Reliability test of a RIFD system for tool management on construction sites

摘要

In the construction industry, one of the aspects that affect the productivityof the construction crew is the availability of tools and supplies. Unavailability oftools and supplies results in a delay of the project, which in turn increases thecost of the project. If any such delays on job sites could be reduced, it wouldhelp the construction industry in reduction of time and cost losses. Theconstruction industry is in need of a technology that would improve the presentdaytool management system (TMS) to reduce the construction costs fromdelays in projects.Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology offers the possibilitythat tools and supplies, tagged with RFID devices, could be tracked downautomatically. Although the potential of RFID is real, it does have limitationslike any other technology. Without understanding and working with thelimitations of RFID, this technology may disappoint many before its true andsignificant capabilities are realized. Before the technology is executed fullfledged,it needs to be tested for reliability on construction sites in particular.Researchers, from many parts of the world, have performed tests to understand the reliability of the RFID technology considering variables like metalinterferences, reading range, multiple tag identification, etc. But these testsconducted could not discuss all the factors that may affect the reliability of thetechnology.This paper identifies other factors that might affect the reliability of RFIDtechnology and tests are conducted to understand the influence of these factorson the readability of the RFID tags. Number of tools and the velocity with whichtools are taken across the portal are two variables that are tested for reliability ofRFID. Tests are conducted using the experiment setup that resembles aconstruction site tool management room entrance/exit.Results show a radical decrease in the readability of tags, while thenumbers of the tools are increased gradually. And also, when the tools weretaken across the RFID portal with gradual increasing velocity, the readabilityreduced. These results prove that both the tested parameters have an effect onthe reliability of RFID technology for tool tracking.