THE PROMISE OF RFID-BASED SENSORS IN THE PERISHABLES

SUPPLY CHAIN

Presented by TTW, RFID Lab, IECS, FCU 2012.12.17

DURSUN DELEN AND RAMESH SHARDA, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITYBILL C. HARDGRAVE, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

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Introduction

• The perishables supply chain, in particular, needs help.– The loss of perishable products: $35 billion annually– customers cite dissatisfaction with product freshness– the number of food recalls is increasing at an alarming rate

• The challenges of perishable goods supply chain management.– high number of product variations with different perishability

characteristics– large volumes of goods handled over long distance product

shipments

• RFID-BASED SENSORS– “where is my product” and “what is the condition of my product.”

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RFID-BASED SENSORS

• Semi-passive tags• With respect to data collection, there are several

alternatives:– Periodic polling

• sensor is set to record the temperature at specified intervals– Conditional recording

• Tags may be set to record only when preset conditions are reached

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An Example Of Periodic Polling

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System Architecture

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Back-End TierDatabaseBusiness analytics software modules

Gateway TierConnection/communicationReplacementXML

Front-End Tier: Includes RFID-based sensors, data storage mechanisms, and readers

Energy efficiencyTimeliness and reliabilityAccuracyScalability and flexibility

Using RFID-Based Sensors In The Perishables Supply Chain

• Pre-transportation– Initialization: Erases the existing memory and resets the clock– Calibration: Tags is functioning within their specified limits– Effective temperature accuracy of approximately ±0.18°C – Placing tag in an environmental chamber for a 24-hr period and

modifying the temperature– deviation more than 0.20°C was discarded

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Using RFID-Based Sensors In The Perishables Supply Chain(Cont.)

• During transportation– Tags used periodic polling to collect data during transportation– Each temperature data point was stored on the tag

• Post-transportation– Data was downloaded from each tag and consolidated, validated

(e.g.,did a tag record abnormally high or low temperatures that would indicate a malfunctioning tag),and analyzed in a variety of ways

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TEST 1: BANANAS FROM SOUTH AMERICA

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Ideal Air Flow In a Container

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TEST 2: BAGGED LEAFY VEGETABLES FROM THE U.S. WEST COAST

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Challenges

• Front-end tier– Starting and stopping of tags: Manually– Tag calibration: Temperature and time– Multisensor environments

• Requiring an organization to install multiple architectures is neither scalable nor flexible(such as semi-passive temperature sensors and passive tags for identification)

• Back-end tier– Capturing data is easy; turning data into useful, actionable

information is hard– Sensors are just another data carrier– After the fact

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Challenges(Cont.)

• Gateway tier– Handling data from a variety of sources is very difficult: WSN will

contain a variety of sensor types

• Every RFID-based sensor used for our applications utilized a proprietary communications protocol– tags and readers from different manufacturers– Standards must exist

• Calculating the return on investment (ROI) for new technologies

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Conclusion

• Companies will not only know where the product is/was, but can have insight into the conditions faced by that product as it passed through the supply chain.

• Leading to higher quality and safer products for the consumer.

An Information Management System Concept for Food Recycling

Presented by TTW, RFID Lab, IECS, FCU 2012.12.17

Rei Itsuki, Norihiko KotaniDepartment of Information TechnologyFaculty of Infrastructural Technologies

Hiroshima International University5-1-1, Hirokoshingai, Kure, 737-0112 Japan

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Introduction

• Recycling Chain Management(RCM) System is needed.– Supply chain management(SCM) is intensified,

• production efficiency rises• large quantities of products pour onto the market.

– When products are used, how should they be collected, reutilized, disposed, and managed?

– Food recycling chain management system using the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

– Using RFID tags and introducing it into the field of SCM• Making production efficiently• Labor-saving • Step toward achieving a recycling-oriented society.

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Problems In RCM:Time Consumption of Data Collection

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The collection data is input to the computer to being managed on the computer.

Problems in RCM

• It is difficult to manage both information from production to sales and information since it sells.

• RCM information exists dispersedly to an individual trader in the marketing channel.

• The price of the RFID tag is often considered as a bottle neck of system construction.

• Physical specification of the RF-ID tag is different in each vender.

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Tasks In RCM Support System Development

• To establish the system to collection data from the market of the material certainly and efficiently.

• To construct the RCM support system while adjusting participation person's interests in the recycling chain.

• To raise the commercial value of the recycling thing, and to give the consumer the sense of security.

• To give additional values to the RFID tag using.

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RCM Support System Architecture

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Utilization Of RFID Tag With Sensor

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Data Management By Using RFID Tags

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Conclusion

• It explained a necessary function for the support system to materialize RCM support system.– Information gathering system that used the

RFID tag with the sensor function– The unitary management method of recycle

business information– The unitary information management method

by the information management center.– The method of indicating RCM situation by

using a public Web site.

Comments

• There are many other ways we could also look at the data, such as longitude and latitude, where we can see what happens to the temperature over time.

• RFID-based sensors offer the opportunity to better understand the conditions of perishables as they pass through the supply chain.

• The information is transparent during transportation for consumer a safety and quality products.

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