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Taiwanese Agency Tests a Broad Range of RFID Uses
To track the harvesting and shipment of mushrooms, the group employs EPC Gen 2 tags attached to sensors that measure and log temperatures. Because they are sensitive to temperature changes, newly picked mushrooms are being placed into tagged containers to track the temperatures of the mushrooms during shipment, and to transmit that sensor data to an interrogator via the RFID tag. Mushrooms have a very short shelf life, Li says, so the EPC Gen 2 tags could also be used to record the times when shipments leave the farm and arrive at the retailer. In this way, the group can better track the supply and demand of mushrooms, preventing more mushrooms than needed from being picked (so that they do not spoil before being purchased by consumers).
Additionally, the agency is tracking hikers in mountainous trails, allowing the forest service to know, in real time, where hikers are located in the event that someone gets hurt or lost, or the weather turns bad. RFID readers have been installed at specific points along the trail, in order to track each time a hiker passes by. At the trail head, hikers pick up cards with embedded HF 13.56 MHz ISO 15693 RFID tags, then scan the tag at each reader as they continue along the trail. Each interrogator transmits the data via a GPRS cellular connection to a back-end system, where users can view a computer screen and determine the number of people at particular portions of the trail at any give time.
Finally, a research group is studying the use of RFID to track purchases at Taiwan's duty-free shops, where the nation's citizens are permitted every six months to buy, exempt from customs duties, up to NT$30,000 (US$1,000) worth of products such as cigarettes and liquor. Tracking the number of duty-free products a shopper has purchased at multiple locations, however, is difficult. The solution, in this case, would be an RFID-enabled ID card that Taiwanese shoppers would obtain to grant them access to duty-free products. The card's ISO 15693 RFID inlay would be scanned at each purchase, with the ID number linked in the back-end system to the shopper himself, along with a tally of the money spent during that six-month period.
"Once the tests are completed," Li states, "our objective is to show how we put together a system, and this is how well it worked." The studies, he says, make it possible for potential users "to see if the technology is ready, if the benefit is clear. Once they realize the benefit is good, then we hope they can kick off a research and pilot project."
"We feel this is not only a good educational process for the government, but for the commercial market and for technology vendors," Li says. The projects have not yet led to full deployments, but Li expects some of the projects will do so in the future.
The Initiative Office for Government RFID Applications has begun talks with government agencies in other countries to consider teaming on studies for international supply chains. Li says he is presently in discussion with Japanese officials, and hopes to speak with other governments as well, including the United States. The greatest challenge involves funding, he says, noting, "Both sides have to have funding at the same time. Sometimes, it's a matter of waiting for that to occur."
Additionally, the agency is tracking hikers in mountainous trails, allowing the forest service to know, in real time, where hikers are located in the event that someone gets hurt or lost, or the weather turns bad. RFID readers have been installed at specific points along the trail, in order to track each time a hiker passes by. At the trail head, hikers pick up cards with embedded HF 13.56 MHz ISO 15693 RFID tags, then scan the tag at each reader as they continue along the trail. Each interrogator transmits the data via a GPRS cellular connection to a back-end system, where users can view a computer screen and determine the number of people at particular portions of the trail at any give time.
Finally, a research group is studying the use of RFID to track purchases at Taiwan's duty-free shops, where the nation's citizens are permitted every six months to buy, exempt from customs duties, up to NT$30,000 (US$1,000) worth of products such as cigarettes and liquor. Tracking the number of duty-free products a shopper has purchased at multiple locations, however, is difficult. The solution, in this case, would be an RFID-enabled ID card that Taiwanese shoppers would obtain to grant them access to duty-free products. The card's ISO 15693 RFID inlay would be scanned at each purchase, with the ID number linked in the back-end system to the shopper himself, along with a tally of the money spent during that six-month period.
"Once the tests are completed," Li states, "our objective is to show how we put together a system, and this is how well it worked." The studies, he says, make it possible for potential users "to see if the technology is ready, if the benefit is clear. Once they realize the benefit is good, then we hope they can kick off a research and pilot project."
"We feel this is not only a good educational process for the government, but for the commercial market and for technology vendors," Li says. The projects have not yet led to full deployments, but Li expects some of the projects will do so in the future.
The Initiative Office for Government RFID Applications has begun talks with government agencies in other countries to consider teaming on studies for international supply chains. Li says he is presently in discussion with Japanese officials, and hopes to speak with other governments as well, including the United States. The greatest challenge involves funding, he says, noting, "Both sides have to have funding at the same time. Sometimes, it's a matter of waiting for that to occur."
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