EPC/RFID technology has been developing for over five years and is entering new areas of application, offering more comprehensive solutions. The leading organization that, on one hand, ensures the development of EPCglobal standards and, on the other, supports the implementation of new technology based on radio identification, is GS1.
The “Logistyka” magazine has written many times about EPC/RFID technology as well as market implementations. However, for readers encountering this for the first time, and as a reminder for those who have already come across the concept of EPC/RFID technology, here are a few words about the structure of the EPCglobal network, its elements, and standards.
The new system of standards, which combines RFID technology, existing communication network infrastructure, and the Electronic Product Code (EPC), enables immediate and automatic identification and tracking of the movement and origin of a unit throughout the supply chain on a global scale.
Due to the functionality of individual elements, the EPCglobal network can be divided into 3 main areas: data identification, data collection, and data exchange.
A tag placed on an object (e.g., a pallet, a collective package) equipped with an antenna is excited by radio waves, and the information recorded in the form of an EPC code is read by a reader and sent to middleware based on the ALE standard. This software acts as an interface between the company’s internal IT system (e.g., WMS, ERP) and EPCIS (EPC Information Service), allowing us to locate where an object is at any given moment. EPCIS provides information about objects equipped with a company’s EPC code and communicates with other companies’ EPCIS via ONS (Object Naming Service). EPCIS communicates with ONS using the PML language, and the information exchange environment is the Internet.
The article focuses mainly on several of the most important, currently ongoing international projects led by national GS1 organizations from Europe. Worth noting is an interesting pilot project for the TSL industry, currently being implemented on the Netherlands-Japan route. The project partners are large companies – logistics operators such as DHL and Nippon Express, as well as software and hardware solution providers: NTT, SATO, NEC, while the project leaders are national GS1 organizations: Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. This project aims to improve the flow of cargo between continents and mainly concerns sea and air transport. The project implementation began in 2007. At that time, it was Phase I of the project, which concerned transport between Hong Kong and Japan. Handheld readers located in transshipment terminals and directly on ships were used to read tags located on containers. This phase of the project was related exclusively to sea transport. In 2008, Phase II was completed, which in turn concerned air transport between China and the USA. In this case, handheld readers were also used, and additionally, active tags. Since the end of 2008, Phase III of the project has been underway. Sea transport between Japan and the Netherlands is supported in the area of identification by EPC tags. For the first time in this project, readers installed permanently (RFID gates) in transshipment terminals were used. However, the most important element that was not implemented in the previous stages of the project is the scope of information recorded in the radio tag. While in the previous stages of the project, SSCC numbers were used to mark pallets and GIAI numbers to mark containers, the current stage uses the UCR number (Unique Consignment Reference, compliant with the ISO 15418 standard), expressed using a GS1 identifier called GSIN (Global Shipment Identification Number), which identifies a virtual grouping of logistics units. From the first phase of the project, EPCIS was used as a tool for exchanging information about cargo status, as well as for tracking it in the supply chain.
The article comes from the “Logistyka” magazine 3/2009.