Business Applications of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) Technologies

1 © Michael Lang, NUI Galway

Business Applications

of Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID) Technologies


RFID Basics

• RFID is a rapidly emerging technology – global market of USD $4 billion forecasted by 2007 (Frost & Sullivan)

• RFID is a means of automatic identification and data capture– Automatic identification is used to identify items, capture information and get

the data into a computer

• RFID technology can be used to identify …– objects (supply chain management, anti-counterfeiting etc.)

– people (access management, mass transit ticketing, passports etc.)

• Allows objects to communicate information about themselves automatically with no human intervention

– increase efficiency

– reduce data entry errors

– free up staff to do other value added functions


RFID Basics

Advantages of RFID versus Barcode

• No requirement for line-of-sight

• Dynamic information carrier (read/write)

• High memory capacity if needed

• Anti-collision (many tags can be read at the same time)

• Robust and reliable

• Performs in rugged, harsh environment

• Cheaper in long term

• No human intervention

• Reader virtually maintenance free


How RFID Works

Reader

Antenna

Tag

Computer IC (Integrated Circuit)Antenna

Passive RFID Read/Write


• RFID tag gets into reading device's electromagnetic field

• tag receives the signal which energises the passive tag

• tag transmits the data stored in the IC in return

• reader passes the information to the host system

• host system can be connected into the Internet or company's ERP system

• reader can also pass information to the tag which can be re-written or deactivated

How RFID Works


“Passive” RFID Tags

• No internal power source

• IC (integrated circuit) - provides the memory and stores data

• Antenna – harvests power & communicates with the reader

• Inlay/inlet – IC and antenna assembled together for insertion

• RFID tag – an inlet converted in a way that it can be applied to an object


“Active” RFID Tags

• Passive tags– no battery source – read range = metres

• Active tags– has a battery source– read range = hundreds of metres


RFID Frequencies


RFID Tagging


Container MovementVehicle

Unit LoadTransport Unit

PackagingItem

Barcode

GPS

Passive RFID

Gen 2 ISO 18000-6

ISO 18000-7

Active RFID

RFID Tagging / Auto-ID Technologies


RFID Standards

1999-2003

2000-


EPC Global• A joint venture between EAN International in Europe and the

Uniform Code Council (UCC) in USA• Carries forth the work completed by the Auto-ID Center• EPCglobal is leading the development of industry-driven

standards for the Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

– numbering scheme– RFID protocols– database access and formatting

• A neutral, consensus-based, non-profit standards organization– www.epcglobalinc.org– www.ean-ucc.org

RFID Standards


Prevalent RFID Protocols

UHF Tags – 860 to 960 MHz HF Tags – 13.56 MHz

EPC Class 0/0+EPC Class 1EPC Class 1 Gen 2ISO 18000-6U-Code 1.19

ISO 15693ISO 14443 AISO 14443 BISO 18000 P3EPC HF


RFID / EPC Codes

EPC = Electronic Product Code• next generation barcode• coding scheme to electronically identify consumer goods • vision: enable the automated, unique identification of tagged objects• developed by EPCglobal (EAN, UCC)• EPC consists of UPC + serial number

UPC = Universal Product Code• a unique code for every group of objects• enables e.g. supermarkets to identify every product• two bags of Nestlé Smarties have the same UPC


Classes of RFID / EPC Tags


Opportunities for RFID


RFID Application Areas

• Supply chain management• Mass transit (e.g. US Department of Defence)• Postal and courier services• Food industry• Library systems• Healthcare, pharmaceutical industry• Access management• Anti-counterfeiting• Toll collection• Airline baggage handling• Animal identification• Document tracking


Manufacturing Logistics

• Anti-counterfeiting

• Supply chain visibility

• Asset Tracking

• Patient Safety

• Raw Material Tracking

• Production line visibility

• Finished Goods

• Supply Chain

• Supply Chain

• Asset Tracking

• Baggage Handling

• Security

• Out of stock reductions

• Item level visibility

• Shipment reconciliation

• Shrinkage

RFID Application Areas

Healthcare Retail


Asset Visibility Saves Money !

Health Care: hospitals misplace or lose 10-20% of their valuable medical equipment annually, wasting staff and patient time and incurring costly replacement charges.

Yard Management: shipping and cross-docking yards spend several hours each day manually locating trailers and containers for delivery, resulting in slow delivery times and high staff and fuel costs.

Manufacturing: aerospace, semiconductor and other facilities misplace mobile toolkits, machinery, parts and WIP inventory, at a cost of as much as USD $1 million per incident.


• Wal*Mart

– 16% reduction in out of stock. 62% reduction in replenishment times.

• Gillette

– 25% reduction in operational costs by tagging cases at point of production.

• AstraZeneca

– Error prevention at item level on over 30m RFID enabled syringes of Diprivan.

• US DoD

– Supply chain inventory cut from $117m to $70m. Deliveries cut from 28 to 16 days.

Business Benefits of RFID


Case Studies in Action (Savi)Improving Asset Utilisation in the Extended

Retail Supply Chain

Problem: Lack of visibility to retail supply chain assets as they moved through the supply chain caused surplus asset inventory, created unnecessary capital investment, increased operating costs and impacted customer service.

Solution: Smartchain Asset Management System (AMS) and Smartchain® Enterprise Platform provides visibility to assets including roll cages, plastic crates, metal dollies and beverage trays used to move perishables between suppliers, distribution centers and retail stores. Project brief: Savi provided a “hosted environment” and integrated AMS with Coles

Myer’s own inventory system, to be followed by full rollout covering 1,400 locations. Follow-on phase will include Savi asset optimization application.

Benefits: Full asset lifecycle management, improved asset utilization, reduced manual labor intensive tracking systems. Future improvements include charging suppliers for use of assets


• Business Problem: Shrinkage a rising problem at Woolworths UK as in the entire retail industry. More than half of all theft occurs within the retailer’s own supply chain, in and between supply chain checkpoint, Distribution Centers and retail outlet stockrooms.

• Solution: Combination of bar codes on products, active RFID tags on dollies and roll cages, GPS tracking delivery trucks, readers at key checkpoints, all tied into the Savi SmartChain software platform.

Case Studies in Action (Savi)

• Project Brief: Compare number and types of products leaving a major Distribution Center with the numbers and types delivered to retail outlets and onto store shelves. Isolate where the shrinkage occurs to zero in on problem areas.

• Results: Narrowed down where shrinkage occurred as well as problems in labor processes and accounting procedures. Visibility and accountability are keys to successfully reducing losses.



Improving Utilisation of Rail Cars In Africa’s Largest Rail Network: 70,000 Railcars

3000 Locomotives19,000 Miles of track

Business Problem: Lack of visibility into location of rail cars caused poor customer service levels, surplus rail car inventory resulting in unnecessary capital investment

Solution: Smartchain Asset Management System (AMS) and Smartchain Enterprise Platform provided web enabled visibility to rail cars. Trackside chokepoint implementations included Smartchain site manager, echopoint RFID signposts and readers integrated with weigh bridges and wheel counters. Savi asset tag 654 was used to tag rail cars and locomotives. Project brief: pilot phase for specific track sections moving to roll-out phase including integration with spoornet’s customer management systems.

Benefits: the system improved asset utilisation, customer service and on-time deliveries.


• Savi has deployed the world’s largest military RFID/AIDC Network

• 50+ Countries

• 2000 + Nodes – depots, airports, seaports, rail terminals, consolidation points

• 45,000+ Conveyances/Day



• Exhibition registration (UHF – R4Mplus)

– Canon Expo 2005, La Défense, Paris

• 15,483 registrations

– Automatic visitor registration

• Pre-issued badges

• Targeted messages / advertising: “Narrow casting” unique to each visitor

Case Studies in Action (Zebra)


• Case and Pallet tracking (UHF – R110 PAX4)

– Pharmaceutical company

• Global Manufacturing Facility

• Everything manufactured is shipped to the USA

– EPC Class 1, tuned for 915 MHz

• UHF tag applied to box and pallet

– Each box worth over € 7,000

– Separate system encodes and applies HF tag to each bottle, in the box

Case Studies in Action (Zebra)


• Payment and Ticketing

– conduct local transactions with your mobile phone, simply by touching a point of sales device or ticket gate

• Field Force Solutions

– extend the mobility of field personnel by integrating RFID technology into a mobile phone

• Maintenance & Repair Utilities

• Security & Guarding Healthcare

• Pharmaceuticals Government

Near Field Communications (NFC)


• Registration

– Register and set-up an account

– Display special RFID sticker

• Starting a parking session

– Send SMS message to service number: P and zone code

• Ending a parking session

– Send SMS message to service number: S

• Live application being used in

– Tallinn, Estonia http://www.e-park.ee/index.php

– Antwerp, Belgium https://www.parknow.be

e-Parking


Acknowledgements

• A number of slides in this presentation are based on publicly available materials originally created by others, acknowledged as follows:

– Radio Frequency IDentification Basics by Randy Stigall, UPM Rafsec (www.rafsec.com)

– RFID in Action by Richard Powlesland, Zebra (www.zebra.com)

– Enterprise Visibility Solutions by AeroScout (www.aeroscout.com)

– Savi Technology by Iain Bell (www.savi.com)

– RFID in Action - Live & Interactive by connectRFID (www.connectrfid.ie)

Business Applications of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) Technologies

Business

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