Electronic Tagging

Electronic Tagging

Electronic tagging is a rapidly maturing technology that has tremendous potential for business applications across a wide variety of industries. Electronic tagging is part of the larger technology area of automatic identification, which includes both passive and active solutions. Automatic identification enables tags to be attached to persons or devices for automatic reading via machines. Passive tagging examples include optical, inductively coupled, capacitively coupled, and electrical techniques. The most well-known tagging solution is the optical bar code which is in widespread usage in the consumer and industrial products industry for identifying product types via universal product codes (UPC). Active tags differ from passive tags in that they contain a battery or other form of local power source. Examples include transponders and beacons that actively emit information.

One of the most interesting emerging technologies in the field of electronic tagging is the use of RFID tags, which use the inductive coupling or capacitive coupling passive techniques mentioned previously. These tags have been in use for a considerable amount of time for a variety of applications such as access control, antitheft, and asset tracking, but are now moving more squarely into the mainstream due to advances in the technology, increased standardization, and lowered prices.

RFID solutions are composed of two parts: the tag or transponder, and an electronic reader. Tags range in size and shape from that of a pencil lead or smaller, to the size of a credit card, based upon their usage requirements. The tag contains an electronic circuit that becomes operative when it is in proximity of an electronic reader. The tag then sends back a signal to the reader, providing its stored information. Tags can be read-only or read-write, allowing the information stored on the tag to be updated or replaced as dictated by business requirements related to the device or object being tracked. Tags can be read from a distance of one inch to about 100 feet or more, depending upon the power output and the radio frequency used by the reader. They can be passive or active. Active tags can be read from further distances, require less powerful readers, and can store more information, often up to one megabyte, which is just under the amount of storage on a typical floppy disk. The trade-off is that, being active, they are limited by their battery life and have increased size and cost. Battery life for active tags can still be up to 10 years.

One of the benefits of RFID solutions over other tagging solutions such as optical bar codes is that the former do not require a direct line of sight and they can function in harsh environments where bar code labels would not survive. RFID tags can actually be read through a variety of physical materials such as cardboard or plastic, in addition to being able to operate through challenging weather conditions such as rain, snow, and fog. One material they cannot penetrate, however, is metal, since the radio frequencies at which they operate are severely attenuated, or reduced in strength.

Typical RFID tags cost between $1 and $10 each, but as costs for production decline, tags will become more ubiquitous and will be attached to lower cost goods. The decreasing price point also means that they can migrate from tracking applications at the shipment or pallet level, to tracking applications at the individual package or product level. This provides greater visibility into the supply chain and can help in real-time order status and package tracking applications, in addition to helping optimize supply chain management functions such as inventory management and planning.

Some of the business applications to which tagging can be applied include access control, airline baggage identification, automotive security, document tracking, express parcel identification, livestock identification, logistics and supply chain activities, mobile commerce, product authentication, sports timing, and ticketing. Other more debated tracking applications include the tracking of parolees and also patients suffering from dementia or other diseases which may require monitoring for their own safety. While these human applications can have positive effects for the safety of the persons being tracked and the general population, they do raise privacy concerns related to these individuals being monitored 24 hours a day and having their location known at all times. The following examples show some of the current industry scenarios to which RFID tags are currently being applied:

         Mobile Commerce RFID tags can be applied to a variety of mobile commerce scenarios, including vending machines, retail, and customer loyalty programs. In the vending machine scenario, a customer can make a product selection from a vending machine and then pass a transponder tag past a reader embedded in the machine. The machine is then able to read the unique identification code from the tag and charge the customer's credit card account after authorizing the purchase via a host server connected to the vending machine. After the customer has been authorized to make a purchase, the vending machine is then able to dispense the selected product. An example of this scenario in action was the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Texas Instruments partnered with Cola-Cola and a company called Stitch Networks to offer wireless, cashless access to vending machines at the games for 5,500 athletes, coaches, and officials.

         Retail In the retail space, McDonald's allows customers to use their ExxonMobil Speedpass tags for purchases either at the drive-through or within the restaurant. The Speedpass tags are simply pointed at the tag readers at the restaurant after the customer has made his or her selection and the system automatically bills the customer's credit card on file as part of his or her Speedpass profile. The benefits for the business are that transactions can be made faster, risks due to theft or incorrect payment are lowered, and customer loyalty is increased due to the convenience of the system. The SpeedPass technology from Texas Instruments was originally rolled out by Mobil Oil Corporation in 1997. It is in use at more than 3,800 ExxonMobil service stations in the United States and allows customers to pay for their gas purchases and convenience store items using their tags. The program has nearly four million users and is one of the largest RFID applications in current use. From a customer loyalty perspective, RFID tags can serve as a means to quickly identify customers as they walk into hotels, restaurants, and retail stores and allow the business to pull up their preferences and accommodate them based upon their individual likes and dislikes.

         Access Control Tags can be used for access control into buildings, parking garages, and vehicles. FedEx is testing an RFID system in 200 vehicles in order to help its couriers become more productive. By using a keyless entry and ignition system for their vehicles, couriers do not have to spend time looking for keys or in using them to lock and unlock various doors to the vehicle. They are able to use a set of RFID transponders embedded into a velcro wristband, which operates when it comes within six inches of the tag readers mounted around the doors of the vehicle. The productivity gained from such as system can easily add up due to the number of deliveries made per courier and the number of couriers working for FedEx. The company operates a fleet of more than 42,500 vehicles worldwide.

         Airline Baggage Identification Tags can be used as part of smart labels attached to passenger luggage within the airline industry in order to provide a passenger-to-baggage verification and reconciliation solution. This type of system has received increased attention in light of the requirements of the new Aviation Transportation and Security Act which requires positive passenger bag match. The solution can benefit the airline industry by speeding the scanning process for passenger luggage. It can be done in a totally automated manner as opposed to the former bar code reading process, which required manual intervention if bags could not be read by the optical readers. British Airways first completed field trials on baggage identification back in 1999 at Heathrow Airport on behalf of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

         Logistics and Supply Chain The supply chain is one of the biggest areas for productivity improvements through the application of electronic tagging. It can help facilitate real-time information management regarding the identification and location of products in all phases of the supply chain, from raw materials to manufacturing and distribution, to retail and consumers, and finally to disposal or recycling. This can help to optimize supply chain processes by reducing inventory buildups and ensuring that store shelves are full. The real-time nature of this information can help to ensure that the forces of supply and demand across the supply chain are in constant alignment. An example is the smart pallet system in use by Unilever. The company is using TI RFID technology to manage pallet movements in their warehouse as they are loaded into various trailers. The system is able to record which pallets enter which trucks, and to verify the individual pallets' weights against the measured total weight of the truckload.

In the future, as tags become cheaper and smaller, the realm of possibilities for their application is staggering. There has recently been talk of embedding RFID tags into the fibers of Euro bank notes produced by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. This type of application would help to prevent counterfeiting and would also fuel the mass market for RFID technology. As the Euro becomes the most widespread currency in the world, the issue of counterfeiting becomes more significant. Another benefit of placing these tags into bank notes is that it enables notes to be tracked as they move throughout the world and through a variety of hands. As bank notes are detected by a reader, their context at that moment in terms of time, location, and type of transaction activity can be added to their history in an online database. Illegal transactions would therefore be able to be tracked back to the original source of the money. One of the technical challenges of placing RFID tags into such bank notes is that they will need to be small enough and robust enough to withstand the environment and physical stress that the notes are subject to in normal usage. The price point for these tags will also need to decrease from 20 cents in order for it to be cost effective to embed them in smaller units of currency in addition to the larger 200 Euro and 500 Euro bills.

One of the goals of the Auto-ID Center at M.I.T. is to help find a mass market for the tags, which will bring their price point closer to five cents. At that price point, they become competitive for a broad number of applications and will even challenge the universal product code on printed bar code labels as the de facto standard for identifying objects. The price point for bar code labels is currently one or two cents per label.

From a size perspective, RFID chips are already in the 0.3 millimeter range in terms of height and width and are in the 60-micron range in terms of thickness. Hitachi Europe is one of the manufacturers of such chips. Additional manufacturers of RFID chips include Texas Instruments' TI*RFID division, Phillips Semiconductors, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and Alien Technology.

In addition to the applications mentioned before, RFID tags are already finding themselves applied for solutions in the realm of science fiction. The U.S. Army has been using the tags to detect land mines by tagging bees. Since the bees are attracted to various chemical components in explosives, their movements can be traced in order to determine the proximity of land mines and other unexploded ammunition.

 



Business Innovation and Disruptive Technology. Harnessing the Power of Breakthrough Technology. for Competitive Advantage
Business Innovation and Disruptive Technology: Harnessing the Power of Breakthrough Technology ...for Competitive Advantage
ISBN: 0130473979
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 81

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