A typical radio-frequency identification tag is a relatively small device, varying in size from a small coin to a match box. The time may be ripe to apply this tracking technology on a truly grand scale.
“Currently, industry uses GPS to track vehicles carrying goods but the goods are not always electronically linked to the vehicles – and that’s the missing part,” says Prof Johann Holm of the Faculty of Engineering on the Potchefstroom Campus.
“If radio frequency identification (RFID) could be deployed nationwide, it could significantly improve the efficiency and visibility of goods in the supply chain.” Before looking at the bigger picture of what the faculty’s electronic engineering team has in mind, here’s an example of how RFID would work on a small scale.
Let’s say that something extremely valuable, such as uncut diamonds, has to be transported from a mine in Botswana to Johannesburg.
First, a tiny RFID tag is embedded in a secure container holding the diamonds. This tag carries all the key information needed to identify the diamonds, for example, their size, colour and number, the mine of origin, the vehicle carrying them, the access control status of the container, the time and date of departure, the address to which they are being delivered, and so on.
The driver sets off. As he progresses on his journey, RFID readers strategically placed along the route (such as at border posts) communicate with the tag and analyse its responses. The readers instantly and automatically detect any change in the status of the diamonds and container being tracked, such as a decrease in their number or a change in their condition, or any deviation in the route or travelling time taken. This allows for the secure transport of the valuable consignment.
Seeing the bigger picture
Versatility, visibility, security and convenience are the main advantages of RFID technology, as compared to say, traditional barcoding, Prof Holm says. “Unlike barcoding, which only works with static information, RFID systems work with dynamic information, meaning that new details can be added about the goods being tracked.”
Also unlike barcoding, the RIFD tags and readers need not be optically aligned or even in line of sight to operate. Now imagine this Botswana-Johannesburg scenario being replicated at all South Africa’s border posts and customs points and along all major roads throughout the country, for every conceivable kind of freight, from diamonds to fountain pens, fruit, clothing, vehicles or washing machines.
This is what the NWU’s department of electronic engineering ultimately envisages – an international logistics management system that would use RFID to reduce logistics related crimes such as theft and to protect the integrity of goods in the supply chain.
Overcoming the obstacles along the way
Not that realising this vision is without its challenges. As Prof Holm points out, it’s one thing to implement an RFID system in a single chain of stores or on a single route, and quite another to put in place a massive cross-border network that makes provision for all contingencies.
A vast amount of information has to be gathered to cater for every possible scenario, amongst others the time it takes to travel each and every route using different types of vehicles, to the ideal placement of readers on routes to ensure signals are properly transmitted and received, and so forth.
“Once the benchmarking has been done, one would then look at anomalies and deviations from the norm,” he says. Deviations and anomalies could include the time added on or taken off a journey by taking detours or short cuts, the impact of traffic jams, road works or rain storms, and any number of other incidents and eventualities that could potentially affect the movement of goods from one point to the next.
Prof Alwyn Hoffman of the Faculty of Engineering is currently adding intelligence to the management system, with the aim of characterising the behaviour of elements in the logistics chain. This is done by using algorithms for analysis and intelligent agents that report on behaviour and deviations.
The volume of work going into this RFID research is daunting, yet the research team, led by Prof Hoffman, is undaunted. Using computer simulation, the team members are happily exploring scenario after scenario, steadily generating piece after piece – not of a puzzle but of their larger vision of the future of logistics in South Africa and across Africa.
ENDS