Can RFID Keep Lockers Secure?

Published: June 19, 2012

I would like to make sure that our 32 sub-lockers remain protected within our main safe (a big locker) after work is delivered at the end of a day. Could I use radio frequency identification to accomplish this goal?

—Name withheld

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Without knowing more about the material of which your lockers are made, as well as their size and other factors, it would be difficult to answer your question with complete certainty, but I would say that I am fairly sure you could employ RFID technology to do this.

If the lockers were composed of metal, you would require special metal-mount tags. A passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) reader could be set up at the entrance to the main safe, or within it. You would likely be able to read every tag consistently, assuming the system was designed and set up properly.

You could then situate a light stack outside the main safe, indicating whether or not all items contained within were interrogated. You could also arrange for an e-mail alert to be issued to the appropriate personnel.

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal