Wednesday, June 06, 2018

New RFID tech could spell end for lost airport baggage

An Italian company has developed a new tagging technology that uses RFID chips to track luggage in real time at every stage of the transfer, an advance that may put an end to lost or delayed baggage which cost airlines billions of dollars each year and pose security risks.

According to a report by the aviation IT specialist, SITA, 5.73 bags per thousand passengers went astray in 2016. Recovering and returning lost bags cost the aviation industry USD 2.1 billion in 2016.

Using the technology, scanners on conveyor belts can scan the radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to the bag and reroute them if they have been sent in the wrong direction, a vast improvement on barcode hand scanning, which has been the industry standard since the '90s.

The technology is already in use at the Hong Kong and the Las Vegas airports, according to Gabriele Ruggiere, Head of Aviation at Custom Group, the company which is supplying printers to over 300 airports in the world, including 16 in India.

Delta is the first airline to use RFID baggage tagging at a large scale, Ruggiere told PTI in an interview at their global headquarters here.

"The direct printing of RFID tags on the baggage tags allows tracing the suitcases during their whole path, reducing to the minimum the risk of loss or delay with the delivery, including security too," Ruggiere said.

The technology is embedded in the ticket printer that the company has developed. A special tagging paper with an RFID chip is used for the purpose.
06/06/18 PTI/India Today
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