Questions of all sort
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You'd be best to find some info on antenna design theory and basic electronics as well as NFC.
Antenna design isn't entirely irrelevant, even if they're not really antennas. It can help understand the how and why of radio frequency radiation patterns and what will interfere with them.
Basic electronics specifically for info on transformers (as well as your other basic stuff that you'll need sooner or later).I haven't got any titles picked out or specific websites because they should all be the same. Just make sure you have those areas covered.
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I'm afraid there is no way to read a NFC tag through metal layer.
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I read every book I could find on NFC and RFID! I also went and met lots of companies and suppliers. Basically research for hours every day, all day. If you can, hire an RFID consultant to help advise you too.
You can't read radio signals through a metal layer unless you can manipulate / polarize the metal layer. This would require R&D of 1M$+
RE price. We paid about $100k in total for our first R&D (we innovated a lot) and then we pay between 20 cents and 5 dollars per inlay depending on the inlay we are using. For example all of the rips off of the NFC Ring use inlays that are about 15 cents, these inlays suck because they aren't properly tuned and lots of other reasons (see the galaring post).
Hope that helps! Any more questions just ask :)
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And there's the problem really, metal blocks RF signals like it does in most circumstances because it conducts electricity. So when you use carbon or whatever else you're doing the same thing.
You really need to read up on RF/Radio Frequency and antenna theory otherwise it's just all guesswork.
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@johnyma22 Have you considered using a flexible, durable elastomer material similar to what's used in many fitness trackers? I'm a designer/marketer (with a touch of developer), that's envisioning a new/unique product line. Would love to chat more and share my ideas. New to the forums/NFC ring, but I'm guessing you're the founder?
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@passtouch, @johnyma22 can be found most weekdays on IRC.
Freenode server, join #nfcring and see who's awake. -
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RE Elastomer you mean the ring body itself or for the inlay? We did experiment with similar surfaces, we found it drastically cheapened the feel of the ring much in the same way that imho most activity tracking bracelets look cheep. Imho we're pretty much the only wearable technology that doesn't unintentionally draw attention to itself, a gift and a curse ;)
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Yeah that's correct I am the founder.
*Edit, I said item.. So corporate.. replaced with "ring"....
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Yes, I was thinking of the ring body. I don't know the name of this specific material, and it may be more of a coating than anything... but it has that "silky smooth plastic" feel (looks like the material from the outer piece of this). I would bevel the edges of this ring, and if it didn't add too much cost, finish off the bevel in a darker tone than the face of the ring (for added contrast). Depending on color, you could make the ring blend in (flesh tone), or stand out (aqua blue) and draw some attention.
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I'm Jason... good to meet you :)
My thought it is... market it as an affordable, sportier line of rings. Have someone else, like me, take it to market it under a different brand name. I'm guessing this idea is nothing new, but I think that if you paired this design, with the functionality I mentioned here, you would have something that a lot of people would spend $10 or $20 for. In fact, if the delivered cost-of-goods was low enough, maybe you could afford to discount to early adopters, to really ignite the sales.
I also have some fairly cool ideas for how to sell it.
Do you have any part of your team based in the US? I'd be very interested in chatting more.
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@passtouch yeah sounds reasonable.
- I did try those plastic finishes, they were horrible to wear 24x7, fine for costume jewellery but that's not what I wanted to make.
RE sales type stuff that's not really my area any more (I focus more on engineering) so I will bump Chris who leads on that side and ask him to respond :)
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- I've never tried wearing a non-metal ring before, so I don't have any credible argument on that point.... but, I can imagine it would definitely have a very different feel.
Thanks... would be happy to share some ideas with Chris. I appreciate it!
