they do operate on high-frequency ranges (13.54 MHz), so they have a decent rate of data transfer.
Dual Frequency Inlay
As the name suggests, the chip inside these inlays can communicate in two different frequency ranges. This provides them with the benefits of multiple types of RFID inlays. These inlays have multiple encryption protocols, hence, making them have better security. In addition, due to them being able to communicate on different communication protocols at the same time, they have a larger range of communication & better data transfer speed.
Sensor Inlay
Lastly, sensor inlays are much like other types of inlays, with one additional feature. These inlays have telemetry sensors over them, that can help them record and transmit data other than the identification of an item/asset. They can communicate information like speed/acceleration, temperature, pressure, etc.
These features allow them to have more applications in the industry and provide a better monitoring capability to the user.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the difference between wet inlay and dry inlay?
An RFID inlay is the most basic form of RF tracker. It consists of a microchip connected to an antenna, placed firmly on a substrate layer. There are two types of inlays, namely – wet, and dry. The only difference between the two is that a wet inlay also has a layer of pressure activated on one side of the substrate.
Q2. What is wet inlay used for?
A wet inlay can be used for asset identification & tracking applications, especially with items with less room for mounting a traditional tag, large product volume, or low-cost operations.
Q3. What is the advantage of inlay?
The biggest advantage of an inlay is that it required significantly less space to adhere to an item/asset, as it lacks any outer shell. Making them useful for applications where the assets are small, or the inlay needs to be not visible like apparel, electronics, etc.
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