RFID - A Key Technology for Humanity

Back when living in the age of changing technology, many men have aimed for bigger, better things which could make one’s life much easier. While some of the bigger better things were rather small computers which could be embedded in everyday objects which we see all around us and these objects would be using wireless connections which could respond to our presence and needs without us personally guiding it to do these. This network of mobile and fixed devices would do things for us automatically and does it in a camouflaged manner that we barely even notice its presence.  Today’s systems are based on radio frequency identification or RFID technology which helps in making these dreamy vision into reality. These systems consist of data tags and of special readers that automatically receive and decode that data.

RFID or rather, the radio frequency identification is a technology where the digital data encoded in RFID tags or labels are captured by a reader via radio waves. RFID is similar to barcoding the data which is stored in a database. It has got several advantages over other systems which often uses barcode asset tracking software. The RFID belongs to a group of technologies which is referred to as Automatic Identification and Data Capture. RFID method uses radio waves to accomplish its goals. RFID mainly comprises of three components- an RFID tag or smart label, an RFID reader and an antenna.The RFID tags are said to contain a very integrated circuit and an antenna, both of which are used to transmit data to the readers which is known as an interrogator. Now we have reached the age where we can see technology in every aspect of our lives. It is possible to say that nowadays we are surrounded by tags and readers and responsive computer systems. We have reached a near future where computing could be blended invisibly into our everyday tasks. Although an important technical challenge still remains, that is years remains ahead of us before we could reap the benefits of fully realising RFID applications. Ad RFID reader and tag networks begin appearing in our environment, we see increasingly how this technology can extend the ability of the computers in combination with the internet to sense and respond to the physical world.

The RFID technology is the most popular wireless application for traceability, logistics and access control. It became an important and inevitable part of our daily life. It had standardised our technology and set a trend in various industries in our daily life.

The easy to use and the ease of access is what draws one towards the RFID technology. It had blended it in such a manner in our daily life that we start depending on it more and more without even realising it. It had brought in everything we ever wanted in our fingertips and hence one can always say RFID is always a key part of our todays humanity.

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RFID tags for waste management

We Indian’s believe that cleanliness is next to godliness. Which means that being clean, signifies spirituality and goodness. Yet, our country faces a huge challenge of waste management. One can see many streets filled with filth and dirt. 

The volume of waste generated is much larger than the amount of waste recycled. According to a report by the World Bank, India’s daily waste generation will reach 377,000 tonnes by 2025.

Waste management indirectly plays a vital role in fuelling the economy. A clean country attracts tourists from different parts of the world and helps the tourism industry generate revenue. Apart from that, proper waste management is important for the healthy living of the population, as unhygienic environment gives rise to many diseases. 

The process of waste management can be broadly categorized as follows

1. Collection

2. Transportation

3. Treatment

4.  Disposal 

Surprisingly, the problem starts from the very first process itself. Despite both the central and the state governments, allocating huge chunks of funds for the dustbins, the waste collection process always turns out to be a terrible failure in India. This improper collection of waste results in its littering of waste on roadsides and different premises, where flies breed and give rise to several diseases and infections. 

All though, there are many factors that cumulatively account for such failure, one major factor is the dustbins getting stolen. In 2018, there was an article published in Times of India which claimed that over a thousand dustbins were either stolen or damaged in the Bengaluru city. One can image the amount of economic loss which the governments bear in such situations.

In recent times, many countries have made an effort to incorporate technology in waste management. Most prominently, the use of RFID technology has made possible for the government and waste management authorities to track the stolen bins. 

In many cities, municipalities are using these tags to monitor the entire process of waste management. They can track the time and location of the waste collection from the dustbins and also when the waste is emptied. This real-time data allows the authorities to work with efficiency. Interestingly, these tags can also provide information on the amount of waste dumped and collected. 

The following are the advantages of using RFID technology in waste management at a glance- 

1. Helps in the tracking of the stolen dustbins

2. Helps in the route management of the waste container trucks

3. Provides real-time data on waste disposal and collection

4. Helps analyse the amount of waste generated on a daily basis

5 Reduces the maintenance work on recycling

   

Thus, one can conclude that improper waste management is a serious issue in India. To solve this crisis, the government spends a huge amount of money every year. But, with the incorporation of RFID technology, this process can be made more systematic. 

Being exposed to heat and moisture and RFID tags are always prone easily get damaged. Thus, Omnia Technologies produces dustbin tags which are designed in such a manner that they can resist any harsh conditions like extreme cold, heat, rains, etc.

Catering to the individual needs of the businesses, they also provide customised tags for different applications.

Rfid Based Toll Collection System

Toll collection is going cashless and electronic, and taking this innovation ahead has something to do with a tiny tag. An RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag is used to automatically identify and track tagged objects. It contains electronically stored information.  Although there are a lot of uses of RFID in different industries, the automobile industry has been one of the biggest users of RFID tags, since RFID tag attached to a vehicle can solve a lot of problems and make the commuters’ life easy. This is where the toll collection system based on RFID tags comes in.

Long queues at a toll booth lead to traffic jams and cause a lot of problem to the commuters and are also a major reason for the huge economic loss to the country as a whole. Keeping this in mind many countries across the world including India have begun using RFID tags for the process of toll collection at the toll booths. This not only leads to lesser traffic jams and faster transactions without having the need to stop which saves the valuable time of the commuters, but it also saves fuel and helps in reduced emissions by vehicles. Not only this, but it also wipes out the corruption that happened in the process of toll collection earlier. This allows all the taxpayers' money to directly reach the government without any mediators in the middle.

Now the question that arises is ‘How does an RFIDsystem work?’

An RFID tag that is attached to a car has a unique number and an account is created to keep a smart card connected for transactions and maintaining transaction history. When a car reaches a toll booth, the RFID tag comes in the range of a reader (that reads the RFID tag) that is constantly emitting a signal so that transponders entering the field wake up. Once the signal reaches your RFID tags, it wakes up and then broadcasts your unique number attached to it which is then read by the reader antenna at the toll booth that is generally mounted above the lane. The information read by the reader antenna is further transferred through a local area network to a computer, which then sends the information of the tag along with the toll location and lane information to a central computer that saves the vehicles and the drivers’ information. The ID is then matched to the driver’s account from where the toll fee is deducted.

Active tags with batteries were used earlier but since the evolution of UHF RFID tags, active tags are being replaced by passive tags which do not have a battery of their own and are battery free. In a UHF RFID, the reader emits radio waves of specific frequencies through antennas which gives energy to the RFID tag that activates with the energy and then transmits the unique code it possesses. An RFID tag is generally placed on the windshield or the headlight of the car because visibility is maximum at these points.

All the toll booths that use an RFID system are generally linked to one another forming a network where information is not only restricted to one booth but floats about freely in every booth. If a person has an insufficient balance and crosses a booth without paying. The reader will take the information from the RFID tag and then transfer it to the centralised computer which will broadcast it to every booth that if the RFID tag comes within the range of another reader, the driver is diverted to the cash lane where he can pay the previous amount and the amount that is required to cross the booth right now. The person can also recharge his account and pay the previous bill as his account would be negative if he crosses a booth with insufficient balance.

This also solves the problem of theft of vehicles because if a person reports the theft of a vehicle that has an RFID tag, the authorities can track the vehicle if it crosses any toll booths and identification can be made because every RFID number is unique and the unique number would be broadcasted to the reader as soon as it comes in range with the reader.