Technology and Applications in Transportation

Raj Bridgelall Raj.Bridgelall@ndsu.edu

The only two cars in Van Wert County, Ohio (population 784) in 1891

made transportation history …

2

Access Control

Automated Tolls

Do You RFID?

3

Automotive Security

Bus Pass

Contactless Payment

Outline of Talk

• Introduction

• Market

• Applications

• History

• Taxonomy (place in the wireless landscape)

• How it works (illustrative)

• Conclude

Key Takeaways

• Transportation and logistics have strong ties to RFID

• RFID has transformative potential if used correctly;

disastrous if not

• RFID is simple in concept but there are many ‘surprises’

in practice

4

Transportation & Logistics Share Dominates

Total RFID Market = $6B (2011) Source: ABI Research

Transportation

Of Items

60%

(Real-time

Locating

Systems)

5

Passive Tag Minimum Cost Trends

Antenna

15%

The Passive Smart Label

0

15

30

45

60

75

2005 2010 2015 2020

Margin

Package

Attach

Antenna

Chip

Year

Price (

Cents

)

100’s of Millions

10’s of

Billions

Chip

50%

Die Attach

15%

Packaging

20%

6

A Typical Supply Chain

• Efficiency and reliability depends on … – Transportation system performance and facility condition

– Supplier performance

– Regulatory and institutional barriers

Largest Ports: 1. Shanghai (2010: 650 metric tons, 29M TEUs), 2. Singapore (was largest in 2005) 7

Components Urban & Rural Foreign Port Waterways Local Port

Arterial &

Rural Interstate

Rail Yard

Line Haul Cross-Dock Arterial & Interstate Assembly &

Packaging

Distribution

To Retail Flow and Storage of Assets

Need Real-Time

Information & Asset Visibility

A Popular Passive RFID Application

8

• The supply chain ‘loses’ $37B/year1 (worsens as GDP grows) – Goods damaged, spoiled, wrong delivery, diversion (theft) …

• Some indirect costs from an unreliable transportation system – $10 billion in goods “lost” during delivery process (U. of FL study)

– 20% of perishables expire before they are sold (FDA study)

– 15% of shoppers leave without finding an item (The GAP)

Enabling Supply Chain Visibility

Barcode

Source

Tagging

RFID/Barcode

Package

Aggregation

Portal/Infrastructure Reading

(RFID/RTLS)

Unattended Auto-ID

RFID Shelf and

Hand-Held Reading

Barcode/EAS

Reading

Components

& Materials RFID/GPS

RFID/GPS

Demand Pull

1The National Retail Security Survey, University of Florida, 2011

Sorting

Assembly & Packaging Palletized Transported Distribution Center Transported Store Stock Point-of-Sale

Shelf

Indoor Real-time Location Tracking Systems

Passive Tag

Readers

Reader Antennas

Location

Trilateration

RTLS saves 50% of labor spent looking for

items (Bernstein Research Statistics)

9

Emerging Applications for Every Mode

10

Waterways

• Cargo tracking and security

• Traffic and signaling controls

• Tunnel safety

Roadways

• Roadside asset and inventory monitoring

• Bridge structural health monitoring

• Tunnel structural health monitoring

Bridge

Condition

Tunnel

Condition Pedestrian

Safety

Airways

• Runway asset monitoring

• Vehicle access control

• Cargo safety and security

• Baggage tagging and tracking

• Condition monitoring

• Stress and breakage monitoring

• Corrosion monitoring

Pipelines

D T

Ground

Air

• Railcar and engine configuration

• Automatic control and signaling systems

• Rail condition monitor and inventory

• Tunnel safety checks

Railways

Intermodal

• Crane safety systems

• Traffic signaling systems

Asset Visibility and Security

11

HAZMAT

• Asset safety monitoring

• Asset identification and inspection

Productivity

• Load efficiency

• Truck Identification

Cold Chain

• Product Temperature Monitoring

• Asset identification and authentication

Harvest Distribution

• Quality management and lot tracking

• Weigh scales and distribution points

• Packaging and distribution points

Construction Materials Tracking

• Quality control

• Asset location tracking

• Inventory management

Asset Tracking

• Tamper and condition monitoring

• RTLS

Brief History of RFID Development

12

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

1959 Friend or Foe

Military Long Range Transponder

1948 Harry Stockman “Communication

By Means of Reflected Power”

1950’s D.B. Harris Patents

“Radio Transmission Systems with Modulatable Passive Responder”

1966 Checkpoint & Sensormatic

EAS Commercialization

1-bit Electronic Article Surveillance

1975 Los Alamos

Scientific Labs Declassified “Short-range

Radio-telemetry for Electronic Identification

using Modulated Backscatter”

1996 LA Adopts Pet Tagging

1979 First

Implantable RFID for Livestock

2003

Mandate

2003

Military Mandate 1940’s

RADAR Perfected in WWII

1992 First RFID

Toll Collection System in

U.S.

Taxonomy – Wireless Landscape

13

10 m

100 m

1 km

10 km

1 kb/s 10 kb/s 100 kb/s 1 Mb/s 10 Mb/s 100 Mb/s

RFID

Ce

ll S

ize

Data Rate

Wide Area Networks (ex. GPRS, CDMA, Wi-Max)

Local Area Network (ex. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DSRC)

Satellite (ex. GPS, L-V Bands, DirectTV)

RFID Performance Envelope

Throughput (Tags/Sec)

Ran

ge

(Met

ers)

5 10 15 20 25 30

8

4

1

Credit Card Size Tags and 1-ft Diameter Reader Antennas

Reader

Antenna

Credit

Card

Footprint

1-ft

Tag

100+

100+

“Unobstructed” Range • Not real-world

• Ignores impact of materials

• Ignores non-line of sight

• Ignores orientation sensitivity

• Ignores multi-path attenuation

• Ignores interference and noise

14 LF = Low-Frequency (~125 kHz), HF = High-Frequency (13.56 MHz), UHF = Ultra-High Frequency (~900 MHz)

RFID Power Classification

15

Reflecte

d E

nerg

y

Tra

nsm

itte

d E

nerg

y

No Batteries Batteries

Semi-Passive Passive

Active Energy Harvesting

Status

&

Alerts

Passive

Compatible

Sensor

Tags

Why so many types of RFID?

16

Radio Frequency Technology Classification

17

Radia

ted E

mis

sio

ns

Backscatt

er

Near-Field Far-Field

e.g. Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), UHF RFID (ISO18000-7) e.g. RuBee (IEEE P1902.1), NFC (ISO 18092)

e.g. UHF RFID (ISO18000-6 & EPC) e.g. HF RFID (ISO 14443), LF RFID (ISO 14223-1)

Benefits

• Robust link around

dense RF media

• Magnetic field zone

control

• Simple narrow-band

protocols maximize

battery life

Deficiencies

• Range limited to

antenna loop diameter

• Multi-tag arbitration

speed limited by data

rate

Benefits

• Long range from RF

propagation and

higher transmit power

• High multi-tag

arbitration rates

possible due to larger

bandwidth & data-rate

Deficiencies

• Some bands require

spread spectrum and

complex multiple

access protocols;

leads to higher power

consumption

• Poor zone control

Benefits

• Excellent zone

control

• Robust near-field

energy harvesting for

passive HF/LF RFID

• Robust media

penetration

Deficiencies

• Backscatter reader

sensitivity and loop

antenna diameter

limits practical range

to within one meter

• Multi-tag arbitration

limited by bandwidth

and data rate

Benefits

• Tens of meters of

range for passive tags

• Longer range for

semi-passive tags;

limited primarily by

reader sensitivity

• High multi-tag

arbitration rate

• Longer battery life

Deficiencies

• Poor zone control

• Poor RF media

penetration

• Highly orientation

sensitivity due to

weaker backscatter

and multi-path

propagation

A one size fits all solution is illusive.

Intern

al Po

wer S

ou

rce (e.g. B

atteries)

Ex

ternal P

ow

er So

urce (e.g

. RF, V

ibratio

n, L

igh

t)

Application and Technology Mapping

Throughput (Tags/Sec) Passive (< $1) Active (< $20)

Range

(Meters)

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Personnel

&

Vehicle

Tracking

Logistical

Units

&

Metal

Containers

Traded Units

& Crates

Consumer Units

& Shelved Items

Apparel Racks

Tra

nsp

ort

Dev

ices

It

em

Lev

el

Hig

h V

alu

e A

sset

& W

irel

ess

Sen

sors

RTLS

Pharmaceuticals

Reader

Antenna

Dime Size

Tags

Palm

Size 8

4

1

18

How does Passive RFID work

(without a battery)?

19

RF Coax

Electronics

Antenna

Host

How Does Passive RFID Work?

Vo

lts

Single Tag Communications

0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0

20

RF Coax

Electronics

Antenna

Host

How Does Passive RFID Work?

Multiple Tag Communications

Tag 1 Tag 2 Tag 3 Tag 4 Tag 5 Tag n TDMA

21

Maximum Range for Passive Tags

RF Coax

Electronics

Antenna

Host

Vo

lts

Forward Link Limited: Power Transfer

22

What are the real-world

challenges?

23

Passive Tag Power Source is Unreliable

Antenna

Signal Cancellation

Floor

Ceiling

Signal Peak

Palomar, Anu-Leena Annala, et.al.

Power Distribution at 868 MHz

Peaks (- 3 dBm) Nulls (- 14.3 dBm) 24

Energy Sinks and Shifts

UHF

Reader

Antenna

Tag

Antena

0

0 0

0

0

H2O Dipole Energy Absorption

Liq

uid

s

Iant

Vb

H(o,Q)

Rm La

Cparasitic

Eddy L

oss

es

Ca Met

als

Operating Frequency

Po

we

r T

ran

sfe

r

Free-Space

Tag

Detuned Tag

25

An RFID Challenged Application

26

Tag Localization Challenge

RFID

Tag

Asset

Portal

Reader

UHF Signal

Bounce

27

How does RFID

work within a system?

28

Multi-Technology RFID System

29

UHF Reader

EPC Fixed Readers

Wi-Fi RFID Readers

RTLS

Wi-Fi AP

TC

P/I

P L

AN

Web Data

Consumers

ERP

System

• Data Filtering & Storage

• Application Adapters

• Web Services API

• ERP Interfaces

Sensor Based Application Dashboards Sensor Logs, Alerts, Actuates

Summary

30

• RFID is an important technology in transportation

– Electronic toll collection

– Supply chain asset visibility

– Emerging transportation markets

– Combo transit pass, cashless payment, and access control

– Real-time locating systems (RTLS)

– Multi-modal asset tracking and condition monitoring

– Product safety and security

– No one RFID technology addresses all needs

• The technology must be deployed with care

– Simple in concept, but complex in practice

– Game changing potential if used wisely

?

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