RFID NEWS
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Taiwanese Agency Tests a Broad Range of RFID Uses
In 2007, Initiative Office researchers tested RFID for tracking cut flowers at a Taiwanese flower auction. The system would be used to provide real-time control of fresh flowers as they arrive at the auction, then are sold to a floral vendor and picked up from the auction facility. The researchers affixed UHF Gen 2 tags to boxes in which flowers were packed, then collected read data from interrogators installed where boxed flowers passed on a conveyer belt toward the auction floor. The researchers were able to use the reads to determine where flowers were located in the auction house, as well as when they were delayed before or after an auction. This scenario, Li says, would provide users with the kind of real-time location data that companies such as FloraHolland utilize for their flowers in the auction house (see Dutch Horticultural Company Sends Flowers via RFID).
In addition, the agency tested RFID for painkillers and other medications. The research group tagged small boxes loaded with approximately 10 containers of medication with UHF EPC Gen 2 tags, and also tagged some medicine containers themselves with high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz passive tags (complying with the ISO 15693 standard), in order to test a real-time e-pedigree system to verify the drugs' authenticity. They then tested whether they could track the pharmaceuticals' movements as they passed from the point of manufacture to the retailer, using interrogators to capture ID numbers at the item level, as well as on boxes. According to Li, the system worked appropriately.
The Initiative Office for Government RFID Applications also conducted a document-management study at Taiwan's National Archives Administration. For this study, Gen 2 RFID tags were placed on the sides of binders containing government documents such as memoranda sent within the office. The National Archives conducts annual inventory studies, and in this case, workers used handheld RFID interrogators to scan the tags' ID numbers to determine if they could more easily conduct that inventory, or locate documents that had been filed. Participants found they could save many hours of the inventory process by utilizing the handheld reader to scan folders without removing them from the shelf.
What's more, the agency tagged trees for a forest sample zone investigation. In this case, Taiwanese forestry employees regularly travel through the nation's dense forests to monitor tree growth, writing down on paper such details as a tree's height and diameter. The agency placed HF and UHF passive RFID tags on the sides of trees in metal plates. The tags included a unique ID number that could be linked to data about the tree, such as its height and diameter, and at what date it was measured. The agency was testing how the tags could be placed on the trees in such a way that they could withstand weather and remain on the trees for decades, without the trees growing over the tags. Employees then used handheld PDAs with built-in readers to scan and record information regarding each tree. After experimenting with tag placement, researchers found forest workers could read the tags with handheld interrogators from a short range, saving hours of paperwork previously required when handwriting data about each tree.
This year, the group is studying evidence tracking for Taiwan's Ministry of Justice. In this case, court evidence such as computers, jewelry and weapons are loaded in boxes, which are then tagged with EPC Gen 2 RFID tags. When evidence is moved from one location to another, their tags are read once more. The group is presently examining how the tags can be used to track the items' movement from and into storerooms, as well as at police departments when they are initially seized and processed.
For another project currently underway—the tagging of chemotherapy drugs—researchers at Taipei's Taichung Hospital have been placing HF 13.56 MHz passive ISO 15693 tags on syringes intended for specific patients. The tags are then linked to an RFID tag on the syringe's containing bag, also listing the drug recipient's name. Thus, employees can use the system to ensure medication is neither lost nor administered to the wrong patient.
In addition, the agency tested RFID for painkillers and other medications. The research group tagged small boxes loaded with approximately 10 containers of medication with UHF EPC Gen 2 tags, and also tagged some medicine containers themselves with high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz passive tags (complying with the ISO 15693 standard), in order to test a real-time e-pedigree system to verify the drugs' authenticity. They then tested whether they could track the pharmaceuticals' movements as they passed from the point of manufacture to the retailer, using interrogators to capture ID numbers at the item level, as well as on boxes. According to Li, the system worked appropriately.
The Initiative Office for Government RFID Applications also conducted a document-management study at Taiwan's National Archives Administration. For this study, Gen 2 RFID tags were placed on the sides of binders containing government documents such as memoranda sent within the office. The National Archives conducts annual inventory studies, and in this case, workers used handheld RFID interrogators to scan the tags' ID numbers to determine if they could more easily conduct that inventory, or locate documents that had been filed. Participants found they could save many hours of the inventory process by utilizing the handheld reader to scan folders without removing them from the shelf.
What's more, the agency tagged trees for a forest sample zone investigation. In this case, Taiwanese forestry employees regularly travel through the nation's dense forests to monitor tree growth, writing down on paper such details as a tree's height and diameter. The agency placed HF and UHF passive RFID tags on the sides of trees in metal plates. The tags included a unique ID number that could be linked to data about the tree, such as its height and diameter, and at what date it was measured. The agency was testing how the tags could be placed on the trees in such a way that they could withstand weather and remain on the trees for decades, without the trees growing over the tags. Employees then used handheld PDAs with built-in readers to scan and record information regarding each tree. After experimenting with tag placement, researchers found forest workers could read the tags with handheld interrogators from a short range, saving hours of paperwork previously required when handwriting data about each tree.
This year, the group is studying evidence tracking for Taiwan's Ministry of Justice. In this case, court evidence such as computers, jewelry and weapons are loaded in boxes, which are then tagged with EPC Gen 2 RFID tags. When evidence is moved from one location to another, their tags are read once more. The group is presently examining how the tags can be used to track the items' movement from and into storerooms, as well as at police departments when they are initially seized and processed.
For another project currently underway—the tagging of chemotherapy drugs—researchers at Taipei's Taichung Hospital have been placing HF 13.56 MHz passive ISO 15693 tags on syringes intended for specific patients. The tags are then linked to an RFID tag on the syringe's containing bag, also listing the drug recipient's name. Thus, employees can use the system to ensure medication is neither lost nor administered to the wrong patient.
