The case for mobile RFID scanning solutions

I’m going to write this from a developer’s perspective, but don’t worry it isn’t going to be very technical. If you are looking for more information on what RFID is check out our RFID FAQ. RFID is a much touted technology that has not entirely fulfilled it’s potential. If you are contemplating using RDIF functionality in your mobile application you need to understand it’s strengths and weaknesses. It is far more accessible today than in the past.

RFID affordability

Traditionally RFID has worked very well in closed-loop (on-premise) applications. For example, RFID tagging items and tracking their presence through an internal process, imagine a stock count of assets in a location. Until recently RFID has not been an affordable proposition for field operations in South Africa. This has changed because of the following reasons:

RFID tagging your assets

So what’s the catch? Well RFID reading isn’t a perfect science. When you pull the trigger on the RFID reader it reads or scans all the tags that are within range. This is dependent on the proximity of the scanner’s RFID reader and the quality of the RFID tags’ antennae. When an RFID reader reads or scans an RFID tag it returns an RSSI measurement – the Received Signal Strength Indicator. Occasionally given two tags, tag A which is closer to the RFID reader, and tag B which is further away, a reader will pick up tag B before tag A. So tag B has a higher RSSI than tag A. This means you cannot always infer the proximity of the asset by the RSSI signal. This underscores the need for a strict methodology when applying RFID tags to assets. When you RFID tag an asset for the first time, you have to isolate the RFID tag intended for the target asset from all the other tags you have on you (to be used to tag other assets). For the initial asset identification you must ensure you have correctly captured the RFID tag attached to an asset by placing the unused RFID tags in a shielded container.

RFID scanning

Once you have your assets RFID tagged you can pull the trigger on your RFID scanner and identify all the assets very quickly. In a matter of seconds you can verify that all the requisite assets are at a specific location. This is a much faster alternative to scanning barcodes. Imagine RFID tagging all important equipment in an ambulance and then verifying that they exist by doing a quick RFID scan.

Finally you should consider what to do when you perform an RFID scan and find that you have missing assets or extra “unexpected” assets. When an asset is missing you probably want the system to automatically log it and send out a notification to the relevant person.