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The 20-Year-Old IoT Standard That’s Suddenly Exciting Again

Plus our top IoT stories of the week!

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IoT For All
August 28, 2025

Hello readers,

Welcome to the IoT For All newsletter! This week we’re talking about Qualcomm’s new push into the world of RFID, how OTA updates reduce the need for expensive automotive recalls, the shift to LPWAN in IIoT, and more!

Tag, You’re It

Earlier this week, Qualcomm announced its new Dragonwing Q-6690 processor, part of the mobile giant’s 2025 bet on edge computing. But there’s more at play than just processing power. The headline is the integration of ultra-high frequency (UHF) RAIN RFID directly onto the chip, paired with on-device AI and next-generation wireless technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and UWB. It’s a combination that positions the Q-6690 not just as a processor, but a platform. And the implications for broader IoT could be big.

RFID has been around for a hot minute, first being patented back in 1973 with its modern backbone having been standardized some 20 years ago. For those decades, it has been an add-on. Devices required external RFID modules or “sleds,” which added cost, design complexity, power management challenges, and certification overhead. By bringing RFID onto the processor itself, the Q-6690 radically simplifies device design. This lowers the bill of materials, reduces engineering effort, improves form factor, and boosts power efficiency. It also shifts value away from module suppliers and toward a platform-centric ecosystem increasingly controlled by Qualcomm, for better and for worse.

But market validation has come quickly. Early adopters include industry heavyweights Zebra and Honeywell, among others. The fact that Zebra—long a provider of RFID sleds and legacy integrated solutions—is moving to Dragonwing underscores just how compelling the platform model has become. A structural realignment in enterprise hardware toward standardized, integrated designs could be in the cards.

With 6 TOPS of AI performance, the 6690 can also process data in near real time, enabling more intelligent, autonomous edge devices. Its over-the-air “feature packs” extend the product lifecycle and lower total cost of ownership, making hardware investments more durable. This could make any number of IoT-based features much simpler for industries to implement: think retail point-of-sale and product authentication, logistics asset tracking, healthcare inventory management, and even secure access control.

There are caveats of course. External modules can still provide additional range or ruggedness when necessary, and can be swapped in and out as needs change. And businesses who want to get in on RFID need more than just readers; they also need tags, antennas, and software integration. So barriers still exist. With independent performance benchmarks still MIA, the real test will come when devices hit the field. Though with the RFID market projected to expand to $47 billion by 2030, this entry comes at an opportune time.

If it lives up to its promise, the Dragonwing Q-6690 may mark a turning point: the shift from fragmented, add-on enterprise hardware to standardized, intelligent edge platforms, making RFID-powered IoT functionality available to an ever-wider market . It’s a bold bet, and one that could reshape the competitive landscape of industrial IoT for the decade ahead.

📖 Top Articles

The automotive industry faces a recall crisis that will only expand if it poorly manages the transition to software-defined vehicles (SDVs). Demonstrating the escalating scope of modern challenges, Ford alone had 94 recalls in 2025, more than any automaker in history for a single year. Over-the-air (OTA) updates give automotive manufacturers a more flexible and cost-efficient way to manage both recalls and ongoing software improvements.

Unscheduled downtime now costs the world’s top manufacturers up to $1.4 trillion annually, according to Siemens (2024). In sectors like automotive, the average cost per minute of halted production exceeds $22,000. For OEMs, keeping machines running isn’t just an operational concern; it’s a business-critical strategy. That’s why preventive maintenance (PM) is gaining traction as a proactive, data-backed method to protect assets, avoid unplanned breakdowns, and delight customers.

In 2025, IoT breach attempts surged by 84% compared to the previous year, highlighting how vulnerable connected systems have become as fleets grow in size and complexity. Manually managing security and compliance across thousands of distributed devices is no longer practical. Policy-as-code (PaC) offers a structured solution that helps apply DevSecOps practices to IoT environments. Security and compliance rules as code are stored in version control and tested like any software artifact. These policies can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that rules are enforced automatically before devices are deployed.

🔥 Rapid Fire

🎙️ The IoT For All Podcast

In this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Liliane Paradise and Alexander Raimondi, COO and CTO of Miromico respectively, join Ryan Chacon to discuss bringing LPWAN to industrial IoT. The conversation covers the shift towards wireless solutions in the industrial sector, the advantages of LPWAN, sustainable IoT solutions, energy harvesting, battery-free IoT devices, the challenges and strategies in building successful industrial IOT solutions, and the critical role of a strong partner ecosystem.

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