Experimental results of EPCglobal phase 2 pilot with active RFID

Passive RFID and barcode system and are adopted to supply chain market and logistic service. However, barcodes can only be read at close proximity. Passive RFID relies on RF energy transferred from the reader to the tag to power the tag, so they can be read at short distances. This limits the usage of tag for certain applications. On the other hand, active RFID that has a battery increase the read range and reliability, it is promising for supply chain management and logistics. In 2007, EPCglobal that is the global RFID standards organization announced to experiment with active and passive RFIDs attached to pallet and items from Shanghai to Long beach by air. We implemented new active RFIDs for this trial experiment. Our new active RFID has an LF (Low Frequency) module, HF (High Frequency) module, UHF (Ultra High Frequency) module, sensors, and a logger that is installed in an actual pallet for air transportation with the function to be activated and/or be slept by HF Reader. The results of the pilot confirmed that our new active RFID has the enough functions for air transportation and logistics service with low power consumption.