Monday, September 27, 2010

RFID and Energy Policy

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a method of identification of an object by attaching a tag into the object. The RFID uses radio frequency to communicate. Some tags not only communicate, but they store the data and information.This technology belongs to the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC). AIDC involves bar code, magnetic ink character, optical character recognition (OCR) and electronic article surveillance.

In the 1960 the US government started to use this technology for tracking and monitoring nuclear and certain other hazardous materials. Nowadays, as Wal-Mart and Department of Defence (DOD) started to use the RFID technology in supply chain management, its popularity has increased in the business community. Both Wal-Mart and DOD use passive RFID tags.

The RFID-based solutions can increase the efficiency of business processes. In the field of energy policy, the
RFID applications are useful for the tracking of assets replacement, utilization and loss. Furthermore it monitors the usage and losses among the lines. The use of RFID chips to label containers is an excellent solution for the inventory and shipment of the materials. Each drums has its own ID, so it is easy to follow the whole process and the information is stored in the database. The RFID technology helps to identify the date on which materials were generated and to determine whether they were hazardous or not.

The most desirable outcome of RFID technology and wireless technology are low-cost, high-benefit and large return on invested capital. However, the above mentioned applications require an understanding on hardware and software knowledge.



Main source: Dipankar S., Proesnjit S., Anand M. Das: RFID for energy and utility industry

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