NEWS
Airport operator BAA is preparing to kick off an RFID luggage-tracking trial at Heathrow.
Back in the summer the track and trace pilot was slated for a September launch but although all the necessary equipment for the trial has been installed it has yet to be switched on, according to a BAA executive.
Speaking at a roundtable event in London to discuss BAA's wireless strategy, enterprise architect Jonathan Prizeman said the trial will kick off "any day now" and said the organisation is looking at RFID, adding "but for us it's about fitness for purpose".
While the industry may tend to want RFID for everything, Prizeman said "quite often, barcodes are adequate".
The proliferation of wireless technologies in its airport environments has led BAA to work with wireless professional services provider Red-M, to ensure the various systems are able to operate with minimal interference to each other.
Prizeman said: "The ultimate aim of merging all radio infrastructure [on a common infrastructure] is that everyone who wants to use radio systems is able to do so."
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
"While the industry may tend to want RFID for everything, Prizeman said "quite often, barcodes are adequate"."
Good to see this very sensible comment from somebody who is involved. RFID is not a panacea - knowing precisely where a lost bag IS may still not enable you to be sure it makes the connection it should. And since RFID tags have to be in the reader area to be detected - there are still plenty of other places where they can go missing!