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

RFID Technology and Its Industrial Applications 9-9
• The embedded electronic information for each badge can be overwritten repeatedly.
• RFID badges can be read from much further distances than other traditional technologies.
• Multiple RFID badges can be read all at the same time.
• The increased reading distance thus enables other tracking technologies like surveillance cameras
to be activated in conjunction with an employee being in their vicinity.
• Information about employee access, attendance, and duties performed can be easily and efficiently
monitored and stored in a database.
• Access information can also be tied to a Windows Active Directory or Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP) for user authentication and, therefore, can be synchronized to an authorized
access scheme.
• Entry and exit doors are operated reliably by RFID reader/tag network without showing or making
line of sight position of the card in front of reader.
9.4.1 Family Access to Babies in Neonatal Care
In intensive care units (ICUs), the patient’s relatives find difficulty in having access to the patients, e.g.,
take the case of a newborn needing neonatal care; family members are almost as anxious as the new
mother, to greet and bond with the new family member. Due to restricted access in the ICU, this would
be very difficult for them to see the condition of the newborn. To address this problem RFID is used. The
newborn is assigned a unique ID, embedded in its RFID tag, which correlates to its mother’s ID. RFID
solves this problem by making available to families the ability to view on a computer monitor outside
of the ICU the key data about the baby, a photograph, height, weight, skin color, and temperature after
keying in, for example, the mother’s family name and first name [HEA09].
9.4.2 Vehicle Identification
In many major cities of the world like New York in the United States, Sydney in Australia, and London
in the United Kingdom, car parking is a big issue nowadays. This is because of the growing number
of traffic and the misuse of the existing parking lot resources [VI07]. Existing parking lot operators,
whether public or private, face a number of challenges such as:
• Accurately identify and authorize vehicle movement.
• Collect and record vehicle movement data.
• Analyze traffic patterns to maximize facility utilization.
• Increase security within the parking facility.
• Manage staffing for peak traffic periods.
• Relieve congestion.
• Improve customer service.
To meet the challenges of the fully automated parking lot, RFID technology gives operators the ability
to enhance parking control management systems in the following ways [APS06]:
• The use of RFID system makes it easier to automate the “in and out” privileges of parking
subscribers.
• Existing private parking policies can be seamlessly integrated with public parking areas without
increased manpower. This allows automated entry and exit; automated payment and shorter
queues equate to satisfied customers.
• Using RFID network security can be improved.
• Occupancy rates and dwell times can be instantly calculated.
• RFID-based intelligent parking lot system helps in studying the existing resource occupancy for
future expansion.
• Above all, these benefits will drive higher revenues.
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC