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

RFID Technology and Its Industrial Applications 9-5
At every stage during the manufacturing process, organizations can capture a lot of information, but
whether it is captured or not is a different question [IA07]. One reason why all this information may not
be captured would be insufficient human resources. But what if one wants to know
• When was the raw material picked for a batch number “XYZ”?
• Which personnel picked the raw material from the warehouse?
• What time was it picked?
• When did it go to the production line?
• Who authorized the production?
• How long did it take to finish the batch “XYZ”?
• Who authorized the packaging?
• What time did the packaging begin and finish?
If tracking is not implemented, answers to these questions would be difficult to get. However, if RFIDenabled
tracking solution is deployed, it would be quite easy to have access to this information, which can
prove to be very useful [ZHA06]. Thus, we see item tracking and tracing can provide organizations with that
information, which would otherwise not be accessible. How the organizations use this information to their
competitive advantage is up to them, but RFID can get them the required data that can be turned to their
advantage. We, now, discuss few item tracking and tracing applications deployed in different industries.
9.3.1 Baggage Tracking
The increasing growth in the number of air passengers and the resulting increase in checked baggage
are straining the world’s baggage-handling infrastructure, as evidenced by major increases in reports
of mishandled baggage across the globe [BAG08]. In Europe, the Association of European Airlines
reported that the incidence of mishandled bags has increased 14.6%—representing an additional
1.2 million bags reported missing on arrival. In the United States, baggage complaints have been on
the rise, since 2002 [BR07]. The U.S. Department of Transportation has reported an increase from 3.84
mishandled bags per 1000 enplaned passengers in 2002 to 6.73 in 2006—an effective 75% increase over
a 4 year period, representing an additional 2.3 million mishandled bags each year. The existing barcode
systems are used for baggage tracking, however, using barcode reading system up to 85%–90%
[RBC07,BR07,PM09] read rate is possible. Also, optical read rates are very dependent on line of sight;
thus, it is necessary to make sure that the bar code has to be seen by an automated device.
The problem can be solved by employing RFID technology, provides 99% read rate and is not constrained
by sight lines, for this purpose passenger and baggage reconciliation system has been designed
that employs nonprogrammable, passive transponder, RFID tags attached to checked baggage, which
enables continuity of reconciliation through any number of intra-air transfer points until the destination
of the air travel is reached. And if any separation between baggage and the passenger occurs, the
result would be an alarm notification to the airline. The passenger’s and baggage enrollment occur upon
payment for travel, although checked baggage enrollment can occur variously outside the airport building
(curbside), at the ticket counter, at the departure gate, on board the airplane, etc. The interface to the
airline carrier’s computer reservation system to obtain passenger and schedule data permits continuous
tracking of passengers and baggage for the reconciliation process. RFID has numerous advantages over
traditional barcode systems, and they are
• Reduction in tagging errors
• Decrease in the number of left behind/short-shipped baggage
• Drastic reduction in load discrepancies
• Timely arrival and departure of the vessel avoiding airport congestions
• Improved turn around time of interline transfers
• Avoid baggage damages and misplace of items from the bags
• Tags are self-adhesive and easy to install on totes and do not interfere with x-ray inspections
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC