New Consortium Seeks RFID Standard for Oil, Gas Industries

Some of these projects have been completed and others are still ongoing, Konarski says, with additional projects currently being planned. Several have been completed within laboratory settings, while group members have taken other projects into the field to test the technology in a real-world setting.

While lab work is important, professor Ben Zoghi of Texas A&M University—who oversees the school's Sensors and RFID Technologies Laboratory (see Texas A&M Senses New RFID Apps) and also serves as the director of the Oil & Gas Solution Group—says that getting out in the field enables the consortium to implement scalable pilots that can illustrate, for instance, how petroleum companies could use RFID to improve asset visibility and utilization. What's more, he adds, it also will allow the group to later roll out the RFID system in the field without having to start from scratch. The group has posted schematics describing its roadmaps for standard-setting and proof-of-concept projects at its Web site.

Konrad Kanarski

The role of the group's university members will be to develop applications that take into account the physical requirements of RFID tags and interrogators in the harsh environment of oil and gas exploration and drilling sites. The consortium is also working with petroleum companies to determine the benefits that using RFID technology could provide, Zoghi says, and to figure out how the technology might impact a firm's bottom line and its ability to produce product quickly and efficiently.

"Energy prices are impacting every aspect [of business]," Zoghi says, "and the petroleum companies are trying to streamline their processes so that they can get everything they need on demand. If a drill component breaks, they need to replace it ASAP." According to the consortium, using RFID to improve an oil company's asset-tracking practices—which Konarski says are often rudimentary, based on "pen and paper"—can help optimize production.

"When we say RFID, we mean passive, active, Wi-Fi tags, GPS-enabled tags, etc.," Zoghi says. One of his main goals, he explains, is to educate the group's industry members about the potential bottom-line benefits and show how the systems work. He adds that the group is also working with IT executives from the oil and gas industry to help the consortium to understand the informational technology architecture used in that industry. Zoghi's plan going forward, he says, is to complete a number of proof-of-concept projects slated for the remainder of this summer, and then to begin adding additional members to the group.