Passive RFID Reports for Asset Tracking Duty

If your assets are worth tracking, then they’re worth tracking with EPC Gen 2 RFID. Asset tracking has long been considered the domain of Active RFID, bar codes and manual techniques. More recently WiFi-based systems have been offered. But as UHF Gen 2 RFID hits the sweet spot of price/performance, it has surpassed these technologies for use in many asset tracking applications. Passive UHF technology based on the EPC Gen 2 protocol is being used to track assets such as file folders, reusable plastic containers and pallets and to facilitate inventory management for tools and equipment. Passive RFID can also be used to control access to valuable assets and to maintain chain of custody.

The cost of UHF Gen 2 RFID tags and readers has dropped significantly over past few years. The price of a Gen 2 passive tag ranges from approximately ten cents to few dollars for a ruggedized, encapsulated model, whereas active tags can run anywhere from ten to 100 times that. Active and WiFi tags also carry the additional cost of battery maintenance, with both headcount and material impacts.

Second wave Gen 2 tags have driven performance even further and deliver a medium range (1 to 6 meters) that’s sufficient to cover most in-building asset tracking applications and all office applications. Unless the application requires longer range, active tags are overkill and more expensive — a fatal combination.

The classic advantages of RFID over barcode still apply: With passive RFID, tracking is automatic and line of sight is not required, as with barcodes. Data collection is automatic, thus eliminating the employee compliances issues that often undermine the ROI of barcode-based systems.

The ecosystem for Gen 2 RFID is ready to deliver products and solutions. Industry standards like Gen 2 deliver a high level of interoperability, which in turn has created a broad ecosystem of vendors that supply labels, encapsulated tags, readers, handhelds, software, printers and other related products.

Using Passive RFID for Document Tracking Applications
Passive RFID can be used to track high value documents effortlessly and automatically. In legal, financial services or life sciences firms, locating and tracking documents is resource-intensive. Files are shared in decentralized work environments but control must be maintained over these documents to meet regulatory compliance and confidentiality requirements. Manual methods are labor-intensive and subject to error. Misplaced files are common. And with highly valued, highly compensated employees, introducing intrusive methods of document tracking only serve to reduce productivity and slow the organization’s workflow.

Passive RFID applications can meet the challenges of tracking documents and other paper-based assets. One law firm based in Washington, DC can now conduct firm-wide audits of 5,000 files in four hours instead of four days. Automatic capture eliminates the human factor in asset tracking, so accuracy and security are improved.

New lower cost, low profile readers make it feasible to enable tracking across the office and new paper-friendly, long-range tags are durable and ensure reliable capture. With readers at every choke point, organizations can maintain accurate location information for documents and other assets as well as maintain accurate information about chain of custody. For instance, readers can read a user’s security badge and tagged files when a user checks out files from a central library, establishing custody. Desk-mounted and handheld readers can be used to automatically locate lost files in offices. Doorway portals can detect files as they leave the building.

Tracking Pallets and High Value Capital Equipment
There are many other use cases for asset tracking with passive RFID, including for pallets and other reusable plastic assets, voting equipment and high value capital equipment.

Passive RFID can be used to track pallets, Kanban bins and other reusable plastic assets. A pallet manufacturer may allot its pallets in pools to its customers and bill them based on estimated usage. Customers may feel like they’re being overcharged, and the pallet company invariably thinks it’s undercharging its customers. But by adopting a passive RFID-based tracking system, the pallet company can get 100 percent visibility into pallet usage with no operator intervention. Delivery and return of pallets can be automated, with tags embedded in the pallets and the installation of dock door portals at the customer sites and the pallet company. The result is more accurate billing and greater asset control, and ultimately better customer satisfaction because customers are billed based on actual usage.

RFID asset tracking can play a vital role in voting, which is especially important in this election year. Automating the process is particularly important for states that do not permit electronic voting for security reasons. Vote tallying is a labor-intensive process that’s typically done by inexperienced workers. With RFID, election boards can ensure that voting information is quickly retrieved while protecting the integrity of the process and preserving the necessary chain of custody information. Voting equipment is tagged and sent in a sealed shipment to the polling site. Once citizens vote, the voting equipment is bagged again and shipped to the tally facility where the materials are registered and confirmed upon their return. Voting equipment is removed and scanned with handhelds. Exception cases are flagged by the system for intervention.

Libraries and book retailers will find efficiencies in using passive RFID to automate the checkout and return of books. RFID can also eliminate problems with misplaced books and dramatically cut inventory times. Instead of a labor-intensive manual inventory process, librarians can walk around the stacks with a cart-based reader to automatically inventory books. Shelf tags are used to identify sections and locate books that were shelved incorrectly. Readers mounted under desks are used as checkout and return stations. Doorway portals detect books as they leave the building.

Finding the right equipment quickly can literally be the difference between life and death. Passive RFID can prove invaluable in protecting capital equipment such as used in hospitals. With RFID, hospitals can ensure the efficient use of equipment such as crash carts or even bedpans and locate lost (or hidden) equipment rapidly and without searching the floor. Passive tracking also serves to reduce theft and hoarding of equipment and allows hospitals to quickly identify and inventory equipment.

To implement an RFID-based asset tracking system, hospitals typically use readers mounted in ceilings and doorways to locate assets with accuracy to the room level. Exterior door portals can detect tagged equipment as it leaves the building. Scanning equipment and the employee ID badge at the same time automatically establishes custody. Handheld readers make it possible to quickly identify and find equipment for maintenance.

Alien provides a number of products suited to asset tracking. Enterprise-class readers like the ALR-9900 combine exceptional performance with programming flexibility for highly reliable tracking systems that can be adapted to many business processes and situations. “Smart Antenna”-class readers, like the ALR-9650, combine a reader with an integrated antenna to enable a low-profile read point suitable for in-building asset tracking. Additionally, the Power-over Ethernet (PoE) capability of this model reduces system cost by hundreds of dollars and enables a discrete, neat and tidy implementation. Alien tags come in several sizes and shapes, starting with the industry-standard Squiggle®, to enable tagging of virtually any asset. Alien partners offer a variety of methods for encapsulating tags to enable use on metal, or in harsh environments, and of course, there are many sources for RFID-enabled labels using Alien tags.

Passive RFID has become a viable solution for asset tracking, once considered the domain of costly active tags and readers. With passive RFID, data about assets can be captured automatically without employee effort or compliance. Second generation Gen 2 technology delivers reliable and even rising performance at falling costs. A vibrant ecosystem of standards-based software, tag and reader products continues to grow and offer flexibility and broad utility to customers. The time is right for passive RFID for asset tracking.