wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

8-14 Industrial Communication Systems
idly in stock or traveling. For the former case, the network of readers in a warehouse could be used to
locate the misplaced item through its RFID tag. For a cargo on its way, a global trace-and-track could
be conducted via GPRS (general public radio service) provided by most terrestrial mobile phone networks
because the position of a truck could be extracted from the GPS (global positioning system) map.
Similarly, the GPS reading of a vessel could be sent back through Inmarsat, a satellite communications
system operated by the International Mobile Satellite Organization. Other than the GPS system, with or
without a local map on every truck, a real time global track-and-trace could be conducted through the
existing communications network with no auxiliary equipment.
Simply put, the supplementary capital investment needed for deploying the RFID in the supply chain
management is relatively small compared with the total cost spent in equipping every product with an
RFID tag. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile investment because the tangible gains will surpass the cost
of a billion tags, not to mention the intangible ones. Hence, the industry of logistics management has
reached a consensus in equipping every product with a RFID tag of a unique ID number when the price
of a tag is right. Baring unforeseeable political and economical obstacles, this fantasy will become a
reality in the near future.
8.19 International Standard
Unlike the bar code or the HF RFID, there is no common platform for a UHF RFID tag to roam seamlessly
across a man-made political boundary. The outstanding issues to be solved are, however, more
political than technical.
In the past, the national standard where a technology was invented could easily be steamrollered as
the de facto international standard as illustrated in bar code development. However, in the fast changing
world of electronics, changes are not just found in technologies, they are also observed in places
where the technologies were first developed. As a result, revolutionary changes are noted on the map of
technology three decades after promulgation of the universal product codes (UPC). Today, there are at
least three international standards for consumer electronics as exemplified by CDMA 2000, W-CDMA,
and TD-SCDMA in the third generation mobile phone. Analogous confusions are also seen in highdefinition
televisions.
The RFID differs from the above examples. After all, the RFID tag is not a product, but an electronic
component in every electronic or nonelectronic product. In competing with the bar code,
the RFID tag must be made cost effectively. Ironically, the production of this tiny and inexpensive
tag involves a super clean ambiance and an extremely stable environment for the growth of a large
silicon–germanium ingot, a state-of-the-art foundry for the fabrication of a microelectronic disk,
and sophisticated equipment for packaging a die into a tag. Furthermore, an effective engineering
management team and cheap skilled labor are required for embedding a tag into every product for
shipment. Very likely, these processes are carried out in different countries. As a result, no nation
could claim a monopolistic control of all RFID technologies. Finally, but not the least, as the RFID
has been destined to play a key role in the vertically integrated industry of supply chain management
comprising raw material suppliers, component makers, product manufacturers, tariff controllers,
shipping companies, warehouses, distributors, and retailers in different countries, an international
standard is not desirable, but mandatory.
8.20 Promiscuity
Even though printing a bar code on paper is costless, the overall turnover of the related markets on
hardware, software, computer network, and bar code management is more than a billion US dollars.
Similarly, the expenditure consumed in the fabrication of RFID tags, the production of RFID equipment,
the development of specific software, and the management of the relevant network represents only
part of the total revenue generated by the RFID. Together with industries, due to the predictable and
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC