Parma's RFID Lab Plans Pork Pilot

Id-Solutions, an RFID spin-off of the University of Parma, is a primary sponsor of the project, contributing €80,000 ($115,000) to its overall budget. Id-Solutions is working with Oracle to develop the software infrastructure, and will be in charge of integrating and running the entire computer system.

Each member of the project will have access to tag data, via an EPCIS-based system, as well as to a logistics dashboard showing how goods are progressing throughout the supply chain. Researchers will test the algorithms used in the Discovery Services, and project partners will develop ONS and Discovery Services applications that can connect to EPCIS.

The project partners plan to test hardware from all vendors. "We'll have Siemens [hardware] in one store, Impinj at another," Rizzi says. "We don't want to be exclusive—everybody is taking part on a shared basis." The implementation phase is expected to last until spring of next year, when the testing period will commence.

"Then we have to decide the value of RFID," Rizza adds, "and start, from the results achieved, to develop and expand the pilot and set new objectives."