MIPS Project Detail:

Matrics Technology Systems, Inc.

Advanced Antenna Designs

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Company

Matrics Technology Systems, Inc.

Columbia

Howard

County

, Maryland

Founded:

1999

Website:

Company Description:

Matrics Technology Systems, now part of Motorola, was a Columbia, Md.-basedcompany providing EPC-compliant RFID systems for retail, defense, transportation and other vertical markets. The Matrics product portfolio featured RFID systems. including: multi-protocol, EPC-compliant fixed readers; readers designed for embedded applications, such as RFID printers and handhelds; high-performance antennas for RFID tag reading; and EPC labels that can be attached to items such as containers, pallets, cartons and more. The company’s RFID tag family included both read-only and read/write functionality that addressed a wide range of asset visibility applications.

Matrics’ RFID readers and tags were used by customers to help track inventory across the supply chain, ensure compliance in regulated industries, track the location of baggage throughout airports for security purposes, and facilitate a more effective logistics process within the defense sector.

MIPS Project

Advanced Antenna Designs

Project #

2715

|

MIPS Round

27 |

Starting Date:

Feb 2001

MIPS Project Challenge:
Matrics sought to develop advanced antenna designs and related circuitry to dramatically increase the read distance of its Matrics Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. To fully utilize the large number of tags that can be read by the Matrics technology, it was essential to increase the read distance to more than three meters. Achieving this required pushing the envelope of advanced antenna designs.

Project Scope:
UMD researchers provided Matrics with specific antenna designs that enhanced performance and increased read range, along with simulation results of the various designs and lab tests of different antennae and related circuits fabricated by a Matrics contractor.

The acquisition of Matrics is a significant step in executing our plan to be a leader in RFID, and expands our offerings in the advanced data capture industry.

William Nuti, Symbol President and Chief Executive Officer

Results:

The project proved successful, allowing Matrics to create 60 jobs as a result.

In 2004, Matrics was acquired by Symbol Technologies Inc. for $230M. Symbol is now a subsidiary of Motorola, a company whose RFID business, which started with Matrics, continues to be based in Maryland.