Securing the Homeland: RFID at the Port of NY

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Securing the HomelandRFID at the Port of NY NJ

• Information Technology Association of America
  (ITAA)
• November 30, 2004

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What is RFID?

• Technology that uses radio frequency (waves) to
  automatically identify an individual item with a
  unique identifier.
• Data is stored on a micro chip connected to an
  antenna that transmits information to a reader.
• Requires a tag (micro chip and antenna) and an
  interrogator (reader)
• Interrogators can be hand-held devices or fixed
  readers

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Current Uses

• Department of Defense (DOD)
• In-Transit Visibility Network (ITVN)
• U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Drug wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers by
  mid-2005
• Asset Tracking
• Chassis
• Rail Cars
• Trucker Appointment and Identification Systems
• Nogales Border Crossing
• Port of Long Beach
• Wal-Mart
• Package level tracking
• Required of all suppliers by January 2005

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Concerns to Industry

• Physical
• Multiple reads of a single tag or multiple tags
  read by a single reader
• Durability of tags
• Limited read range
• Limited battery life
• Limitations of use on certain packaging (e.g.
  liquid containers)
• Cost
• Tags and readers
• Training
• Operational
• Infrastructure (terminal space) required for
  readers
• Reengineering business processes
• Health risks to labor
• Lack of standards
• Proprietary technology
• Need the ability to track from one country to
  another and among companies
• Frequency Protocols

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Commercial ROI

• Increased security
• Theft protection
• Reduced labor costs
• Enhanced supply chain visibility
• Improved product availability

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Questions?