Business

Applications
of
Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID)
Technologies
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
1
 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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 How RFID Works
Passive RFID Read/Write

Antenna

Tag

Reader
Computer Antenna IC (Integrated Circuit)

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 How RFID Works
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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Active RFID Tags

Passive tags
no battery source
read range = metres

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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 RFID Frequencies

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 RFID Tagging

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

9
 RFID Tagging / Auto-ID
Technologies
Transport Movement
Item Packaging Unit Load Container
Unit Vehicle

Barcode
Passive RFID
Gen 2
ISO 18000-6

Active RFID
ISO 18000-7

GPS

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 RFID Standards

1999-2003

2000-

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 RFID Standards

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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Prevalent RFID Protocols

UHF Tags 860 to 960 MHz HF Tags 13.56 MHz

EPC Class 0/0+ ISO 15693

EPC Class 1 ISO 14443 A
EPC Class 1 Gen 2 ISO 14443 B
ISO 18000-6 ISO 18000 P3
U-Code 1.19 EPC HF

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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 Nestl Smarties have the same UPC

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Classes of RFID / EPC Tags

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Opportunities for RFID

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 RFID Application Areas
Healthcare Retail
Anti-counterfeiting Out of stock reductions
Supply chain visibility Item level visibility
Asset Tracking Shipment reconciliation
Patient Safety Shrinkage

Manufacturing Logistics
Raw Material Tracking Supply Chain
Production line visibility Asset Tracking
Finished Goods Baggage Handling
Supply Chain Security

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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.

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Business Benefits of RFID

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.
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
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 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
Project brief: Savi provided a hosted environment and integrated AMS with Coles
retail stores.
Myers 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
22 of assets
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
 Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Business Problem: Shrinkage a rising
problem at Woolworths UK as in the entire
retail industry. More than half of all theft occurs
within the retailers 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.

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.
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
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 Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Improving Utilisation of Rail Cars In Africas
Largest Rail Network: 70,000 Railcars
3000 Locomotives
19,000 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 spoornets customer management systems.

Benefits: the system improved asset utilisation, customer service and on-time deliveries.
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
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 Case Studies in Action (Savi)

Savi has deployed the worlds largest military

RFID/AIDC Network
50+ Countries
2000 + Nodes depots, airports, seaports, rail
terminals, consolidation points
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
25 45,000+ Conveyances/Day
 Case Studies in Action (Zebra)

Exhibition registration (UHF R4Mplus)

Canon Expo 2005, La Dfense, Paris
15,483 registrations
Automatic visitor registration
Pre-issued badges
Targeted messages / advertising:
Narrow casting unique to each
visitor

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 Near Field Communications
(NFC)
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

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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 e-Parking
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
Michael Lang, NUI Galway
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 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)

Michael Lang, NUI Galway

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