NXP Semiconductors, Tönnjes, and Kirpestein, have completed field trials on IDePLATEs (license plates).

The IDePLATEs were tested for over 12 months in different weather conditions on more than 100 military vehicles at various speed levels.

The field tests confirmed that the use of RFID technology for vehicle identification is effective, reliable and secure.

In this test, the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP provided its embedded technology in the license plates, the German firm Tönnjes integrated the system and Kirpestein, a Netherlands-based company, manufactured the license plates and provided project management support.

Kirpestein owner and general manager Koert Kirpestein said: “Different challenges were overcome with the field trial.

“Many military vehicles are equipped with additional metal cladding and grits which caused interferences for RFID tag antennas.

"The major challenge was to ensure a reliable identification and verification of IDePLATE and IDeSTIX even with those vehicles.

“The trial enabled optimising the results by securing the interaction between hardware and software.

"The major challenge was to ensure a reliable identification and verification of IDePLATE and IDeSTIX even with those vehicles."

"These adjustments ensured a secure verification even at high speeds.”

The trials began last year at a military base in Oirschot, the Netherlands, during which, cars and trucks were equipped with IDePLATEs and IDeSTIXs (windshield labels) with integrated passive RFID chips.

Reading units were deployed on a gantry, which seamlessly read the unique chip IDs on the license plates and windshield labels of passing vehicles.

The RFID chips in the field trial used the latest long-range crypto technology developed by NXP Semiconductors, UCODE DNA that works with cryptographic authentication, even at a distance of up to 12m and at speeds up to 150km/h.

Image: A military vehicle testing RFID technology for vehicle identification. Photo: Courtesy of GLOBE NEWSWIRE / NXP Semiconductors Netherlands B.V.