Helping Bags Make Their Flights

By Andrew Price


The RFID tag itself offers additional benefits. Bar-coded labels are normally attached to the handles on luggage. This poses a problem because the handle is also the ideal place to pick a bag up. The result is often a crumpled baggage label that is hard to read.

Additionally, automatic baggage-handling systems use 360-degree bar code readers and move pretty fast. The bar code reader has to track the movement of the bag, find the label attached to it and read it, all in a very short time. What’s more, a bar code reader's moving components require regular maintenance. I have used prototype RFID readers in an airline environment that have not required any maintenance in over a year of operation. A crumpled RFID label is also still readable, though there are limits even for RFID: Fold the tag crisply in half, for example, and it will not read.

The RFID chips themselves are still costly, however, despite improvements in the manufacturing process. Recent developments in the production of write-read RFID tags based on EPCglobal's Class 1 Gen 2 seem to offer an excellent promise of low-cost tags.

Business Case Challenges
The business case for RFID is a very complex one, built around cooperation between airports and airlines in terms of providing the RFID infrastructure and realizing the benefits. It also involves analyzing the benefits across many different processes, often carried out by different departments. A cross-organizational view is needed to justify the investment. Another common problem is that many benefit areas seem to be discovered only during operation.

Systems able to report on the measured benefits are now available and will form an integral part of any RFID implementation. The change from bar code to RFID is not technically complex, but the move from the data-barren landscape of baggage handling today to the rich tapestry promised by an RFID-enabled system is a big one for any company.

Aviation StandardsIn order to achieve any progress with RFID, agreeing on a standard is essential. IATA has produced a recommended practice, first drafted several years ago, that provides a framework for RFID use for baggage. This recommendation was reviewed and amended last August, settling on UHF tags encoded under ISO rules. It will be approved at the next IATA Passenger Services Conference in November. There may still be hurdles—regulatory authorities in some countries are finding it hard to allocate a useable band, for instance—but these will be overcome.

The Remaining Steps
Well, we have a standard, and we know there are many areas where it appears RFID will save airline costs. So what still needs to be done before we are all traveling with RFID baggage tags?

First, the airlines and airports need to understand the immediate benefits, payback periods, infrastructure costs and timing of their move to RFID. IATA is assisting them in this regard through its Simplifying the Business program. The program provides leadership for the industry to drive cost savings in five key areas: e-ticketing, common user self-service, bar-coded boarding passes, IATA e-freight and radio frequency identification. For the first time, each airline can see how they compare with the rest of the industry, and get clear direction through IATA implementation guides. Moreover, the program makes matches between suppliers and airlines to drive timely implementations. For more information about the potential for an RFID-enabled baggage world, watch this space.

Andrew Price is the RFID project manager at IATA