With increasing business benefits , decreasing costs and more and more
applications and solutions becoming available, Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) is steadily finding acceptance and adoption across verticals. Retail
ports, industries, warehouses , parking lots, toll roads, travel/car fleet
units, banks, airports, judiciary and government are a few of the significant
adopters of this technology. While priorities vary for industries, the bottom
line expectations essentially stay the same. Most companies are aggressively
adopting RFID technology for managing security, access control, logistics as
well as real time information access and update with tags, sensors, readers and
state-of-the-art business application systems.
RFID uses radio frequency
waves to transfer data between a reader/scanner and a movable item to identify,
track or locate it. RFID does not require physical sight or contact between the
reader and the tagged item, making it more efficient than traditional bar codes.
However, it is not merely a better substitute for bar codes, RFID as a
technology has varied applications across industries and business functions.
In the retail industry RFID is primarily used in inventory control. In a
retail outlet all stocked items contain an inexpensive read-only tag that stores
the product code and its description, including the manufacturer , brand, batch
number, expiry date and price. The shelves, exit gates and warehouses are fitted
with a small antenna that senses the RFID tags and reads the information to
update the inventory system on a real-time basis. The benefits of such a system
are the provisions for total asset visibility, full inventory history with
tracking and reduced inventory-stocking levels that facilitate ‘just-in-time’
deliveries. It also ensures better process control for products in the facility,
reduced shelf space and lead-time that shortens across docking time,
higher-level security, fewer errors and better visibility of goods material.
In warehouses and container depots, pallets and containers are tagged
with read-write RFID chips that contain details of origin, destination and other
material details. Entry and exit gates, escape routes, vehicles and cranes are
fitted with an antenna that senses the RFID tags and records and updates the
system to check for any deviation in the schedule. With precise tracking of the
location of pallets and containers within the warehouse, it is easy to pinpoint
any unscheduled movements. The system also helps reduce costs and time for
check-in and check-out considerably.
RFID is also finding its place in
access control systems of parking lots and toll roads. Vehicles are provided
with RFID cards that include their access status while all entry and exit gates
are equipped with lowmedium power antennas to sense and direct vehicles
according to their ‘status’ . Parking lots, equipped with RFID, benefit from
faster, low-congestion , automated systems, with enhanced security, strict
implementation of access rights, easy and fast tracking of vehicles. Through
efficient management of automated status update it helps in better revenue
generation in paid parking lots and toll roads.
In car manufacturing
facilities RFID technology is effectively used to track the full inventory
history of cars. Car carriers are attached with RFID tags that contain the
details of the cars they carry. The entry and exit gates are equipped with
antennas that enable automatic control and monitoring of the car inventory.
RFID also finds its use in banks, judiciary and government to track
important document files. Files are provided with a RFID tag that contains
details like of document type, case number and confidentiality level. In
organisations, where confidentiality of documents is critical, RFID can be used
to track, report, identify, manage and move such documents easily and
effectively. The RFID tracking systems software also allows RFID document tags
to be linked with the staff access control badge, thus allowing control over
movement of critical documents into, out of, and within the facility.
Tracking movement of baggage, staff and passenger control — a vital
function at airports — can be managed effectively if the baggage tags, staff
badges, passenger boarding passes and visitor tickets are RFID enabled. At all
relevant entry / exit points, sensors can be placed to sense their movement. It
helps airport authorities provide improved security, reduce error in baggage
handling and management and allow for area specific access to staff and
passengers to avoid any security lapses.
RFID tags are also being
increasingly used for hands free access control, where employee and visitor
badges are RFID activated containing employee and visitor details and entry /
exit points are RFID sensor-enabled . Such arrangements provide access control
solutions that are truly hands-free and agile. Surveillance cameras and video
recording equipment can be triggered when certain user-specified RFID incidents
occur. The RFID tracker thus allows RFID asset tags to be linked with the
owner’s access control badge that helps control movement of critical and
high-value items into, out of, and within facility. RFID technology is
effectively used in tracking animals in zoos, abattoirs, dairies and veterinary
hospitals. It is also becoming popular for parcel tracking and management in
courier/express industries, warehouses, godown and other similar functions where
access is either required to be controlled or logistics are to be managed.
The success of RFID technology depends largely on its integration with
existing business applications and enterprise solutions. It is critical that the
user interfaces for RFID solution integrates seamlessly with the existing
business applications and enterprise solutions thus creating least user
dissonance as well as inter-operability of data and systems for two different
RFID sources, for example cross-checking employee-asset rights and
confidentiality parameters. Deployment of such systems will also require careful
estimation followed by balancing of multiple database access and transaction
loads.
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