More RFID Journal Sites: RFID Journal Espanol RFID Journal Brasil RFID Journal Events RFID Journal Awards
Packaging NEWS
Text size:
T
T
T
Indian Aluminum Company Tracks Deliveries
The reader, powered with Power Over Ethernet (PoE), captures the unique ID number of each vehicle's tag, and forwards that information to the software system integrated with the power plant's back-end SQL database. The system also includes an Apache Tomcat open-source Web server so that Vedanta can control the reader remotely, and can reboot it if necessary by turning off its power and resetting it.
Within the RFID software, the ID number of each windshield tag is linked with the name of the contractor company, vehicle description and driver, and that data is then sent to an LED screen display located at the site's entrance and exit gates. When a vehicle arrives at the gate, the security officer manning that location need only look at the screen and compare the data displayed, including a picture of the authorized driver, with the actual vehicle and driver at the gate. That individual is then either allowed or denied entrance.
The second phase of the deployment, currently undergoing installation, will incorporate the weighing of cargo to ensure the accuracy of invoices from, and payments to, contractors. Vedanta installed a weighbridge that links to the RFID portal through which each vehicle must pass. The scale measures the gross weight as the truck arrives, and then the tare weight as it departs, and links those weights with the ID number on the vehicle's windshield tag. In this way, Vedanta indicates, the company can determine the size of the load, and ensure that the entire amount was dumped at the site.
The final phase will incorporate an image capture of the license plate number of each vehicle entering the facility, which will also be linked to the RFID tag's ID number. This will add another layer of security to ensure the correct truck has arrived. According to the company, the date for the addition of that functionality has yet to be determined.
Since the first phase of the deployment was installed, Vedanta reports, the system has reduced the entrance time for contractors from an average of 5 to 10 minutes, down to 20 to 25 seconds. By making the entrance gate and weighing waits shorter, the firm expects to see a significant reduction in the vehicles' fuel consumption.
"We've been using the system for three months, and it's been very smooth," Shantosh states. "We're able to get real-time data about the number of trucks inside [the facility], and we can plan our traffic in the future accordingly."
more Packaging articles
Within the RFID software, the ID number of each windshield tag is linked with the name of the contractor company, vehicle description and driver, and that data is then sent to an LED screen display located at the site's entrance and exit gates. When a vehicle arrives at the gate, the security officer manning that location need only look at the screen and compare the data displayed, including a picture of the authorized driver, with the actual vehicle and driver at the gate. That individual is then either allowed or denied entrance.
The second phase of the deployment, currently undergoing installation, will incorporate the weighing of cargo to ensure the accuracy of invoices from, and payments to, contractors. Vedanta installed a weighbridge that links to the RFID portal through which each vehicle must pass. The scale measures the gross weight as the truck arrives, and then the tare weight as it departs, and links those weights with the ID number on the vehicle's windshield tag. In this way, Vedanta indicates, the company can determine the size of the load, and ensure that the entire amount was dumped at the site.
The final phase will incorporate an image capture of the license plate number of each vehicle entering the facility, which will also be linked to the RFID tag's ID number. This will add another layer of security to ensure the correct truck has arrived. According to the company, the date for the addition of that functionality has yet to be determined.
"We've been using the system for three months, and it's been very smooth," Shantosh states. "We're able to get real-time data about the number of trucks inside [the facility], and we can plan our traffic in the future accordingly."
