Choose your Frequency

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Michael Fickes

All the buzz generated in the gaming industry by 13.56 MHz RFID chips may suggest that older 125 kHz RFID chips are about to cash out.

Not so, says Ian Mitchell Kostman, director of new business development with Nemo-Soft Business Solutions Inc., a software provider offering systems that work with either 125 kHz or 13.56 MHz RFID gaming chips.

Nemo-Soft systems power nearly sixty 125 kHz RFID gaming installations around the United States and the world today. In addition, the company has just introduced a new system, called Casino Currency Control and abbreviated CX3 that manages smart gaming systems using either 125 kHz or 13.56 MHz technologies.

According to Kostman, the relatively new 13.56 MHz RFID technology has spawned several misconceptions about 125 kHz systems. Kostman also contends that while the chief benefits of 13.56 MHz RFID systems — speed and long read range — improve applications such as laundry chips, security tags, and tollbooth tags, they may not always improve gaming systems.

Misconceptions about 125 kHz

Proponents of 13.56 MHz RFID chip systems say that a host of new benefits comes with the adoption of the higher frequency technology. Benefits include encryption, control of counterfeiting, prevention of employee theft, and tracking players and their bets. (See “House Money is Smart Money,” Access Control & Security Systems, March 2006, available at securitysolutions.com)

According to Kostman, however, 125 kHz RFID chip systems can also perform these tasks. The 125 kHz technology in use on gaming tables today encrypts data, he says. Likewise, today's 125 kHz systems can be configured to control counterfeiting and prevent employee theft. They can also track players and their bets.

“I would like to dispel the myth that these are hypothetical possibilities that only exist in the future, and only then because of the expanding use of 13.56 MHz technology,” Kostman says. “Current 125 kHz technologies have antenna solutions available to read entire racks of chips, toke boxes, blackjack chip trays, and so on.”

Kostman says that 13.56 MHz technology will eventually develop these capabilities. The difference right now, he says, lies in the 125 kHz antenna technology.

An intelligent gaming table locates specially designed antennas on the bottom of the table, underneath each of the betting spots on the surface of the table. The antennas mount flush against the bottom and feed wires into the table legs. The wires run down to the base of the table and connect to a reader, which in turn connects to a computer running gaming software such as CX3.

The software in the computer tells the antennas to read the chips on the table by emitting a power burst that “wakes up” the RFID chips embedded in the gaming chips. When the chips “wake up,” they send identifying data to the reader. The software interprets the data as representing a chip. By combining the data with visual evidence provided by closed circuit television systems, casino operators can build smarter, more secure gaming tables.

“This is technically how a 13.56 MHz gaming table works,” Kostman says. “A 125 kHz table works the same way, with antennas placed underneath each better circle on a table. But 125 kHz systems have also developed antennas and readers for other applications — to read and track the number of chips in the blackjack chip tray and to count the tips placed in a toke or tip box at the side of the table. Because 125 kHz has been around and been refined for more than 10 years, the industry has developed many different antennas.”

In addition to chip tray and toke box antennas, 125 kHz systems have developed chip rack antennas that can count the number of chips in a 100-chip rack in four seconds. These systems also offer birdcage antennas that monitor fill activity between the cage and the tables. Finally, there are chip bank antennas that will enable 125 kHz systems to process more than 4,800 chips at a time.

To date, continues Kostman, 13.56 MHz RFID chip systems are still developing antennas to enable operators to count chips in trays, toke boxes, racks, birdcages, and banks.

But 13.56 MHz Beats 125 kHz With Speed And Read Range

In some cases, Kostman says, 13.56 MHz technology performs better than 125 kHz technology. Specifically, 13.56 MHz technology is much faster than 125 kHz technology, while offering a greater read range.

But he contends that both of these features could create disadvantages for gaming applications.

Transmission speeds significantly faster than 125 kHz can increase the probability of errors, says Kostman. Yet a 125 kHz system can read a stack of five chips in one-third of a second. It can read a full chip rack, with a capacity for 100 chips, in about four seconds.

The point, according to Kostman, is that 125 kHz is fast enough to perform gaming applications without affecting the pace of a game.

Finally, it is true that 13.56 MHz systems offer a much greater read range compared to 125 kHz systems — and that could be problematic. “Suppose a player has 10 chips worth $100 each,” Kostman says. “Suppose also that one of those chips is counterfeit and has no RFID assembly. To avoid detection, the player might hold a real $100 RFID enabled chip under the table. The longer read range of the 13.56 MHz system would detect the chip held under the table and count it as part of the player's bet.”

The shorter read range of the 125 kHz system, however, would only read chips on the table right above the antenna — less than a couple inches away.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

Nemo-Soft Business Solutions Inc.

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