Alien Technology

RFID - The New Visibility System for Airports

With Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) being the latest in tracking technologies, the Department of Homeland Security in the USA has just started testing passports embedded with RFID at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). As SFO has already been using RFID for over five years within baggage handling, Global Aviation went along to find how this technology has worked for the airport. Here both SFO and Alien Technology, who supplied the system, write about their experiences.

For more than a decade, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has actively sought high technology solutions to improve safety, security, and operational efficiency. The early adoption and application of new and emerging technologies has paved the way to a better airport in nearly every way. SFO has devoted considerable time, human and financial resources to build a robust infrastructure capable of supporting existing services and systems, as well as, providing a solid foundation on which to evaluate new and emerging technologies. RFID is clearly one of those promising technologies.

The SFO Airport management team have nurtured relationships with federal and local law agencies,airlines, other airport tenants, and technology providers to form a cohesive and functional team. This team has demonstrated its capabilities time and time again with outstanding results and is eager to tackle new program development challenges and system testing opportunities.

San Francisco International Airport has intentionally positioned itself to be the ideal location for technology programmes, product evaluation and system development. Because of SFO’s positive experience with first time technology development, new and evolving technology initiatives are constantly being evaluated and initiated.

Background of some SFO initiatives

SFO installed the first biometric (hand geometry) access control system in the country in 1991 for access control. This system has been extremely robust and is still used today.

SFO’s 100 per cent Automated Inline Baggage Explosive Detection System is the world’s largest single concentration of Explosive Detection Systems(Invision CTX9000’s) in the world. Forty-five in-line In-Vision CTX systems at 10 discreet locations are capable of screening over 75,000 bags per day and close to 10,000 bags per hour. The system is multiplexed to one On-Screen Resolution Room that needs to utilise only 10 screeners during peak operating periods. Ten baggage inspection rooms utilise targeted threat images to reduce the time it takes to physically search baggage that has alarmed.RFID is an important component of this system.

The human factors components of the programme has not only reduced manning requirements vs. a non-automated system (estimated 500-600 employees) but has improved the quality of screening through better recruiting, training and oversight.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems are rapidly gaining acceptance in a variety of business environments ranging from consumer packaged goods(CPG) and supply chain applications to asset tracking within the transportation industry. As the technology evolves and deployment expands, the cost of RFID solutions continue to drop significantly. SFO is in the process of very cautiously installing its second system having learned a number of lessons.

SFO has shown a strong interest, and made a sizeable investment, in RFID over the last 5 years. The first RFID system at SFO was installed in 2000 at a cost of US$3 million and was one of the first airport RFID systems in the world. That system, based on 2.45 GHz“passive tag” technology was designed and installed accomplish a security function in SFO’s automated system. The system functioned well but not without some difficult challenges and valuable lessons.

Over the last two years, SFO has invested in new,standards-based RFID technology for the Selected programme. The new system, based on the same UHF technology, has proven to be more reliable and less expensive than the previous 2.45 GHz system. Testing to date has delivered very high accuracy with consistently improving results as tags, readers, and configurations improve. The system is deployed in a similar way as the previous system but across many more locations. (50 CTX stations and baggage inspection rooms. Essentially, RFID provides an interface to the CTX systems for directing exception baggage to different levels of screening based upon certain security protocols. Approximately 1 million bags are tagged with RFID.

“Barcode will never impact business practices at our company”Unidentified CEO of a Major US Grocery Chain

Things that work:

Worldwide standards for aviation are just around the corner. IATA is now ably leading the airlines to tags and readers that are interoperable and based upon a single standard. Airports must pay attention to this.The standard is taking advantage a low cost tag standard led by the Consumer Product Goods (CPG)industry. If you are an airport or an airline thinking about installing a system, look for EPC (Electronic Product Code) Global or ISO (International Standards Organisation) or call Andrew Price at IATA before you do anything.

The price for “standards based” RFID is going down drastically so RFID inlays (the RFID chip attached to an antenna before they are put on a label or bag tag)are less than ten cents and readers are moving to less than a thousand dollars. These costs will continue togo down as the technology takes hold. Wal-Mart and DoD are driving this opportunity and aviation can take advantage of it.

Involving all important constituents in your RFID decision is very important. SFO’s explosive detection system was planned and organised by SFO but significantly impacted the airlines and the primary beneficiary was the TSA. (They ended up paying for most of it with a less than two-year pay back). These constituents were very involved in the decisions made.In regards to RFID, some airports have talked about return on investment because of reductions in lost baggage even though baggage claims are paid for by the airlines. In the long run the aviation value proposition will include everyone. The airlines will gain the most because of the visibility RFID will provide through their complex networks. United Airlines, for instance, who is among the best at baggage visibility using their “Bull’s eye” bar code scanning system can potential migrate to lower cost “hands free” operations using RFID. Airports will see gains also with reduced infrastructure costs because RFID readers will be less expensive, provide much better read rates and can be more extensive deployed to baggage systems for increased visibility. Huge gains are also possible for increasing security through transportation systems. Because more information is on an RFID chip than on a barcode, this information can dynamically interface with inline baggage screening devices.

Things to look out for

Thinking RFID is a mature technology that can be broadly deployed to replace older technologies like the bar code. RFID will work very well in certain environments but it is not ready for prime time despite what anyone says. “Take small bites of the elephant”with incremental small-scale projects that are built upon after comprehensive testing. In San Francisco,for example:

• Five of the 45 EDS systems were installed initially and it took the better part of a year to stabilise the system before large scale deployment took place.



• Our experience with RFID has been the same. UHF,for instance, reads very well. Too well! If you want to sequentially read bags on a conveyor when the bags (and tags) are very close together, for instance,you need to install the readers in special ways. We have solved this issue but it took quite a while. Also,it was done on a small scale so it was invisible to our stakeholders.

Proprietary “dead end” solutions. These systems,such as the one previously installed at SFO, will solve specific operational problems fairly effectively but will almost always cost a lot and be difficult to deploy into larger networks. SFO ultimately threw away the first system when significant modifications were made to its baggage system. There are some other systems out there that will meet a similar end.

Using technology because it is “sexy”. There is a lot of “buzz” about RFID and I have had a number of people say: “I want to install ‘RFID to fix an operational problem.” Application of technology, regardless of what it is, always needs to be driven by a good understanding of the process or business issue that it will solve or improve and then determining whether a certain technology is appropriate. Often times you may already have a solution provider that you have worked with that can help you identify the best way to go.

RFID is an exciting and promising technology that will likely change the landscape of material handling across a broad range of industries, including aviation,just as bar code changed everything 15 years ago. It has the potential of significantly increasing visibility through transportation systems driving greater efficiency, customer service, reduced costs for irregularities, and a much higher level of security. But this can only happen if everyone impacted by the technology works together to leverage its potential.This can be most effectively accomplished by openly sharing lessons learned. Organisation such IATA, ACI, AAAE, ATA, EPC Global, and ISO are there to help move this technology forward by sponsoring user forums, case studies, and proof of concept testing. Staying close to these organisations and participating in moving this technology forward will better prepare your organisations to effectively apply this technology and save you a lot of pain and suffering,

For more information please visit: www.flysfo.com or www.alientechnology.com