John-Paul Kamath visited Heathrow's Terminal 3 to document the
BAA and Emirates Airline RFID baggage trial.
It is hoped that the £150,000 trial, the largest of its kind,
will reduce the number of misread bags at the airport, and
demonstrate an improvement compared with the airport’s existing
barcode tracking system.
These photographs show some of the main stages in the RFID
baggage-tracking process.
Heathrow Terminal 3 will spend £150,000 trialling Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) for six months to see if it reduces
the number of misread bags over existing barcode methods.
Emirates Airline will participate in the trail and expects to
track 50,000 bags per month. “The volume of baggage processed at
airports is increasing with more people around the world flying
each year,” said Vic Sheppard, Emirates vice president for UK and
Ireland. “Because of this, it is important to Emirates that we look
at innovation and using new baggage handling and tracking
systems.”
The chips are read as they pass through Heathrow’s baggage
system, and is expected to enable better sorting, security
screening and delivery to the aircraft. Arriving bags are read on
entry to the baggage system and receipted in a computer system for
effective tracking.
The chips contain stored information including the passengers
name and route. Unlike barcodes, RFID tags do not require line of
sight contact with a laser, which can sometimes misread barcodes if
they are crumpled or torn.
Departing passengers will be invited by BAA staff to voluntarily
register their mobile telephone details, which will enable them to
receive a text message alert on arrival at Heathrow with details of
their baggage reclaim belt.
See also:
News - Terminal 3 begins six month RFID trial