’

Tech Brief

Santa Teresa RFID E-Screening
 

Demonstration Project Evaluation 


Programs of the Federal Motor Carrier 

Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

encompass a range of issues and 

disciplines, all related to motor carrier 

safety and security. FMCSA's Office of 

Analysis, Research and Technology 

defines a “research program” as any 

systematic study directed toward fuller 

scientific discovery, knowledge, or 

understanding that will improve safety, 

and reduce the number and severity of 

commercial motor vehicle crashes. 

Similarly, a “technology program” is a 

program that adopts, develops, tests, 

and/or deploys innovative driver and/or 

vehicle best safety practices and 

technologies that will improve safety 

and reduce the number and severity of 

commercial motor vehicle crashes. An 

“analysis program” is defined as 

economic and environmental analyses 

done for the agency's rulemakings, as 

well as program effectiveness studies, 

state-reported data quality initiatives, 

and special crash and other motor 

carrier safety performance-related 

analyses. A “large truck” is any truck 

with a Gross Vehicle Weight rating or 

Gross Combination Weight rating of 

10,001 pounds or greater. 

Currently, FMCSAs Office of Analysis, 

Research and Technology is 

conducting programs in order to 

produce safer drivers, improve safety 

of commercial motor vehicles, produce 

safer carriers, advance safety through 

information-based initiatives, and 

improve security through safety 

initiatives. The analyses described in 

this Tech Brief were designed and 

developed to support the strategic 

objective to produce safer drivers. The 

primary goal is to provide an analysis 

of the economic benefits, expected 

costs, and industry returns on 

investment for the safety systems 

described herein 

Office of Analysis, Research and 

Technology 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION 

FMCSA Contact: Jeff Loftus (MC-RRT) 202-385-2363 

Thousands of Mexico-domiciled commercial motor vehicles cross into the United States 

daily through International Border Crossings (IBCs) in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, 

and California. Most are permitted to travel only in U.S. Commercial Zones, extending 

3 to 20 miles north of the municipalities on the U.S.-Mexican border. The truck drops or 

unloads the trailer at a warehouse in this area, turns around, reloads—or picks up 

another trailer in Mexico—and makes one or more additional northbound trips a day. 

These trucks are processed through a facility operated by U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection (CBP) and then through clearance conducted by State Motor Carrier Safety 

Assistance Program (MCSAP) agencies and Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA) inspectors. The inspectors are tasked with ensuring that 

Mexican vehicles meet safety and compliance requirements related to: 

• Driver credentials—commercial driver’s license (CDL) status, class, and
 

restrictions.
 

• Federal operating authority status. 

• Proof of insurance at the appropriate coverage level. 

State MCSAP agencies are also concerned with validating: 

• Mexican vehicle registration status. 

• Compliance with State size and weight limitations. 

• Other, State-specific requirements. 

At present, State and FMCSA inspection selection and clearance processes at 

virtually all sites are manual—limited in efficiency and “coverage,” as they may 

require parking a vehicle and bringing driver and paperwork into an office, which 

can take up to 15 minutes. Even if handheld devices are used (obviating the need to 

park), verifications can take several minutes. 

Overview of the Project 

This project sought to determine whether utilizing radio frequency identification 

device (RFID) transponders to screen and identify drivers and vehicles, in 

conjunction with an electronic database and screening algorithm to verify 

compliance with safety and credential compliance requirements, would be feasible 

and increase efficiency. 

The Santa Teresa, NM, port of entry was selected as the demonstration test site 

because it is low-volume (~120–140 trips per day), staffed 5.5 days/week with a full 

complement of FMCSA border inspectors and State MCSAP officers, where new 

technologies can be tested and evaluated more quickly than at higher-volume sites. 

RFID technology was selected because 80–90 percent of trucks entering the United 

States from Mexico are already equipped with RFID transponders issued by CBP— 

either Free and Secure Trade (FAST) transponders or User Fee transponders. Hence, 

participants did not need a second vehicle ID device. This allowed eventual interface of 

the e-screening system with the subset of the International Trade Data System data 

already being exchanged between CBP and FMCSA. 
Concept of Operations 

For purposes of evaluation, the demonstration test ran from March 5, 2007, when vehicle enrollment 

was initiated, to May 12, 2007, when the last transaction statistics were downloaded. Fourteen carriers 

agreed to participate. Among them, 100 trucks and five drivers were enrolled in the system. More than 

5,500 transponder reads were recorded during the 10-week period; of those, more than 2,400 involved 

enrolled transponders. By the end of vehicle enrollment, on a daily basis, 56 percent of the reads were 

enrolled reads. 

An RFID reader at the Santa Teresa Port captured the transponder identification number (ID) from the 

FAST or User Fee tag and read the transponder number from the driver ID cards. The transponder IDs 

were then transmitted to the screening system, whose Roadside Operations Computer (ROC) displayed 

transponder number, basic identifying information about the driver or vehicle, and the results of the 

screening decision. Vehicles were screened to validate: 

• Currency of truck CVSA decal, and currency of truck registration. 

• Federal operating authority status of carrier operating the vehicle. 

• Current insurance. 

• For driver tags, CDL status. 

If the screening showed that either vehicle or driver was not enrolled in the program, an alarm 

sounded, and a New Mexico Department of Public Safety, Motor Transportation Division (MTD) 

officer or FMCSA inspector parked the truck, noted the issue date of the CVSA decal, and examined 

the driver’s paperwork for enrollment and verification. When that driver or truck next entered the 

Santa Teresa Port, the RFID reader transmitted the vehicle and driver ID numbers to the screening 

system, triggering a query to the local database: 

• Where the query resulted in a “pass” (vehicle/driver were compliant for all factors verified by 

the e-screening system), the inspector could wave the vehicle on or inspect it for compliance. 

• Where the query resulted in a “fail” (vehicle/driver were noncompliant for one or more factors 

verified by the system), the ROC sounded an alarm and showed a “fail” message and the 

underlying reasons. 

Table 1 details the findings of the baseline evaluation observation/staged events conducted on-site 

over a 6-hour period on February 27, 2007. These observations/events established a series of 

benchmarks against which to evaluate the findings of the demonstration test. 

Major Findings 

The demonstration project was designed to demonstrate, using the transponders used by CBP, the 

potential value of e-screening in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the safety/compliance 

verification and inspection selection processes at secondary IBC facilities. Results indicate that the 

technology performed reliably and as expected, and the demonstration met the objectives defined in 

five of the six hypotheses; results for the final hypothesis were inconclusive. Table 2 summarizes the 

project’s hypotheses and discusses related results. 

Limitations of Operational Concept 

From a technical and operational standpoint, the system performed as intended. However, there are 

key limitations to use of the system when considering “full-service” e-screening needs: 

• Currency of truck CVSA decal. 

• On-site enrollment is time-consuming. 

• An on-site enrollment process requiring manual updates in the field limits data currency and 

may result in false “fail” reads. 

• There was no way to identify the trailer electronically, or to verify the currency of the trailer’s 
Table 1. Baseline Evaluation Findings

Criteria Measure Comments

Average daily trip volume 120–140 trips per day

Average full 237 per month Based on number of Level 1 inspections conducted

safety/compliance checks January–March 2007 observations indicate that,

per month generally, a full compliance check is conducted for

all elements included in e-screening verification only

when officers are conducting an inspection.

Time required to 15 minutes Requires parking vehicle, bringing driver and

manually verify all factors paperwork into office, querying multiple databases

considered by e- to verify information on paper forms as well as

screening system Federal operating authority; CDL status.

Vehicle processing 92 trucks processed in 6- Average of 27 minutes out of productive service for

hour period. 18 selected

for further inspection; 5

were found fully compliant;

13 were found out-offully compliant trucks.

service or in violation.

Table 2. Hypotheses Underlying Demonstration and Related Results

Premise Tested Results

RFID Technology can be used to reliably The RFID readers and tags used in the demonstration project performed

identify vehicles/drivers at ramp speeds reliably (99+% read rate). 

In-station e-screening can reduce the Full electronic verification of enrolled vehicles was routinely accomplished

time required to process vehicles for via the e-screening system in less than 1 second, vs. 15 minutes required

inspection selection, resulting in to manually verify all items checked by the screening system.

productivity improvements for both

inspectors and carriers 

In-station e-screening has the potential to The Baseline evaluation showed that, on average, 237 vehicles per month

increase the number of vehicles/drivers were subject to full safety/compliance verifications of all criteria included in

routinely subject to full compliance the e-screening system. Subsequent to e-screening system

verification. implementation, the number of vehicles screened for full compliance was

increased to an average of 965 vehicles per month, an increase of 307%.

In-station e-screening focuses limited The system identified compliant/noncompliant vehicles more than 99

enforcement resources on noncompliant/ percent of the time, enabling officers to focus their efforts on vehicles with

unknown vehicles/drivers “fail” reads and those that are not transponder-equipped.

In-station e-screening has the potential to Average time saved per vehicle when distributed among all vehicles in the

reduce processing time for compliant queue was 1.8 minutes per vehicle.

vehicles

In-station e-screening provides the

potential to increase capacity/throughput 

Traffic volumes at Santa Teresa were too low to draw significant

conclusions—positive or negative—regarding this hypothesis. 
CVSA decal, especially since trailers are not equipped with separate RFID 

tags. 

• Drivers of carriers participating in the FAST program are likely to have 

driver ID cards. Drivers participating only in the User Fee transponder 

program (of carriers enrolled in the Santa Teresa Phase 1 Demonstration 

Project) did not have CBP-issued driver ID cards. 

• Because the system was developed as a 6-week demonstration with limited 

funding, the screening decision is displayed only inside the MTD/FMCSA 

facility on the ROC. 

Addressing Limitations 

The Santa Teresa Project Team identified various ways to address the limitations 

of the Phase 1 demonstration. Central to these solutions is the potential to access 

the subset of the International Trade Data System (ITDS) data set being shared 

by CBP with FMCSA. 

Motor carriers and other eligible parties are required to file an electronic 

manifest with CBP prior to entering the United States through any Southern 

land port and at least 24 hours prior to a trip. Data from the manifest are 

“packaged” by CBP’s ITDS system and transmitted to each Federal agency that 

requires documentation to clear or license cargo. FMCSA receives the data, 

electronically verifies them, and transmits the data set (with flags on potential 

compliance issues) back to CBP. 

The Santa Teresa Project Team identified a need to interface the subset of ITDS 

data verified by FMCSA with e-screening systems at Southern and Northern 

IBCs. Access to the ITDS data subset would address many limitations identified 

in the Phase 1 Project, including: 

• Access to the ITDS data set would obviate the need for on-site enrollment. 

• The ITDS data set ties the truck, trailer, and driver together on a per-trip 

basis. If the truck can be identified via the RFID tag, the driver and trailer 

can be identified and screened electronically, even in the absence of driver 

and trailer RFID tags. 

• Access/interface to the ITDS, SAFER/ CVIEW, MCMIS data sources. 

Response to the Demonstration Project 

Informal discussions with participating carriers indicate the following responses 

to the project: 

• The enrollment process, within the context of the demonstration, was not 

viewed as overly cumbersome. 

• Carriers agreed that interface with centralized data sources to maintain 

currency of the screening database would improve screening system 

performance (and better meet their expectations of reduced clearance time 

for safe and compliant vehicles). 

• Carriers are interested in continuing participation in the project, and see 

potential for increased value, particularly if enhancements are implemented. 

• Some carriers are interested in trailer compliance issues and assignment of 

violations to trailer owners as an incentive to increase owner compliance 

with inspection requirements. 

Report Title: 

Santa Teresa RFID E-Screening 

Demonstration Project Evaluation 

(FMCSA-RRT-09-013) 

Authors: 

Valinda Gorder, Geri Knoebel 

Performing Organizations: 

Parker-Young 

Alliance for Transportation 

Research Institute, 

University of New Mexico 

Key Words: 

radio frequency identification, RFID, 

border crossing, electronic 

screening, FMCSA, Southern 

Border, CMV 

Notice:: 

This Tech Brief is disseminated 

under the sponsorship of the U.S. 

Department of Transportation in the 

interest of information exchange, 

and provides a synopsis of the final 

publication for these studies. The 

Tech Brief does not establish 

policies or regulations, nor does it 

imply USDOT endorsement of the 

conclusions or recommendations. 

The U.S. Government assumes no 

liability for its contents or their use. 

Web Site: 

All FMCSA Tech Briefs may be 

accessed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov. 

Technical Writer/Editor: 

Karen Robin 

C2 Technologies, Inc. 

August 2009 

Publication No. FMCSA-RRT-09-014