May/June 2005

It should soon be possible to track pallets, cases or even individual items inside containers or truck bodies remotely in real time, using a combination of GPS-based trailer tracking and active RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.

This is the aim behind an agreement struck by two suppliers - OxLoc, a UK-based telematics specialist, and Wavetrend, an RFID supplier.

Normally vehicle or trailer tracking does not explicitly monitor the goods being carried, although it can do so by cross-reference to predefined cargo manifests held back at base.

RFID tagging does allow digital data about individual load units to be stored with them and monitored in the course of their movements, but usually monitoring is confined to set points in the supply chain where RFID readers or portals are situated.

 

OxLoc and Wavetrend are combining these two technologies, allowing OxLoc's remote tracking and communication system to capture data stored in RFID tags within the load itself, and transmit the details back to base along with other tracking data, no matter where the container is. The data will be delivered via the Internet.

Metal-sided containers can prove a challenge for lower-power passive RFID tags, but for this application Wavetrend plans to use high-powered active tags, which incorporate their own power source, and can transmit up to 100 metres in some circumstances.

Both companies are experienced in using compact, high-powered batteries that can last several years before needing replacement. OxLoc chief executive Keith Dobson says a classic application for the system would be where users want to interrogate containers held in docks at distant points of the globe.