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Although barcodes are currently utilized mainly to keep track of merchandise, they may soon also be used to detect counterfeit goods. We're not talking about ordinary barcode labels, however. Instead, British scientists at Sofmat Ltd and the University of Bradford have devised a new 3D barcode that's actually molded into plastic or composite items.
The system utilizes tiny pins that are integrated into the mold from which the product is made. Each pin can be set to different heights via micro actuators, with each 0.4-micron increment in height corresponding to a specific letter or numeral (0 - 9). The current prototype consists of a four-pin array, allowing for over 1.7 million unique configurations.
The resulting indentations in the finished item are difficult to see and impossible to feel, yet can be read using a white light interferometer or a laser-scanning confocal microscope – a compact laser scanner is in the works, which could wirelessly transmit readings to a smartphone or tablet.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday September 16 2015, @10:29PM
No, there are good reasons for making counterfeits easy to identify: quality control. You do not want an important part to be a low-quality Chinese knockoff, for example, and rigorously testing all your items for quality isn't as efficient as scanning a barcode for authenticity. Another example, quickly checking that that 1 TB Seagate hard drive you're buying really is a 1 TB Seagate hard drive and not a 128MB USB stick wedged into a plastic shell---the Chinese are creative in their counterfeiting efforts, if nothing else.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday September 17 2015, @12:31AM
If you can fake a part, you can fake a barcode.
If you (or your suppliers) are so dumb that they can't tell a 128MB USB stick from a 1 TB drive, then no barcode is going help you or them.
Its easier to fake a bar code than it is to fake a 1 Tbyte drive.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.