Published by Computachem Services

P.O Box 297.
Alstonville. 2477
NSW Australia

Phone:
61 2 66285138

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, which first appeared in tracking and access applications during the 1980's.
Wireless systems allow for non-contact reading and are effective in manufacturing and other difficult environments, where bar-code labels would not survive.
RFID is well established in areas such as livestock identification and automated vehicle identification systems, because of the ability to track moving objects.
Since the introduction of RDIF, the technology has moved on to track diverse activities such as car components during manufacture (the system survives a high range of temperatures), the tracking of pallets and original cartons in the Supply Chain Process, and more recently, a medical application, where the US military used RFID to tag and track wounded soldiers and airmen during the Iraq war.
It is now being considered as a standard for global retailing.

A basic RFID system consists of three components:

* An antenna or coil.
* A transceiver (with decoder)
* A transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique information.

The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag, and can both read and write data to it.
Antennas are the conduit between the tag and the transceiver, which controls the system's data acquisition and communications.
Antennas can be very large or very small, depending on the application, and they can be built into areas such as door frames, toll booths, store equipment, pallets etc.
The electromagnetic field produced by an antenna can be constantly present when multiple tags are continuously expected (as in a car toll booth), or the field can be activated by a sensor device if constant interrogation is not required.
Often, the antenna is packaged with the transceiver and decoder in a handheld or fixed mounted device to become a reader. The reader emits radio waves in ranges of 2cm to 30 metres (or more) depending on configuration and requirements.
As the RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host computer for processing.

Tags come in two types- active and passive.
Active tags are those with their own power source, while passive tags operate from power generated by the reader.
Passive tags are much lighter, less expensive and have a virtually unlimited lifetime.
The trade-off between the two types is that the read range of a passive tag is much shorter than an active tag, and generally requires a higher powered reader.
RFID systems are also distinguished by their frequency range.
Low frequency systems have a shorter reading range with lower system costs (used for security access and asset tracking), while high frequency systems have long reading ranges (greater than 30 metres) coupled with higher reading speeds.
High frequency systems are more expensive and are used for railroad tracking and automated car toll collection systems.

The great advantage of all types of RFID systems is the non-contact, non-line-of-sight nature of the technology.

Tags can be read through snow, fog, ice, paint, crusted grime, and other visually challenging environments, where bar-codes or other optical-read technologies would be useless.
The speed of an RFID system, under difficult conditions, is measured in milliseconds.
Coupled with a read/write capability, RFID looks set to become one of the more flexible technologies on offer, with a wide variety of applications.
While it is admittedly more costly than bar-code technology it has the capacity to increase larger memory capacities, wider reading ranges and faster processing.
It is not likely that an RF tag will ever be as cost effective as a bar-code in all applications.

Opinion is steadily changing in this area however, as major global companies (particularly retailers) see benefit in expanding RFID technology through their entire environments, in a way that interfaces with all existing systems.

Meanwhile, there is a collaborative venture involving RDIF technology and bar-code technology, known as GTAG which combines radio tags with UCC.EAN bar-codes, that will ultimately allow the best of both technologies to emerge.

If the world's largest retailer tagged products at the item level, approximately seven million terabytes of information would be created in a single day.
This is more than any network system is currently capable of handling.
Technology, particularly hardware, would have to reduce substantially in cost, before radio tags became a possibility at the retail item level.
However, global retailers are measuring the speed of gaining competitive and strategic value against the base cost of RFID technologies, and see a host of other cost reductions (including reduced levels of employees) as a real offset gain.

An alliance of major companies has formed to provide and apply IT solutions for retail environments.
A German group of supermarkets called Metro is driving an initiative they call "The Extra Future Store". Alliance partners include NCR, IBM, SAP (the world's third largest software company) and Intel.

Basically RFID's are utilised to integrate with a range of electronic equipment and systems across a retail store, that includes automatic self checkout machines, electronic shelf labeling, and intelligent weighing machines that can identify and weigh fruit and vegetables.

While these technologies exist independently in stores throughout the world, Metro is the first retailer to bring them all together under one roof in its test store located at Rheinberg, Germany.
RFID is used to track goods at the carton outer or pallet level, but for this particular experiment, tags will not be used at the individual item level. Bar-codes will take over at the checkout.

However, radio tagging of products offers some exciting possibilities that could include instant stock valuations at any given time, instant shelf counts of stock for ordering purposes, and the elimination of checkout queues, as prices can be tabulated on a cash register instantaneously.
Predictive ordering and inventory management systems that rely on product demand information to set shelf holdings and generate orders, would have the majority of their operational problems solved, by utilising RFID.

The electronic shelf pricing system (provided by NCR) will enable updating of all shelf prices from a single back-office location, which integrates with point-of-sale hardware.
This means that shelf prices will always agree with checkout prices.
The checkout system will also be provided by NCR (called Fastlane-which has previously been reviewed in this publication), and this system eliminates a checkout employee, as it is totally operated by the customer.
Fastlane systems are already operational in some major retail stores in Australia.

The intelligent weighing machine is an IBM development which can actually differentiate between fruits and vegetables, and print out a price sticker.

SAP software and Intel chip makers are looking after the overall technology.
No doubt the start made in Metro will be used to develop RF tags down to an individual level, but this could be a five to ten year timeframe.

Metro has more than 2300 stores in 26 countries and is Germany's leading retailer.
They are expecting tremendous efficiency and big savings across the supply chain.

Customers, it is claimed, will have an enhanced experience in such an environment, because their needs are being looked at through programmable shopping carts.
Here a touchscreen can (after a card swipe by the customer), deliver information on best offers according to the individual customer profile. Customers can call up a store map and get directions as to where they can find individual products.
Even sophisticated Loyalty Club schemes can be managed at this level!

Apart from the main players above, there are numerous other alliance partners required to ensure the system is sustainable. The objective for the project is to develop uniform standards for retailing that can be implemented across the world.

There is also no doubt that Australia's health delivery systems, including community pharmacy, will be caught up in the push to expand applications for RDIF technology.
The point at which any participant, such as a community pharmacist, can enter into this technology advance, depends on the state of development of surrounding organisations, that includes hospitals, wholesalers, manufacturers and major service providers, as well as government agencies.
The cost of investing in new technologies has to be weighed against strategic advantages, and these decisions are increased in cost, if the wrong suite of technologies is selected initially.
Unfortunately, unless small pharmacies can form an effective alliance through an organisation such as the Pharmacy Guild, they will forever lag behind.
It is estimated currently that the difference in IT development between say, Woolworths, and the average community pharmacy in Australia, is approximately ten years.
The Pharmacy Guild has not made an impact, and the gap is widening.
This means that unless pharmacies are allowed to incorporate and grow in size, they will never catch up and be able to compete.
The only alternative is to remain as a "niche" in an ever diminishing market, vulnerable to all who are in a position to manipulate (government and major retailers).

The retail model being developed above, should be revisited in about two years time to see what has been successfully proven.