Jun 05, 2013The RFID Advanced Research group, at the University of Derby's Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, has a variety of radio frequency identification-based projects underway with a common focus on identifying business opportunities for the use of RFID in the United Kingdom. The projects include software that simulates the technology's benefits for supply chain logistics, as well as RFID solutions for preventing collisions of trucks with bicyclists, or of excavators with construction-site personnel, tracking the production of doors, and reducing fuel consumption and, thus, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The work is being carried out in an effort to expand and ease the adoption of RFID in the business sector, according to the center's head, Ming K. Lim, who launched the RFID Advanced Research program at Aston University, in Birmingham. In 2012, he relocated to the University of Derby (where he currently serves as an associate professor in logistics), and brought the research program with him. The program now operates as part of the Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, which was opened at Derby that same year.
"In the U.K., we're a bit behind in [RFID] adoption," he says, compared with some other European countries and the United States. The center's work is intended to help businesses adopt the technology and quickly gain benefits.
With backing from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), a British research funding agency, the center has created software that simulates the use of RFID, and allows a company to input information regarding its supply chain or operations, and then determine how the technology could resolve its problems. "It can be used to simulate the difference in performance between RFID and bar codes in reducing inefficiency caused by disruptions," Lim explains.
In developing the software, the researchers received assistance from Thai RFID company IdentifyRFID (to determine at what points RFID data could be captured), CartonEdge (a packaging company that provided consulting services about how tags could best be applied) and ATMS (a warehouse-management software developer and systems integrator).
The researchers used the software to determine how RFID data could help to reduce shipment delays created by a problem somewhere along the manufacturing or supply chain. For example, if goods are delayed coming out of a manufacturing site, empty tagged pallets may become stacked up at the warehouse awaiting those goods. Readers capturing those ID numbers could transmit that data to the software, which could, in turn, alert management that there is a delay at a specific location. Management could then identify the problem and make necessary changes to the processes, such as not sending a truck to that location until the orders are ready. What's more, he says, the information could be used to help companies identify where pallets are located. For example, if a business received a large order and required additional pallets to fulfill that order's shipment, management could utilize RFID to identify the nearest location where empty pallets can be found, and dispatch trucks to retrieve them, thereby saving time and fuel that might otherwise be spent driving to a series of customers sites collecting the necessary pallets.
The center finished developing the simulation software approximately six months ago, Lim reports, and now hopes to provide the results to interested companies looking to use the technology in similar ways within their own operations. The group has also launched a project that will involve determining how RFID technology could be used to reduce CO2 emissions, by enabling companies to have a more efficient supply chain that decreases the amount of driving necessary for transporting vehicles—for example, by knowing where pallets or other items are located, and retrieving them according to their proximity to the transporting truck, or the location at which they are needed. According to Lim, the center plans to apply to the EPSRC for funding of this project as well.
In addition, the RFID Advanced Research group has conducted pilots of RFID hardware and software, to determine how specific deployments would work, as well as whether they would provide a benefit. For instance, the group completed a pilot of a bike-safety system, known as Cycle Sensor, now being presented to a logistics firm that plans to install the technology on some of its vehicles. The solution employs dual-frequency battery-assisted RFID tags attached to bikes, as well as readers installed on trucks, in order to help ensure that truck drivers are alerted when there is a bicycle within a few meters of their vehicles. In this case, Lim says, the technology was developed in response to interest by London's mayor, Boris Johnson, in boosting bicycle use within the city. Because the heavy vehicular traffic can be hazardous to bicyclists, the researchers began working to create an RFID-based solution to help truck drivers determine when a bicycle could be close by.
The system piloted consists of an RFID tag with battery-assisted low-frequency (LF) and ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) chips and antennas, Lim says. A truck is equipped with a UHF reader in the cab, as well as an LF reader, with LF antennas mounted on both sides and the back of a truck's trailer. When a tagged bicycle comes within approximately 1.5 meters (4.9 feet)—the range is fine-tunable—of the truck's LF antenna, the LF reader awakens the tag, which responds by transmitting its unique ID in both LF and UHF signals. Those signals are received by a UHF reader within the truck's cab, at a distance of about 5 to 10 meters (16.4 to 32.8 feet). The reader would then emit an audible alarm to warn the driver. The technology has proven to work, Lim says, based on the pilot, and he is now in discussions with several logistics companies regarding the installation of readers on some of their vehicles.
Convincing both trucking companies and cyclists to purchase the technology, Lim notes, presents a larger challenge than merely making the tags and readers operate. The tags themselves, which might cost a bicyclist about $15, would likely be popular among riders who might otherwise be concerned about traveling London's heavily trafficked streets, he says. However, some trucking companies may not be willing to purchase a reader for every vehicle.
As a result of the bicycle RFID solution pilot, Lim reports, his organization was contacted by a British construction contractor seeking a similar solution for use on excavators. The center is now looking into identifying the appropriate technology to pilot that project, to be funded by the contractor (which has asked to remain unnamed). Lim says the researchers are considering an active RFID solution, but have not decided between two possible hardware vendors. The system could work in the following way: Users could mount a reader on the excavator, and an active RFID badge would be worn by each worker on a construction site. If an employee came within range of the excavator's reader, the operator would see an alert.
The center has also received EPSRG and National Health Service (NHS) funding for an RFID solution that could be used within a health-care environment. One example would be an RFID system to track a dose of medication from the time it is bottled until it reaches a patient's bedside. This project, which began last year, is slated to last for three years, Lim says, and will consist of a series of surveys, rather than the development of software or hardware. Lim received funding for the project while at Aston University. Researchers will interview participants in the U.K. health-service network and pharmaceutical supply chain, and will ask them to complete a survey about how the technology could be used. They then intend to publish a white paper describing the results.
Additionally, the group is developing a smartphone application known as Citadel on the Move. This three-year project, which began about 18 months ago in Gent, Belgium, consists of a software platform and a series of application templates for smartphones, on which RFID data can be interpreted and stored, and then be accessed. These application templates will allow individuals to create their own mobile apps. For example, a Gent resident could develop his or her own app to locate buses or obtain information about events being held in the city, and share that app with others. Those individuals could then use the app, either by tapping a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, or by accessing the data via the phone's browser. The cities of Manchester, England, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, and Athens, Greece, are also testing the app, Lim says, and the Derby City Council is considering participating as well.
Finally, the center launched, and then put on hold, a project for Hazlin of Ludlow, a door manufacturer that participated in the first three months of a two-year pilot before temporarily halting the installation of an RFID system to track its products, in 2009, due to funding problems. The company intends to relaunch the pilot when its budget allows, Lim says. That system includes the use of LF tags in the form of nails that could be embedded in doors and then be utilized to track those doors during their manufacture, storage and shipment.
Hazlin could then provide RFID readers to its customers (such as schools or other large users of its products). In the event that a door needed to be replaced, a customer would simply read the door's tag using the handheld reader, thereby triggering a reorder request. The tag could also be used by customers to track whether doors are being inspected, by requiring that inspectors utilize a handheld to document their work.
