AirGATE Technologies Announces RFID 'Smart Buckle' for Automotive Child Safety Seats
Radio Frequency Identification Application Warns Drivers If a Child's Safety Seat Buckle is Not Engaged or if an Infant is Left Unattended in a Parked Vehicle
DALLAS, July 20 -- The X-Change Corporation's (BULLETIN BOARD: XCHC) wholly owned subsidiary AirGATE Technologies has initiated development of an RFID prototype application for use with automotive child safety seats.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more children are killed as passengers in car crashes than from any other type of injury. The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), reports that nearly 12% of children who weigh less than 60 pounds are riding completely unrestrained in their safety seats.
"We believe that the AirGATE 'Smart Buckle' addresses two serious situations surrounding child safety and the use of child car seats: seat buckles not engaged and children who are mistakenly left unattended in vehicles," said Michael Sheriff, CEO of AirGATE Technologies.
"Small children, especially infants, have a tendency to doze off while traveling in an automobile. With rear-facing child safety seats in common use, a sleeping infant in the back seat of a larger vehicle such as an SUV or a van can be overlooked. There have been a growing number of instances where sleeping infants and small children have been accidentally forgotten and left in parked cars, with tragic results."
In a recent study, the NHTSA found that the use of child restraints in has increased from 50.6% percent to 71.5% for children weighing 60 pounds or less since the mid-1990s.
"With the use of child restraints on the rise, our goal is to engineer the AirGATE 'Smart Buckle' to be very simple for any parent to install, and to make it very reasonably priced. We hope that eventually the 'Smart Buckle' RFID-enabled child safety system will become a standard feature installed by the manufacturers of child safety seats."
The AirGATE 'Smart Buckle' will employ RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to transmit a low-powered radio signal that will trigger an audible warning to the driver when it detects that a child is riding in a safety seat whose straps are not buckled, or if the safety seat buckle is not disengaged after the car is parked and the ignition is turned off.
AirGATE expects to have a working prototype of its RFID 'Smart Buckle' system within in 90 days, and it has begun the process of applying for patent protection.
About AirGATE Technologies
AirGATE Technologies is a development stage company specializing in wireless data management technologies. The company designs and develops applications utilized in RFID deployments. AirGATE will deliver RFID solutions in selected vertical markets built around a data management and integration strategy based on its Matrix Analytic Engine. This strategy is designed to ensure rapid market penetration and maximum return on investment. AirGATE Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of the X-Change Corporation. Please visit www.AirGATEtech.com for more information.
About the X-Change Corporation
The X-Change Corporation is a company that was organized to seek merger or acquisition candidates. The Company intends to acquire interests in emerging technology opportunities, such as RFID, that the Company believes will generate significant revenues and return a profit to shareholders. Please visit www.x-changecorp.com for further information.
