RFID: 4 Steps To Do It Right

Pick the technology.
Solution providers and customers are too used to thinking of RFID as purely an asset management solution. But RFID is much more than a glorified bar-code system or a matter of entering data in the database. Whether the customer needs passive or active RFID is something the solution provider can determine during the design phase, when specifications and business needs are discussed.

Sometimes, the customer just needs to show that packages arrived and left the warehouse. For that scenario, passive RFID, the most common type of the technology, is just fine. Passive RFID tags are dropping in price (and will probably drop below a penny someday) and are small—they can even be a sticker—since there is no power supply or transmitter. The tags can be read by proximity readers from about 18 to 24 inches away. Symbol Technologies (now a part of Motorola) is the leading vendor of passive RFID solutions.

However, sometimes the customer wants to know what happened after the courier left the warehouse. This is where active RFID steps in. For suppliers of high-end goods, more information is necessary. Active RFID tags emit a signal, and the readers can measure the strength of the signal being emitted. Using a GPS-enabled component, the reader can then translate that into a fixed location.

Morris said one of his clients, a construction company, had a problem with air-conditioning units being stolen from its build sites. The units were equipped with RFID tags and were tracked to a storage facility. If the units had passive RFID tags, then the company would have been out of luck regarding a warrant, because the proximity readers could just indicate that there were units in the facility, but could not pinpoint the exact locker they were in. Since the company had active RFID tags on the units, the signal readers were able to measure the strength to identify the exact locker within the facility. Active RFID provides location-based security.

An active RFID tag is slightly larger—a circuit board that's roughly the size of a postage stamp, with its own battery, power and transmitter—and a bit more expensive, at about $15 a tag. Unlike passive tags, active tags can be reused, which helps justify the initial expense. These active tags provide a wealth of information, such as current status and a report on the object's condition. As part of a GPS-RFID solution, the tags can provide information about its exact location. Morris calls it a technological game of Marco Polo.

For the microscope manufacturer, active RFID was more helpful because it pinpoints which of the microscopes in a box with hundreds of identical boxes inside a warehouse is the one that needs to be sent to a prospective customer. Sales engineers know the university biology department has the microscope and they can find which biology laboratory on campus has the unit.

BrickHouse Security partners with London-based Loc8tor for its active RFID tags and readers. Loc8tor's tags transmit its location back to the readers continuously, letting the reader display its location in realtime. It can also be used to define a certain area the tag should stay within and send alerts whenever it is taken out of that zone. For the microscope manufacturer, this second function is more helpful. The RFID tag is configured to stay within the confines of a hospital. If the equipment is ever removed from the hospital for any reason, an alert will be triggered. The handheld readers can pick up signals from the tags from as far as 600 feet away. The readers can also track multiple tags at once.

BrickHouse Security also partners with Lightning GPS for GPS RFID solutions. Lightning GPS combines Google technology with GPS and wireless data to create an easy-to-use interface for managing mobile resources. The solution integrates realtime tracking into third-party applications using the company's XML-based API. Like Loc8tor, Lightning GPS also supplies RFID tags and handheld scanners among other types of solutions.

The company hosts the database that holds all the information collected. Users see a simplified virtual database interface listing assets, serial numbers, location and tag identifiers. Because it's a Web-based system, the customer has access to the information at all times. The system is also secure. The online manager lets the dispatcher see exactly what is happening with all the tagged items. The database can also be programmed with business rules that trigger specific actions when the condition is met.

Next: Step 4: Deploy and test.