Toppan Develops ZETag Active Tag for Long-Range Communication

Toppan has developed ZETag, a new active tag for logistics management that is capable of communication over distances of up to approximately two kilometers. Toppan has also created ZETagDRIVE, a cloud-based platform that can manage the location information of more than a million ZETags. Pilot testing kits combining ZETag, ZETagDRIVE, and communication base stations will be available from October this year.

The logistics and shipping industries in Japan are facing a labor shortage due to the difficulty of securing personnel in a tight labor market impacted by a shrinking working-age population and declining birthrates. Expanded at-home consumption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is also driving up e-commerce demand and the volume of goods being transported.

With the ZETag active tag and ZETagDRIVE management platform, Toppan aims to support enhanced efficiency for logistics through automated management and visualization of the location of equipment, such as pallets and cage trolleys, to alleviate management workload and better facilitate cargo handling operations.

ZETag is a battery-powered active tag that transmits its own unique ID information. It uses the Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) ZETA1 network protocol and is capable of long-range communication with base stations over distances between 500 meters and two kilometers (with some variation depending on communication environment and usage conditions).

This enables automated management of the location of pallets, cage trolleys, and other items used outdoors and in large warehouses while eliminating the need to use the type of readers required for conventional passive RFID tags or to pass tagged items through gates equipped with antennae.

The antenna used for ZETag features a new design developed in collaboration with Staf Corporation. It ensures that long-range communication is possible even if the tag is attached to metallic materials that can cause damping of radio field intensity. ZETag is powered by a button battery.

“ZETag and ZETagDRIVE combine to be a compelling solution to streamline and provide more visibility for large-scale item management operations,” said Shintaro Moroi, GM in the Business Architecture Center of Toppan’s DX Design Division. “We will leverage ZETag to address challenges facing society and drive digital transformation in logistics.”