Oct 27, 2011Three years into a four-year project in Taiwan involving the implementation of RFID on shipping containers at sea terminals and airports, for the purpose of importing and exporting goods, the nation's General Directorate of Customs (DGOC) has initiated two "green channels" for truck-transported shipments within Taiwan, using electronic seals (e-seals) containing active RFID tags.
A green channel refers to the method by which goods pass through customs. A container moving through a green channel can proceed without the need for additional inspections, while a crate within a red channel must stop so that the goods contained within can be inspected and declared.
Since 2009, GS1 Taiwan has been working with Taiwan Customs officials regarding the use of EPCglobal standards, for a project to develop a technology solution that includes passive RFID seals on some containers (see GS1 Taiwan Pushes for EPCglobal E-seal Standard, Taiwan Customs Officials Adopt RFID-enabled Container Seals and RFID News Roundup: GS1 Taiwan Expands E-seal Initiative).
The project's latest phase—the establishment of green channels via active RFID e-seals—is intended to improve the visibility of transit cargo containers as they are transported by truck, thereby increasing security in a standardized way that could enable the sharing of information between customs offices or shippers and logistics providers located in multiple countries. The technology is also intended to reduce costs, by eliminating the need for customs escorts to travel with containers holding cargo deemed at high risk for illegal activity, as well as increase the efficiency of the customs process. With the use of e-seals on containers, customs officials can monitor the crates' movements remotely, and share this information with authorized parties. One of the two channels, between two Taiwan sea ports, went live in November 2010, while the other, between Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport and a bonded warehouse operated by Everterminal Co. Ltd. (Everter), was launched in June of this year. In both cases, shipments traveling by truck are being tracked via a combination of GPS, active RFID tags and cellular connections, using a single e-seal device.
The software to manage the e-seal-related data was developed by research institute Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST). In addition to the software, CSIST also developed an optical character recognition (OCR) system to photograph truck license plates and container serial numbers, along with the RFID hardware, including the seals themselves and RFID readers. GS1 Taiwan is serving as promoter for the implementations involving active RFID tags, while the organization's advisor role is isolated to the usage of passive technology based on EPCglobal standards in other parts of the project.
For the first green channel, some cargo is transported via truck along the 4.2-kilometer (2.6-mile) trip from Taoyuan International Airport to Everter's warehouse. The Taipei Customs Office monitors the cargo's movement between the airport and the warehouse, and thus oversaw this green-channel project. When a container loaded with cargo arrives at the airport, it is x-rayed by customs officials and the container's documents are reviewed. Those officials then attach an active RFID e-seal to the latch of the container's doors, thereby locking the crate.
The e-seal comes with a rechargeable battery, and its RFID chip stores up to 128 bits of encrypted data. The officer uses a CSIST handheld reader to download the unique ID number encoded to the e-seal's RFID tag, then links that ID to the container number already stored in the system, and those identifiers are linked in the back-end software. That read data is stored in the customs database, and can be accessed by the customs control office staff. When the truck transporting that container leaves the air-cargo terminal, a fixed interrogator installed at the gate reads the e-seal's tag in order to create a record of the container's departure time.
The e-seal's RFID tag transmits its unique ID number while within read range of a reader—up to 80 meters (262 feet). While in transit and out or range of the interrogators, the e-seal uses its cellular radio to transmit its GPS coordinates. This allows customs officials to track the truck's location as the e-seal continues transmitting en route, while the driver takes the container to Everter's warehouse, transmitting its unique ID and related data, as well as its GPS location. High-risk products that could be more desirable to thieves can also be highlighted (illuminated in red on the customs officers' computer screen when signed into the software) for customs personnel, so that they can watch the container and verify that it arrived safely at the Everter warehouse. Once the container arrives at the warehouse, its e-seal's RFID tag is read once more using another fixed reader. The warehouse staff then removes the seal, after which it can be reused.
If, at any time, a truck deviates from its expected path, or stops moving before arriving at its destination, or if the seal is tampered with, the CSIST software detects an anomaly and displays an alert for customs officials monitoring shipments from a remote office.
When a container is offloaded from a sea vessel, an e-seal is attached to the lock at the bottom of that container's door, following the initial customs inspection. A CSIST e-seal RFID reader, installed at the terminal, then captures the unique ID number transmitted by the e-seal's active tag.
Similarly to the airport's green channel, the system is designed to allow the seal to continue transmitting while in transit, via its 3G cellular connection only, rather than via RFID. It can also store data in the event that no immediate cellular transmission is possible.
Initially, Taiwan's government has committed to purchasing approximately US$240,000 worth of passive RFID tags. The government has yet to announce the amount of money that it expects to spend on e-seals with active tags.
