Fataneh Taghaboni-Dutta

RFID Technology Is Revolutionary: Who Should Be Involved in this Game of Tag?

Executive Overview Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology represents an exciting innovation that has a great potential upside and some significant downsides as well. With its ability to track signals and store data, RFID is helping manufacturers to revolutionize supply chain management, retailers to reduce long lines in stores, and hospitals to track patients and patient files. But consumer privacy advocates are increasingly concerned by what they see as the encroachment of “big brother.” This concern, we believe, has the potential to slow or even derail future RFID applications. In order to avoid this outcome, we suggest that RFID technology has the dual responsibility to both effect efficiency and to protect privacy. In this paper we review the current trends in RFID technology, look at how manufacturers and governments are addressing consumer privacy concerns, and end with a recommendation that an alliance be created that includes manufacturers, retailers, government representatives (both as ...

A value-added approach for automated guided vehicle task assignment

Abstract Efficient material flow is essential in achieving high productivity levels. Design and control of the material handling system directly affect the efficiency of the material flow. In the case of automated guided vehicle (AGV) systems, this translates to guidepath design, AGV dispatching, scheduling, and routing. The focus of this paper is on vehicle dispatching, or vehicle task assignment, which is defined as the selection of the next load for pickup and delivery. The algorithm developed in this research is inherently a demand-driven strategy (that is, pull), which further prioritizes the loads requiring an AGV according to the value added to them as they go through the manufacturing processes. Benchmarking for several performance factors, such as throughput and flow time, through simulation experiments shows this algorithm to outperform some of the best dispatching rules reported in the literature.

An exploratory RFID patent analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to study the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology through an analysis of patents filed with and issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office. A close analysis of these clusters reveals the patent development strategies of two competing factions of RFID technology developers. This paper provides an analysis of the patents along with insights into the contents of the patents held by these two groups.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on Intermec Technologies and the RFID Patent Pool, the two major players in this domain. The comparison of Intermec Technologies and RFID Patent Pool is conducted using meta‐data analysis and patent content clustering. The methodology and approach includes data pre‐processing, key phrase extraction using term frequency‐inverse document frequency, ontology construction, key phrase correlation measurement, patent technology clustering and patent document clustering. Clusters are derived using the K‐means approa...

Congestion control policy for automated manufacturing systems

Abstract All manufacturing systems have a finite capacity beyond which the flow of parts offered to the system must be rejected or congestion would result. Congestion level in the system increases due to high levels of work in process. The consequence of congestion is inefficient part flow and machine blockage resulting in poor system performance and low productivity. This paper presents several methods of congestion control and their effect on throughput of the manufacturing system. Simulation is used to study the effectiveness of the proposed congestion control.

CHINA RFID PATENT ANALYSIS

China is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and consumers of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications. Current estimates show that China will need over 3 billion RFID tags to satisfy demand in the year 2009. The applications for RFID patents have spread across a very diverse range of inventions and in the future it is likely that most products manufactured in China will contain an RFID tag. China’s RFID industry has grown along with the demand and researchers are making significant technological advances. In this research, patent data from the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) have been used to explore RFID technology development and its trends. Patent abstracts containing the key word and phrase ‘RFID’ and ‘Radio Frequency Identification’ were collected for analysis, content extraction, and clustering. In total, 1,389 patents from the SIPO database covering the years 1995 to 2008 were retrieved and archived for analysis. Patents provide exclusive rights and legal protection for inventors, play an important role in the development and fair diffusion of technology, and contain detailed specifications necessary to define and protect the boundaries of an invention. Through patent analysis, companies monitor the development of technology and evaluate the position of potential competitors in the market. This research applies patent content analysis to map and interpret the current trends of RFID technology development in China. A patent content clustering method is used to cluster different patent documents into homogenous groups, and then technology forecasting is applied to evaluate possible market opportunities for future inventors and investors. The results suggest that the cluster called RFID wireless communication devices has entered the saturation stage and thus provides limited opportunity for development. Four other clusters; RFID concepts and applications, RFID architecture, RFID tracking implementation, and RFID transmission apparatus, have entered the mature stage. The RFID frequency and waves cluster appears to be in early growth stage with good development potential. Since the technology related to basic RFID concepts and devices has reached a mature stage in China, the research and development seems to be targeting the improvement of the RFID frequencies and waves as a means to develop more reliable RFID systems and applications.Copyright