A standard test protocol for evaluation of radio frequency identification systems for supply chain applications

In this research, a test protocol was developed and validated with eight different radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. These systems were evaluated with respect to basic performance parameters in their abilities to carry out shipping and receiving operations in the warehouse receiving process. Two major categories of tests were administered: laboratory baseline performance tests and warehouse passive interference tests. The protocol evaluated RFID systems on such performance characteristics as the effective capture zone, tag orientation requirements, tag separation requirements, performance on conveyors and forklifts, performance when covered by stretch wrap or shrink wrap, performance when attached to different types of containers containing different types of solid materials or liquids, and so forth. Results of this research showed that one of the systems was able to meet several of the requirements for shipping and receiving in a warehouse environment, but none of the systems was able to meet all of the requirements for performance in this application. Additionally, the test protocol and results led to the adoption of a UHF frequency (915 MHz) as the American National Standard for passive RFID systems.