MET Laboratories, Inc has partnered with EPCglobal Inc,™ a joint venture of EAN International and the Uniform Code Council, Inc. ® (UCC®), to develop and manage the EPCglobal Hardware Certification Program (HCP) and the Global Performance Test Center Accreditation Program.
For the HCP, MET Laboratories, is the official testing provider for the EPCglobal Hardware Certification program. MET Laboratories is testing readers and tags for interoperability and conformance to the EPCglobal Generation 2 protocol specification.
Services and programs that MET provides for EPCglobal are as follows:
- Hardware Certification Program
- Performance Test Center Accreditation Program
- Software Certification Program
- Approved RFID Testing Center (ARTC) Program
- EPCIS Validation Portal (EPCIS VP)- a fast and simple way to visualize EPCIS events and correct errors.
Review the Test Mode Requirements for EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID Interrogators.
Review the Test Mode Requirements for EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID IC’s and Tags.
Based on the user input, EPCglobal and MET have recently updated the program to provide vendors with more testing capabilities. The key components of the program is the annual subscription, the new competitive prices and additional discounts.
The annual subscription allows vendors to keep certifications current (end-users will appreciate it). Therefore, this will offer a significant competitive advantage. As part of this program, the vendor may:
- Re-certify new versions of their products
- Certify multiple products from the same company
- Certify combination of new versions or products
- Certify product for newer version of EPCglobal Specification
This flexibility will allow vendors to keep their certification current. The key features of the new pricing models are lower prices, and additional discounts. The discounts provide incentives for vendors wishing to submit hardware device for testing. This especially applies for reader vendors who implemented several software standards and also wish to be certified for Gen2 compliance.
For pricing information, please contact us.
Global Performance Test Center Accreditation Program
This is a program through which qualified facilities can be assessed and approved for RFID performance testing. MET performs the facilities assessment. Workgroups have been formed to develop the specific criteria for this program.
MET has completed facility assessments of over 10 testing centers. The sites, in Europe, Asia, South America, and in the United States have been accredited as sites using a standard set of performance test profiles to simulate real-world conditions in testing the readability of end-user products tagged with EPC certified tags.
EPCglobal Inc. Software Certification Program
MET Laboratories has been selected by EPCglobal to manage and perform certification testing of third party software that incorporates EPCglobal ratified standards. The software certification program is offered exclusively by MET. The certification testing is conduced remotely, using the internet. It is available 24/7.
MET Labs offers certification testing for the following EPCglobal software standards:
- Reader Protocol (RP)
- Application Level Event (ALE)*
- Electronic Pedigree (ePedigree)
- EPC Information Service (EPCIS)
- Reader Management (RM)
- Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP)
* Application Level Events (ALE 1.1) is an EPCglobal ratified software standard for filtering and collecting Electronic Product Code ™ data from a variety of sources. Details may be found at EPCglobal standard site. MET Laboratories, Inc. conducts the conformance testing for vendor’s ALE 1.1 products. For additional information about the conformance testing, please see ALE 1.1Conformance Testing Notes.
Approved RFID Testing Center (ARTC) Program
The ARTC program provides the opportunity for regional test centers to offer a broad range of testing and certification services based on EPCglobal and DASH7 RFID standards. This program is endorsed by EPCglobal and DASH7 Alliance.
On October 9th, 2007 at the EPCglobal Joint Action Group Meeting in Hong Kong, MET Laboratories was pleased to present the first group of accredited ARTCs. These labs are:
- Article Numbering Center of China (ANCC), GS1 China, located in Beijing, P.R. China
- Telecommunication Metrology Center of MII, located in Beijing, P.R. China
- Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) located in Chutung, Taiwan, ROC
Interested in becoming an ARTC?
EPCIS Validation Portal
MET Labs has designed, implemented and operates a EPICS Validation Portal. It is useful for user companies that implement RFID to validate that their data (such as EPCC keys, EPCSI events and Core Business Vocabulary) are correctly captured and stored. Once validated, that data a can be exchanged with other companies with no issues.
Learn more about this valuable tool.
