Reelables lets you track packages using paper-based electronics

January 5, 2025 8:00 AM

Reelables lets you track our packages using paper-based electronics.

Image Credit: Reelables

Reelables is showing a new way to track shipped packages using inexpensive paper-based electronics that are on one side of a shipping label.

Making its debut at CES 2025, the tech uses paper-based electronics that have been around for a while — I wrote about them when Xerox partnered with Thinfilm in 2015 to make printed circuits on thin materials. But almost a decade later, the cost for this kind of infrastructure has come down so that Reelables can embed 5G and GPS tracking electronics, along with a coated zinc battery, in a shipping label.

Tracking packages today is possible, but you have to trust in the shipping company to do it correctly for you, and often you only get to know what city it’s in. With this, you’ll be able to tell where it is anywhere there isa 5G cellular connection. That means if it reaches its destination, you’ll know and have peace of mind that what you sent to somebody really got there.

If your package goes off course or is stolen by someone, you’ll be able to figure that out as well and report the theft. This might not lead to you getting the package back. But it might give you more confidence in the whole shipping system.

The company will off the product at CES 2025 at LVCC North Hall, Booth 8364.

How it works

Reelables has printed electronics under its shipping labels.

An industry first in printed electronics, Reelables will be showing its latest, paper-thin, printable cellular shipping labels at CES, said Brian Krejcarek, founder of Reelables, in a message to GamesBeat.

He said these smart labels look like ordinary UPS or FedEx labels, but connect to cellular networks to live track packages and cargo with real GPS location data, independent of the shipping carriers.  They don’t rely upon cumbersome and error-prone barcode scanning by delivery drivers or warehouse workers, he said.

“This is a game-changer because this new category of smart labels doesn’t require the installation of expensive RFID readers or infrastructure,” Krejcarek said. “The range of typical passive RFID labels is only 10-15 feet or less. The range of Reelables active beaconing labels is similar to a mobile phone, connecting to cell towers miles away. Or, in the case of Reelables Bluetooth labels, the range of several hundred feet.  That means they’re capable of doing an inventory audit of an entire warehouse every ten seconds.”

He said GPS tracking devices have been around for awhile, but for the first time, the form factor of an actual label and cost enables mass deployments to track almost everything, not just high value goods. The label is less than 0.5 millimeters thick and printable in off-the-shelf barcode printers. That means no new workflows or training is required. Simply print, stick, and ship as companies already do today, Krejcarek said.

Reelables has developed the technology and manufacturing capability in-house to make these active smart labels like tape, with airplane-safe, coated zinc batteries at mass scale, and are in production today.  As opposed to lithium battery based devices, Reelables labels are airplane safe, non-dangerous goods and uniquely classified by the US Customs and Border control as packaging materials, he said.  

Reelables enables you to embed paper-thin electronics to track packages around the world as they travel.

No return logistics are required. As shown in a study by Westrock and Western Michigan University’s, Paper Pilot Plant, the labels are disposable in ordinary waste streams on corrugated paper and don’t require e-waste processing, Krejcarek said.

Only now does the widespread 5G Internet of Things cellular infrastructure exist (such as NB-IoT from AT&T and Vodafone) along with the thin-film printed electronics technology that enables this printability, recyclability, and soon, sub $10 price point, including the label, connectivity, and tracking service, Krejcarek said. As you can see from the cover image for this story, Krejcarek was able to see the exact route that a package took to get to from one destination to another. That’s what you would see on the tracking page for your package.

Reelables doesn’t use Thinfilm or the United Kingdom’s Pragmatic, as it doesn’t need the flexibility as the chips it uses are so small. Reelables figured out instead how to use mainstream silicon-based wafer die for the RF chipsets, bonding directly to the substrate with an epoxy, on fully reel-to-reel process with no soldering.

“At Reelables we’re producing millions of active beaconing Bluetooth and cellular labels in house, with direct coat zinc batteries, meaning the active electrochemical parts of the battery share the same substrate as the actual RF circuitry for Bluetooth and NB-IoT,” said Krejcarek. “The zinc batteries coated to our substrate mean our labels are non-dangerous goods and airplane safe. They’re also disposable through ordinary recycling streams and do not need to be treated as e-waste.”

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