In-flight Food Trolley Tracking Solution (Part 1)

In-flight food trolley tracking solution using RFID technology generate numerous benefits for the airline operator in term of providing efficiency of movement of trolleys as well as mantenance and have a comprehensive statistic of the trolleys usage database.

In this Part 1 posting, I articulate the possible in-flight food trolly tracking locations at the airbase facility area:

• Trace the trolley when packers done with the packing work
• Trace the trolley when it leave the catering facility area
• Trace the trolley when it transfer to the aircraft
• Trace the trolley when it perform uploading and downloading
• Trace the trolley when it send for maintenance or cleaning
• Identification of non-movement or surplus trolleys

RFID Glossary for Beginner

If you are new to RFID technology, this link provides a comprehensive RFID technical jargon:

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/glossary/

NECSAP Launches RFID Customer Cards

The Singapore-based arm of Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp. has introduced an RFID-enabled card to improve service for buyers of NEC mobile phones.

The credit card-sized NECare Customer Card has a 13.56 MHz passive RFID tag from Infineon Technologies and adheres to the ISO 15693 standard. The tag's 2 kilobits of memory contain a unique ID number, nothing more, while more detailed information on each registered customer—such as customer name and address, purchase history, warranty program and service records—will be stored in NECSAP's own corporate database.

An RFID interrogator installed near the entrance of the NECare Center in Singapore identifies customers by reading their NECare cards, but there are no readers installed at the stores that sell NEC phones. (In Singapore, NEC mobile phones are mainly sold through telecommunication shops that also carry other brands.) On Dec. 21, NECSAP launched the card and began registering customers who mail in their printed warranty cards. The company also started publicizing the launch of the NECare through Singapore media and on the NECare website. In the future, the firm expects to extend the scheme to include other products such as NEC notebooks, computers and projectors. Moreover, the company expects to introduce the RFID NECare Customer card across Asia.

Summary article courtesy: RFID Journal , Photo courtesy: NECSAP

Top five tips for those looking at Gen 2 RFID

The first EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2 RFID products are reaching the market, which is accelerating Gen 2's rise as the protocol of choice for supply chain and compliance initiatives. As a result, Zebra Technologies has offered five tips to help companies avoid potential implementation pitfalls.

Zebra's five Gen 2 planning tips are as follows:

1. Go straight to Gen 2 if you are starting an RFID pilot now
2. Don't overlook the RFID basics
3. Research and testing: ensure compatibility and support
4. Plan to support a multi-protocol environment
5. Don't buy a short-term solution

Courtesy: Zebra and UsingRFID site.

RFID Prison Management

Alanco signs Malaysian distributor deal

26 Dec 2005

Alanco Technologies Inc., producer of the TSI PRISM RFID-based officer duress and inmate tracking system for the corrections industry, has awarded AMG Infotech Ltd (AMG) in Melaka, Malaysia, an exclusive license to market and distribute its technology country-wide. The agreement with AMG calls for minimum annual purchase commitments, and includes up-front payments for marketing assistance and design services. Privately-held AMG is a leading provider of electronic security systems to the Malaysian federal government, including correctional facilities, and its management includes former high-ranking Malaysian prison officials. AMG has introduced RFID tracking to the Malaysian prison authorities as a new management tool to control inmate violence and reduce operating costs, resulting in approval of a TSI PRISM pilot project for the 700-inmate Banda Hilir prison in Melaka. System design, final pricing and construction planning is now underway.


More details - http://www.alanco.com

RFID Middleware

NEC Corpoaration Japan released it English version of RFID middleware, named RFID Manager. A middleware is a piece of software that integrate with RFID devices such as antenna, reader, tags and collaborating data collections to the front end business applications.

Some highlight of the product features:

- Served as embedded technology in industry solutions such as Assets Management, Inventory, Supply Chain, Library, Retails, Logistic, Food, Medical, Automobile and more
- Work with RFID hardware partners on Tag, Chip, Reader/Writer, and Antenna
- Compliance with industry standards. NEC Japan working closely with EPC Global on RFID standard specifications

RFID Food Traceability Focus Area

Below listed focus area can be integrated and developed into a comprehensive end to end RFID livestock and food traceability business application to better control animal diseases, preventing outbreak and related fields:

- Protection of food safety
- Protection of animal health
- Control of disease outbreaks
- Marketing of brand names establishing and maintaining trust
- Operation of food residue surveillance schemes
- Quick and efficient product recalls
- Operation of quality assurance schemes
- Protection against bio-terrorism
- Cost control
- Fraud control
- Theft control

Traceability Solution

RFID Beef Traceability System

Farm Ministry in Japan began numbering all cows in Japan as part of the emergency measure to deal with mad cow disease, tagging the first cow in the town of Yamato, Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan

All cows will be controlled at each level from production to distribution under the numbering system, to speed up confirmation of cow’s production information, such as place of birth, breed, record of movement in accordance with purchases and sales on a database, should a case of mad cow disease arise