Title: On the use of passive UHF RFID tags in the pharmaceutical supply chain: a novel enhanced tag versus high-performance commercial tags

Authors: Luca Catarinucci; Riccardo Colella; Luigi Patrono

Addresses: Department of Innovation Engineering, Salento University, Via Monteroni, Lecce 73100, Italy ' Department of Innovation Engineering, Salento University, Via Monteroni, Lecce 73100, Italy ' Department of Innovation Engineering, Salento University, Via Monteroni, Lecce 73100, Italy

Abstract: Item-level RFID-based tracing systems are of growing interest both from industrial and scientific standpoints. In such a context, the choice of the most adequate RFID tag, in terms of shape, frequency, size and reading range, is crucial. The potential presence of items containing materials hostile to the electromagnetic propagation exacerbates the problem. In addition, the peculiarities of the different RFID-based checkpoints make the requirements for the tag even more stringent. In this work, the performance of several commercial UHF RFID tags in each step of the pharmaceutical supply chain has been evaluated, confirming the foreseen criticality. On such basis, a guideline for the electromagnetic design of new high-performance tags capable of overcoming such criticalities has been defined. Finally, driven by such guidelines, a new enhanced tag has been designed, realised and tested, demonstrating that high performance item-level tracing systems can actually be implemented also in critical operating conditions.

Keywords: performance evaluation; radio frequency identification; RFID tags; supply chain management; SCM; ultra-high frequency; UHF tags; item-level tracing; pharmaceutical supply chains; electromagnetic design; high-performance tags.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRFITA.2013.054663

International Journal of Radio Frequency Identification Technology and Applications, 2013 Vol.4 No.2, pp.122 - 137

Received: 09 Dec 2010
Accepted: 16 Jun 2011
Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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