GPS World, August 2009

TRANSPORTATION Freight Tracking combination of GNSS receivers and RFID reader writer terminals will enable seamless tracking technology RF ID There are many types of RFID around the world We focus here on the Hitachi RFID product μ Chip Hibiki with uniqe features suitable to a seamless tracking system The μ Chip is the smallest RF tag available worldwide measuring 04 millimeters square the μ Chip Hibiki features UHF band RFID frequency 952 954MHz Secure RFID Air Protocol privacy and user data protection Standard ISO IEC 18000 6 type C compliance Large re writable memory 15K bits user area Target cost 005 chip at 500 million quantity quarter The secure RFID Air Protocol is a key feature for seamless tracking offering Privacy protection communication distance between reader and tag is minimized by special command User data protection user memory area can be password protected for read lock and write lock User memory area is divided into five areas each with its own password Standardization Air Protocol complies with ISO IEC 18000 6 Type C Receiver We are considering a combined RFID reader writer with GNSS receiver as a conceptual idea For reference we show the current μ Chip Hibiki tracking chip and RFID reader writer on the preceding page We predict that the size and costs of a combined GNSS receiver with μ Chip Hibiki reader writer will be comparable to current personal digital assistant PDA computers Database Tracking data for the seamless system is stored inside the μ Chip Hibiki in a memory area further subdivided into five password protected areas The tracking chip can be attached to one or more levels of goods shipment item package cover pallet container As the item or container proceeds through the logistics system the tracking chip receives March of Standards A global tracking system has political as well as methodological issues to resolve involving collaboration with the International Organization for Standardization ISO the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC these two organizations Joint Technical Committee JTC1 the latters Sub Committee 31 SC31 on Information Technology Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques and its Work Group 5 WG5 on mobile item identification and management WG5 focuses on the increasing use of both radio frequency identification RFID and real time locating systems RTLS in a variety of techniques based on IEEE 802154a communications platform standard The standardization activity targets the move from fixed RFID readers to mobile applications with RFID mobile RFID RTLS and hybrids thereof Under the standardization activities of SC31 10 international standards IS and three technical reports TR address RF tags for item management These include from RFID reader writer terminals at each juncture further data in the form of a GNSS position and time stamp Pi Ti standards for air interface IS18000 host interrogator IS15961 and data syntax IS15962 It is important to match international rules that is ISO IEC with national rules for example Japanese Industrial Standards JIS American National Standards Institute ANSI British Standards The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade by the World Trade Organization WTO recommends continuity of rules internationally and nationally to promote world trade It is also imperative that countries specifically the exporting and importing countries of any given shipment accept mutual understanding of ISO rules under the framework of Mutual Recognition Agreements MRAs As a result of progress in standardization RFID technology and products will expand to global use providing the infrastructure for logistics environmental management transportation security medical agricultural automotive and consumer aspects of supply chain management System Concept The concept consists of three main aspects tracking levels authorized registration and total cost versus security cost 1 Producer μ Chip Hibiki GNSS receiver with μ Chip reader writer 2 Value added re seller μ Chip Hibiki GNSS receiver with μ Chip reader writer 3 Export Customs 4 GNSS Area μ Chip Hibiki GNSS receiver with μ Chip reader writer GNSS p FIGURE 2 System image GPS World August 2009 www gpsworld com 32