Every day, billions of products around the world are identified, located, authenticated or engaged with using RAIN technology. The number of deployments is only continuing to rise, with 52.8 billion RAIN chips shipped in 2024, up from 44.8 billion in 2023. This mandate for growth is driven by the technology’s ability to provide seamless functionality across countless use cases, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, logistics, manufacturing, and more.
Additionally, RAIN technology is taking center stage in the development of European legislation surrounding the Digital Product Passport (DPP). This remains a key area of focus for the RAIN Alliance and its dedicated DPP Working Group. Not only has this group published a position paper on Enhancing Circularity with RAIN-Enabled Digital Product Passports, it has also been accepted as a liaison to the CEN/CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 24 (JTC24), supporting the creation of standards for the DPP throughout the European Union.
While many are familiar with RAIN technology for inventory management, as more organizations explore the technology for wider uses within its business, it’s important to take a step back and consider, what do we mean when we talk about RAIN? How does it work and why is the technology so trusted for numerous use cases?
The Definition of RAIN
RAIN—an acronym derived from RAdio IdentificatioN—is intended as a nod to the link between UHF RFID and the cloud, where RFID-based data can be stored, managed, shared, and analyzed to provide actionable insights in a variety of industry sectors. It is a standards-based technology that utilizes the ISO/IEC 18000-63 air-interface protocol, also known as GS1 UHF Gen2, that allows readers to capture unique identifiers and optional other data from the data carrier RAIN tags.
RAIN provides rich, real-time data and insights for various applications including inventory management, asset tracking, and supply chain optimization across many industry sectors. With so many tags in circulation across numerous industries, its vital that each tag can be identified through controlled numbering practices.
RAIN Numbering Systems
Each RAIN tag must be encoded utilizing controlled numbering practices. This ensures each tag is unique and identifiable within a specific ecosystem, meaning that even in busy read zones, a RAIN reader can pick out the correct, intended tag each time, avoiding error. This issue of mitigating “tag clutter” is critical in high-volume use cases such as baggage tracking at airports or toll taking. It will also become even more critical as RAIN adoption continues to rise, meaning tag volumes will increase, and as the trend towards embedded tags mean that the lifetime of a tag is prolonged.
In practice, there are many controlled numbering practices in use depending on the market in question, and the register of authorized Issuing Agencies is maintained by AIM in ISO/IEC 15459 . For example, IATA provides ISO-based controlled numbering systems for Aviation; VDA provides ISO-based controlled numbering systems for German automotive applications; the GS1 EPC TDS numbering system is in wide use in retail and other markets; and the RAIN Alliance is an Issuing Agency and manages its CIN (Company Identification Number) numbering system, also based on ISO standards. The RAIN Alliance also provides a hugely popular Training Course complete with a certification exam to help ensure tags are correctly encoded.
The RAIN Symbol as a Mark of Trust
As with any technology, the key to widespread adoption is trust. Users need to know that their readers and tags will provide seamless functionality every time, and that all transmitted data is secure.
EN 16570, a voluntary standard, explains that the ISO generic emblem can be used as a way to demonstrate to the public that the necessary steps have been taken in product development to mitigate any perceived privacy risk. Further to this, ISO/IEC 29160 describes the ISO RFID symbol and recognizes that other symbols are used and promoted by different entities as legitimate alternatives, including the RAIN symbol.
The RAIN symbol therefore stands as a mark of trust in the product. It demonstrates to the end user that RAIN technology is present, and that this usage abides by the super-set of standards-based, unique numbering systems.
The Role of RAIN Alliance and the Value of Collaboration
The RAIN Alliance brings together technical and market experts to champion the use of RAIN technology across countless sectors and billions of connected devices, helping to create a smarter and more sustainable world.
Our members collaborate to remove technical barriers, simplify deployments, and advance the skills and best practices that enable RAIN solutions to enhance traceability, reduce waste, and promote circularity.
Learn more about becoming a part of RAIN Alliance here.