Transportation and Logistics Industry

Posted by Winnie Melda on March 6th, 2019

Introduction 

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to the technology that facilitates storage of a large amount of data and information in components such as tags, responders, or chips. The stored information can be read from a distance through special readers without necessarily establishing a line of sight (Shakiba, Zavvari, Aleebrahim, & Singh, 2016). RFID tags are usually smaller in size thus occupying negligible space during the transportation process. The main purpose of implementing RFID in transport industry is to facilitate monitoring, surveillance, and tracking of goods as well as the means of transport.  RFID has facilitated reduction of issues involving theft, loss of items accurate determining of the amount of fuel consumption-n and payment of tolls on roads. Traffic police also implement RFID technology in controlling traffic as well as facilitating effective communication on roads through the use of radars. In logistics, RFID technology is applied in facilitating effective and efficient operations in supply chain management. In the supply chain, RFID technology is applied in Fleet management, inventory control, distribution, managing and controlling warehouse operations well as monitoring tracks on transit. The paper provides acceptable current standards, components making up RFID technology, and frequencies that facilitate transmission of data and information in RFID technology.

RFID Standards used in Transportation and Logistics Industry

The main RFID standards applied in most industries in the world can be classified into two groups namely the Electronic Product Code (EPC) technology standard and ISO 18000 standard. EPC global manages and controls electronic part of the RFID components. EPC Global is an international organization funded by industries that focus on implementing international RFID standards for uniform operations in supply transport and logistics industries. EPC is designed for identifying the manufacturer, object class and a serial number of the item. EPC Global standard classifies RFID tags into five categories namely zero, first, second, third, and fourth class. Category zero is the read-only passive tag that holds a maximum of 64 bits (Trina, 2010). First class tags are the written once but can be read severally. It is designed to hold a minimum of 96 bits. The second class passive tag can be read as well as be written as many times as possible requiring a minimum of 96 bits. Class three tags are characterized by the presence of battery powered semi-active tags. The presence of a battery enhances that tags to cover a wide range of signals in a wider geographical area. Fourth class refers to read and write transmitters that have active tags. EPC Global standard is mainly adopted in commercial operations (Trina, 2010).

International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed many RFID standards for defining automatic identification as well as items control and management. The standard is referred to as ISO 18000 series. It covers air interface protocol for all systems used in tracking goods and components in transport and logistics (Bob, 2005). The seven ISO 18000 standards include

1. 18000–1: defines general parameters for air interfaces communication for globally accepted frequencies between RFID readers and tags
2. 18000–2: defines air interface standards that cover frequency band with less than 135 KHz or low frequency (Bob, 2005).
3. 18000–3:  defines standards that cover is for a frequency band of 13.56 MHz or high frequency (Bob, 2005).
4. 18000–4: defines a standard that covers a frequency band of 2.45 GHz also called microwave frequency (Bob, 2005).
5. 18000–5: defines a standard that covers a frequency band of 5.8 GHz (Bob, 2005).
6. 18000–6: defines a standard that covers a frequency band of 860 MHz to 930 MHz also called ultra high frequency (Bob, 2005).
7. 18000–7: defines a standard that covers a frequency band of 433.92 MHz also called ultra high frequency (Bob, 2005).

Components of RFID Technology used in Transportation and Logistics Industry

RFID technology is usually composed of four main namely the tag or transponder, the reader, the RFID software, and communication network. The RFID tag is composed of a computer chip, antennae component for wireless communication (Dimitriou, Bletsas, & Sahalos, 2011). Readers exchange data and information through transmission of signals. RFID software controls and manages to capture of data and information, synchronization and dissemination of data to and from tags to central computers such as databases.

Frequencies

The four main types of frequencies that tags use to transmit data and information to the reader include low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), ultra high frequency (UHF) and microwave (Trina, 2010). Low frequency is defined less than 134 KHz. High frequency is defined by higher than 135 KHz but lower than the lower ends of MHz. Ultra higher frequency is defined by frequencies above lower ends of megahertz to the higher ends of megahertz. A microwave frequency covers frequencies above one Gigahertz. RFID provides three types of coupling, which includes a close coupling for reading a distance of less than one centimeter away. The remote coupling system is capable of reading a distance more than one centimeter but less than one meter. A long-range system reads a distance of one meter (Trina, 2010).

References

  Bob V. (2005). RFID Journal.  A Summary of RFID Standards. Retrieved from: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/pdf?1335

Dimitriou, A. G., Bletsas, A., & Sahalos, J. N. (2011). Room-Coverage Improvements in UHF RFID with Commodity Hardware [Wireless Corner]. Ieee Antennas and Propagation Magazine, 53, 1, 175-194.

Shakiba, M., Zavvari, A., Aleebrahim, N., & Singh, M. J. (2016). Evaluating the academic trend of RFID technology based on SCI and SSCI publications from 2001 to 2014. Scientometrics : an International Journal for All Quantitative Aspects of the Science of Science, Communication in Science and Science Policy, 109, 1, 591-614.

Trina A. N. (2010). RFID Technology and Its Impact on the Supply Chain, Eastern Michigan University

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in research paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order from Top American Writing Services.