Various Standards Of RFID Applied In Textile Industry (Essay Sample)

RFID STANDARDS IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY
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RFID Standards in Textile Industry
Radio Frequency identification (RFID) refers to the technology that uses electromagnetic flied to identify automatically as well as track tags that are attached to objects, (Senthilkumar & Kumar, 2014) while the tags attached on those objects that have electronically stored information that can not only be detected but also read as well as be interpreted using radio waves. There are two main types of RFID that include those with active tags and passive tags (Angell & Kietmann, 2006). Furthermore, there are five classified standards of RFID and these include; class one which is simple passive read only backscatter tag containing single time field that is programmable and with non-volatile memory. Class two contain a semi-passive backscatter tag containing approximately 65kb of read and write memory. Class three is semi-passive backscatter tag containing up to 65KB read as well as write memory having a built in battery to enhance reading range. Class four is an active tag that has built in battery to operate the microchip circuit as well as to operate the transmitter that conveys signal to the reader and finally the fifth class which is an active tag with the capability of communicating with other tags as well ass other devices.
In regard to Textile industries all these five standards can be used in operation, however, considering the fact that these industries are large in size, with many employees as well as warehouses where the textile products are stores, active RFID tags are mostly used and these include the class four and five respectively. For instance, these standards are used in tracking of employees by knowing where they are at a specific time. Again, due to cases of constrained movement of employees moving textile products within the factory environment and in the warehouse, the standards are used since they have the capability of detecting RFID tagged employees approaching the a security door, facilitating the automatic opening of the door hence allowing the employees transporting packages or trolleys to move in and out efficiently. According to Senthilkumar & Kumar (2014) the RFID standards eliminates issues related to production in the warehouse and quality control by facilitating automatic tracking of garments fitted with carton labels enabling a start in RFID information trail while the RFID inlet is placed in the carton label by the brand label supplier which facilitate checking out production output, quality assurance and confirmation of the accuracy of shipment from factory to the warehouse.
The standards help to solve problems with Fabric Lot storage and retrieval in Textile industry due to limited machine capacity in the wet processing units that lead to fabric ordering problems that may demand various numbers of lots with every lot having its specific shade, hence bringing every lot to the garment stitching process so as to control the variation of shades and mix up of the products which is controlled by either passive or active tags are fixed to the outside of cores of rolls having fabric thus increasing the rate at which fabric stock taking process is undertaken. The standards are used to solve problems related to poor handling of customer demand as well as high discounting problems in textile store and shipment whereby in case the standards are not used, the problem can lead to delay in shipment of textile products and dissatisfaction on the side of customers whose orders fail to arrive on time due to inefficiencies.
RFID overview
The RFID system has three key elements that include; a tag that is also called transponder, reader that is also called interrogator whose function is to read the signal and the controller also called host ( Senthilkumar & Kumar, 2014). The tags contain an integrated circuit connected to the antenna that is made up of a small coil of wire enclosed with protective packaging of plastic cards. The data which is read by the reader is retained in the IC and then conveyed via the antenna to a reader. On the contrary, the RFID tags can either be passive which means they lack battery but have the ability to operate within small range or the tags can be active which means they are powered by battery and they have the ability of operating over a large range of distance.
Benefits and demerits of RFID in Textile industry
RFID standards have numerous benefits in the textile industry and these include; tracking of textile products; These standards are essential since industry inserts tags on hospital uniforms that can be accessed by hospital employees using their RFID enabled tags which has been a great success in the textile industry.
The standards facilitate tracking of the movement of employees in the factory; this ensures that each employee attends to their work station as demanded, hence facilitating high productivity and also the control and monitoring of textile material. Merchandising is another benefit which entails leveling of stock across various textile ...