River radio

==Radio Times==
Source: Mel Poluck
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has come a long way since it
was first used for identifying friendly planes in World War Two.
Today over two million London bus and tube travellers use it -
whether they realise it or not - every time they swipe their Oyster
transport smartcards
( http://www.oystercard.com )
and increasingly, library users are self-issuing their books using the
technology. And its public service applications are growing steadily.
RFID is a means of identifying individuals or objects using a tiny chip
embedded in a card, wristband or other object. An RFID reader sends
out a radio signal which is reflected by the chip, which sends back its
unique ID number. The number is then matched by the reader system
to information in a database, letting it know for example how much an
Oyster card user has paid or whether a library book is overdue.
RFID has some distinct advantages over other forms of identification,
delegates heard at last month's E-Government Bulletin seminar 'RFID
in the Public Sector'
( http://www.headstar-events.com/rfid ).
"The beauty of RFID is it allows a two-way flow of information," said
Matthew Wade of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). And
affordability is also making the technology ever more attractive. "As
the price continues to drop we'll see more applications [in the public
sector]," Wade predicted.
In addition, unlike with barcode scanning systems, RFID readers
require no direct line-of-sight and can be read "dozens at a time" said
Roger Lamb, director of the RFID centre in Bracknell, Berkshire. The
centre is the first permanent showcase of RFID equipment and
provides an advisory service for public and private organisations
setting up an RFID project.
The fact that the centre's web site receives some 10, 000 unique
visitors per month, said Lamb, supports the view interest and
investment in RFID is growing.
Examples from abroad show the widening scope for applying RFID-
based technologies to public sector services. In Lelystad prison, in the
Netherlands, a trial is currently taking place in which inmates wear
RFID-tagged wristbands so guards know an individual's location and
who they are with at any given time. The wristbands also support a
points system to reward good behaviour.
But in case anyone thought RFID was infallible, there are some major
concerns over privacy to overcome before the technology can be fully
accepted by its users.
Dr Kirstie Ball of the Open University Business School showed
delegates a cartoon depicting a scenario set in a future equipped with
ubiquitous RFID-tagging. The scene shows a man walking into a
chemist only to be greeted by the pharmacist shouting past customers:
"Good afternoon Mr Henfennel - haemorrhoid cream aisle six!"
While this was clearly an exaggerated version of the effects of RFID,
events, Ball underlines that RFID differs from other forms of
identification, when used to track the movements of people not
products, in that devices cannot be turned off and users have little
knowledge of who eventually has access to the data they create.
On the other hand, there are potentially life-saving applications for
RFID stemming from its ability to create a reliable audit trail free of
human error. In the fight against inaccurate health records - for which
some people pay with their lives - surgeon Doctor David Morgan in
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital has pioneered the use of RFID-
enabled devices to track patients undergoing surgery.
The 'Safe surgical system' removes the chance of attributing the wrong
patient to the wrong treatment. A handheld RFID-enabled device calls
up a photo of the patient on-screen alongside their healthcare records
and details of surgery.
But fears that RFID could cause redundancies were allayed by David
Bundy, quality services manager of library services at the London
Borough of Sutton Council. "We didn't make any redundancies. It was
essential staff supported what we did."
In his efforts to revive library services, the library introduced RFID by
inserting tags in the back of books and placing RFID readers around
the library for users issue and return books themselves, speeding up the
process and preventing queues forming.
"Staff have more time to spend with customers," Bundy said. "We kept
staff on board by involving them. People felt they had a part in it."
According to Bundy, the library is now close to its target of 100 per
cent self service.
Next year, the uses of the Oyster travelcard are set to expand to an e-
purse and library card and tests are underway by the Department of
Transport for the use of RFID-tagging of car registration plates to
combat theft. The applications for RFID are growing. "RFID is coming
to a passport near you soon," said the DTI's Matthew Wade. The
future may belong to radio technology.