SUMMARY
TagMaster North America (TMNA), the leading provider of intelligent identification solutions partnered with smart-Tecs to deploy a long-range RFID solution complementing their GOS and OCR systems to automate and optimize gate operations at port terminals to move trucks transporting containers in and out of their facilities with greater speed and efficiency.
CHALLENGE
Truck throughput is essential to port and terminal operations, enabling containers to move in and out quickly and efficiently. Technology and automation are used to increase truck throughput, and one of the many gate processes smart-Tecs’ OCR solution automates is data collection and verification. Through OCR technology, information such as container numbers, are extracted from images taken of trucks as they approach or exit terminals. This information is automatically recorded and used to expedite gate entry and exit procedures. While OCR is a key feature of gate automation, the amount of information collected is limited to what can be recognized in images, which can be obscured by weather conditions. Data collection is also limited to one truck at a time, as they drive through the field view of the camera.
SOLUTION
TMNA brings more than 25 years of experience in the vehicle identification market, with a proven product line of long-range RFID and License Plate Recognition (LPR) technologies. smart-Tecs brings over 20 years of experience providing gate and terminal automation solutions to the marine transportation industry.
The TMNA LR-series microwave frequency RFID readers deployed for this project are designed to outperform in the most demanding marine environments while providing unparalleled accuracy, range, and performance. The highly secure MarkTag Classic RFID tags are mounted onto the truck windshields and the RFID readers are mounted at the OCR portals and kiosks. 2.45GHz long-range RFID technology offers highly defined and directional reads. This ensures immediate hands-free access and tracking without truck drivers having to interact with the system and provides critical OCR and WIM data matching to kiosk lanes. TMNA’s intelligent RFID solution provides near 100% accuracy that helps ports and terminals make data driven decisions in conjunction with the smart-Tecs GOS and OCR systems.
CONCLUSION
The combined solution further enables automation, increasing productivity and efficiency to optimize truck throughput. Unlike cameras used for OCR, there are no weather limitations obscuring images and multiple tags can be read at a time using the TMNA long-range RFID solution. Additional gate procedures can also be automated and streamlined as more data can be captured through RFID tags. Truck throughput is mission critical to the marine transportation industry. Always committed to developing innovative solutions for their customers, TagMaster NA and smart-Tecs’ combined GOS, OCR and RFID solutions improve gate operations to optimize truck throughput, enabling containers to move in and out of terminals quickly and safely.
TagMaster NA Products:
LR-6 Pro
The LR-6 Pro is a versatile, all-purpose 2.45 GHz RFID Reader with a read range up to 20 feet.
XT-5 UHF Reader
The XT-5 “all-in-one” RFID UHF Reader offers a read range of up to 30 feet.
CT-45 Camera
CT-45 Camera, a license plate recognition lpr camera with dual lens, infrared, captures plate as close as 10 feet, auto focus with motorized zoom software for 24/7 plate reads.