- GreyOrange has released its gStore software with SoftFence algorithms to shield a reader from unintended tag reads.
- The solution aims to help store associates capture omnichannel tag reads for shipping and receiving without the confusion of stray RFID tags.
Retailers tracking their RFID-tagged goods often face challenges around stray reads when trying to uniquely identify products. If a store associate is picking and packing items for an omnichannel order, there is a likelihood of capturing other nearby tags.
Stray reads can create the kind of confusion that leads some associates to put the technology aside entirely and rely on their own eyes to identify what they are packing. If RFID data can’t be trusted, the technology becomes unusable, said Troy Siwek, gStore general manager for omnichannel retail and warehouse technology provider GreyOrange
The company intends to resolve that issue with its gStore platform, using SoftFence virtual RF shielding technology. The system’s algorithms can be customized for each retail site to identify the tag in the reader’s immediate vicinity and screen out stray reads based on received signal strength, signal motion and angle of arrival, said Siwek.
Making Omnichannel Tasks Easier and More Accurate
GStore is a software as a service (SaaS) platform that enables digital capture of inventory tasks, making the store associates more efficient in what they do. The solution helps locate goods and boost operational efficiency as well, according to Siwek. The company offers the solution in both RFID and non-RFID enabled versions.
Today, many of the company’s RFID deployments focus on overhead readers to provide stores with a real-time view of all their tagged goods. But for omnichannel purposes, store workers might be most efficient when they use a handheld RFID reader that can guide the worker to specific items they are packing to ship to another store or customer, and to identify what is being packed to ensure mistakes aren’t being made. Handhelds also provide easy identification of items received from another location.
“Our software provides all the features of automated replenishment, telling the store associates what to do instead of them having to guess,” said Siwek.
But stray reads often impact the operation of handheld readers in retail environments. SoftFence comes into play as the virtual shielding.
Struggling with Stray Reads
Retailers have a variety of configurations inside of their stores—metal fixtures and metal walls between the front room and backroom, and often RFID signals experience interference, he said. Those challenges among others can lead to stray reads.
“We see it especially when we’re piloting [with a new customer] and some of these stores are picking up items in the back room. That is not helpful in certain use cases,” Siwek pointed out.
For the RFID solution to work, the data has to be accurate.
Alternative to Physical RF Shields
Traditionally, one of the main solutions has been physical shielding through techniques like shielding paint that prevents the signal from passing through physical barriers like walls. Such efforts can get expensive for a large retailer that may have hundreds or more stores.
“And it’s also invasive, especially if it comes in in the middle of the game after they’ve already rolled [RFID] out and then they realize they’re starting to get this interference in certain store formats,” said Siwek.
Therefore, SoftFence was developed as a virtual method to control the variables without requiring installation of shielding materials. For instance, a store full of handbags and purses displayed sparsely may have very different requirements than a denim company that’s got stacks of clothes on fixtures.
GreyOrange created a software tuning and configuring capability per client “because we know the density, we know that the hardware configurations create a different situation so that we can tune that for each of their store formats,” explained Siwek.
Following a Blue Line
The system is also designed to provide a pick path for those who need to locate specific goods to fill an order. If the handheld reader has the SoftFence software, users can potentially be led to the products they need in the form of a blue line displayed on the handheld.
The software accomplishes this by including a store’s planograms or a 3D CAD type map of the site including store and back-of-store.
One large retailer has been piloting the technology as an early adopter across numerous stores and GreyOrange intends to roll the solution out to all its clients.
“What SoftFence enables is the level of algorithm configuration that’s user friendly,” said Siwek. “So you don’t have to be a super techie person” to tune the system on each handheld according to the environment, from a densely populated area to a sparsely populated or wide space, such as a big box format.
“It gives just a lot more control for those using handhelds,” he said.