University in Munich Develops RFID-Enabled Log Harvesting

The forwarder, a person who utilizes a crane to collect logs from the woods, puts the logs on a truck bed. The interrogator, encased in a clear plastic housing and attached between stakes extending upward from the side of the truck bed, takes a second reading of the tags. The forwarder then drives to a road in the forest and unloads the logs into a neat stack on the side of a road. These tasks can take place a few days after a tree has been felled, and the forwarder may, in fact, work for a different company. Adding RFID technology to the mix ensures that all involved parties who want to know the status of the logs have access to that information. It also gives the forwarder the data required to present a more accurate bill.

Days or weeks later, another contractor typically picks up the logs and transports them to a processing plant, where a similar interrogator attached to a truck reads the tags a third time. The final reading occurs at the processing plant, performed by an interrogator attached to a conveyor belt handling log intakes.

Sven Korten

While developing the tagging device and reader for the harvester head, the researchers at TU Munich experienced difficulties finding adequate space on the harvester head to attach the RFID hardware. Therefore, they had to use small components for both the tagging device and the reader.

A second problem involved ensuring the tag could withstand the harsh weather and environmental conditions associated with logging, so that it could survive being moved across oil-splattered and debris-strewn areas in stormy weather. "The big challenge was getting such a sensitive technology like RFID to work in such a rough environment," says Sven Korten, a researcher for the forestry department at the university. Their solution was to use a flexible plastic tag.

In a test of about 500 tags in a forest near Munich, Korten says, none were damaged during the process of felling timber and stacking logs, though approximately 5 percent were lost somewhere between the woods and the processing plant. The project team calculated that the application would cost €4.50 ($6.00) per cubic meter of harvested wood, assuming a transponder price of 50 eurocents apiece, plus the costs of associated hardware and software.

Other participants in the project include Ponsse, a maker of harvesters, and the company's German representative, Wahler Forsttechnik.