RFID Travels Through the Supply Chain
RFID Travels Through the Supply Chain
June 21, 2007:The RFID industry is working to reduce the ‘uncertainty’ surrounding standardisation of RFID technology in Australia, while banding together to demonstrate the business case for RFID at a conference this week.
GSI Australia, alongside other RFID vendors, associations and organisation, have combined their efforts to not only have their current 4 Watt scientific licence renewed for another 12 months, but also have regulations permanently changed to boost Australia’s RFID performance on the world stage.
At the SMART Conference in Sydney this week, the world of RFID gathered to discuss these conflicting regulations while also collaborating to show how RFID can work to improve productivity, processing times and visibility in the supply chain for all trading partners.
GSI Australia says they produced some outstanding results during the demonstration which incorporated GSI global standards with Electronic Product Code standards. The idea is real-time asset management inclusive of built-in alerts for control at the point of breakdown and full automation, leading to the ultimate paperless error and removal of human error.
In proving the capabilities of RFID, the event also provided the platform for GSI Australia and other aspects of the industry to be granted the extension to their 4 Watt licenses. Australian regulation limit RFID power to 1 Watt, yet 4 Watt has become common practice around the world. With reader range depending on the power output of RFID reader, the difference in read distance between 1 and 4 Watt is significant.
Governed by the Australian Communication and Media Authority and with UHR RFID services coming under the Low Interference Potential Devices (LIPD) class licence, it’s the existing LIPD class licence limiting UHF RFID services to operate between 918 to 926 MHz at a maximum power of 1 Watt Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP.)
Meanwhile NEC says its NEC RFID Gateway, a standalone process ‘automator’ designed for high volume use and big enough for forklift to pass through, is a significant progression in the legitimising RFID as a useful technology in the supply chain.
Kelvin Slade, RFID product manager for NEC says the Gateway deploys significant improvements in readability rates, able to significantly reduce ‘dead spots’ in the radio field. “This has been achieved by more efficiently reflecting the signal within the required read range, not across the entire range of the antennae,” says Slade.
“It’s a bit like playing squash vs. playing tennis; in squash the ball keep bouncing around the walls, while in tennis the ball is always being hit out of the court. The NEC RFID Gateway uses the same amount of energy but significantly improves read rates.
Although granted its 4 Watt scientific licence for another 12 month, GSI Australia believes these regulations are preventing the innovative use of RFID in Australia. Alongside a number of industry organisations, GSI is working with ACMA to permanently amend the LIPD class licence, allowing UHF RFID to operate at 4 Watts.
ACMA agreed to grant GSI and other industry participants the licence under the condition it continue to provide documentation to alleviate related RFID concerns. ACMA is looking for reassurance on the uptake of RFID adoption in Australia as well as an understanding of the cumulative effects of RFID operating at 4 Watts, close to GSM systems.