Many industries need to track people or objects efficiently, autonomously and remotely, and that’s where radio frequency identification (RFID) comes in. It provides real-time tracking, which requires the accurate collection and sharing of data.
AI is now being paired with RFID technology to help access and process larger amounts of data, leading to more accurate and stable location identification for objects that have an RFID tag. This is being seen across many industries and applications.
Pairing technologies
RFID technology is relatively simple to deploy, is relatively inexpensive yet provides a high level of security to become a key part of real-time tracking, communication and localisation methods in many industries. RFID technology locates remote objects (with an RFID tag) by measuring the received signal strength indication (RSSI) values received by an RFID reader.
RFID technology has become a staple approach in everything from retail to aerospace, defence and transportation and is now being paired with AI to improve its capabilities and overcome some of the existing limitations in RFID technology.
Automating the process leads to a higher degree of accuracy and precision in the data analysis, leading to a better understanding of the object’s location, while providing better levels of security. AI can also better predict the behaviour of objects using their RFID tag data. In some industries this can be used to predict customer demand or anticipate potential problems by looking at the current data vs the historical data.
Medical applications
There are multiple applications for AI-integrated RFID technology in the medical sector. The two main areas are in the detection and monitoring of people who enter medical facilities, and for directly monitoring patients and medical equipment.
There is an interest in creating smarter hospital infrastructure using AI-enabled RFIDs to direct and orient visitors to the right locations. It would allow all people in the building to be located and clinical personnel to individually search for people to see where they are and, if they are lost, direct them to their appointment. The RFID is used to detect people in the facility, while AI is used for planning and guiding people through the facility. For these systems to work, information on everyone entering the building needs to be recorded and saved.
Keeping track of medical equipment is also important. AI-enabled RFID saves information on the location of different pieces of equipment in a database, which is continually updated using advanced tracking technology. The RFID provides the physical tracking capabilities, while the AI can better localise the equipment and update the database to ensure that there is always an accurate catalogue of in-stock equipment for medical personnel.
AI-enabled RFID could also be a way of reducing future disease outbreaks and pandemics. During the Covid-19 pandemic smartphones informed users if they had been in close contact with another infected person. This was based on Bluetooth between users who had recorded their test data into an app. The phones would alert them when in close proximity to an infected person by transmitting a signal between phones. A similar approach can be done with AI-enabled RFID tags placed on the body. The tags can contain information about whether someone is infected or not and when two RFID tags are close to one another, the exchange of radio waves can alert someone if they have been in close contact with someone infected. The approach could be adapted for future outbreaks – local or global – but does require real-time data to be obtained from testing (but this can be accurately, managed with AI).
Manufacturing
In the manufacturing sector, combining RFID with AI helps to improve efficiency. RFID acts as the physical tracking technology, but pairing it with AI gives better localisation, prediction and tracking capabilities compared to RFID alone.
Using the two technologies together helps manufacturers to better track personnel, inventory, products, raw materials and materials handling equipment. This helps to ensure that the final products are not mishandled or sent to the wrong shipping location, while providing more strategic level insights for manufacturers to develop better understanding of their production lines and any potential product loss. AI-enabled RFID also provides a more accurate way of measuring inventory, which can help to reduce labour costs or help personnel to focus efforts on more critical tasks.
Materials handling throughout the manufacturing process and the subsequent supply chain are some of the biggest areas where AI-enabled RFID shines. While the different materials, equipment, components and products can be tagged with RFID, it is the AI that improves the efficiency of the technology and allows materials and equipment to be better tracked at all stages.
For example, it is common for forklifts and clamp-trucks to move inventory around a facility before being shipped. In large-scale facilities, there’s a large chance of error due to the scale and inventory volume, so AI-enabled RFID helps to ensure that these vehicles are not taking inventory in the wrong direction or removing goods that have already had orders placed on them (that is, are out of stock), but are being held.
Logistics
The combination of RFID and AI is helping to enhance the wider supply chain, particularly in logistics and shipping of products once they have left the manufacturing facility.
AI-enabled RFID can help to keep a better track of all packages from when they leave the factory until they reach their intended destination. The combination of the RFID tags with AI capabilities improves the data accuracy of the RFID localisation, making it easier to ship packages quickly and provide a greater traceability throughout their journey.
AI also helps to keep better note of what is in stock, which helps to reduce ordering errors and avoid shipping complications/shipping delays. The advanced AI algorithms can improve efficiency throughout the warehouse, which also helps to improve the overall speed and accuracy of the supply chain.
When it comes to shipping specifically, integrating AI into RFID technology to track packages en route can improve the safety of packages and help to suggest more optimal routes. Even if there is a lot of data to process for multiple shipments, the AI behind the RFID tags can process the data much quicker than a human can. This not only frees up manpower, but reduces human error, and allows any issues to be resolved much more quickly as they can be spotted sooner by the AI.
