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Active RFID Brings Light to Equipment Search
The handheld reader can be used either to capture all tag ID numbers within a particular vicinity, or in a Geiger counter mode to detect a specific tag that a user is seeking.
ALS is now in the process of applying active RFID tags to all of its equipment—the lab is beginning with its 125 vacuum pumps, and will then also tag spare parts for the accelerator, for storage in an off-site warehouse. In this case, the handheld reader can be used to quickly identify necessary tools within the warehouse, or to conduct inventory checks.
AssetPulse manages the tag-read data on its hosted server, which ALS can then access for a monthly fee. (The company can also provide the solution with its software integrated into a user's own back-end system, Bodapati says.) The hosted AssetPulse software enables ALS to track the dates on which each piece of equipment was checked out and returned, as well as when that item was maintained or inspected. The system sends alerts via e-mail to ALS' staff, indicating, for instance, that an item has been checked out for an extensive time, or that it is due for inspection or service.
The greatest challenge with active technology, Bodapati says, involved using an active reader at a doorway portal (since, as she points out, active RFID tags do not typically lend themselves to portal readers due to their read range being considerably longer than the width of a typical portal). In this case, because of the long read range, the system was designed to update an item's status as checked out or returned, based on whether it has left the active interrogator's read range. AssetPulse tuned the portal reader's antenna to read within as short a range as possible, Zucca indicates, in order to provide accurate data regarding when an item has left the storage area.
"I'm satisfied this technology has solved all our problems [related to asset management]," Zucca states.
ALS is now in the process of applying active RFID tags to all of its equipment—the lab is beginning with its 125 vacuum pumps, and will then also tag spare parts for the accelerator, for storage in an off-site warehouse. In this case, the handheld reader can be used to quickly identify necessary tools within the warehouse, or to conduct inventory checks.
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| The software makes the lab's inventory process faster, and helps it to achieve greater visibility into tools' locations. |
AssetPulse manages the tag-read data on its hosted server, which ALS can then access for a monthly fee. (The company can also provide the solution with its software integrated into a user's own back-end system, Bodapati says.) The hosted AssetPulse software enables ALS to track the dates on which each piece of equipment was checked out and returned, as well as when that item was maintained or inspected. The system sends alerts via e-mail to ALS' staff, indicating, for instance, that an item has been checked out for an extensive time, or that it is due for inspection or service.
"I'm satisfied this technology has solved all our problems [related to asset management]," Zucca states.
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