RFID Luggage Tracking at Jacksonville Airport

securitas writes "AP reports that the Jacksonville Airport permanent RFID luggage tracking system will be installed this fall in time for the Super Bowl. The article concludes explaining that when San Francisco and Seattle ended their RFID pilot programs, they 'switched back to bar-code systems, saying the radio systems were unnecessary.' Mirror at Globetechnology, with more at Computerworld ,a large article at Jacksonville Business Journal, as well as some history from RFID Journal and Computerweekly." Moving to an untested system... paying for it by firing the baggage handlers who could help you recover from problems if the system proves to have bugs... what could go wrong?

Comments

Yeah, this is a good idea

[SeanTobin]

So, with an unmarked van in long-term parking, a few deep cycle batteries, a power inverter, a laptop, a frequency generator, and a pringles cantenna I can single handedly take out an entire airports luggage tracking system whenever I want?

Granted this would probably be an act of terrorisim, but rfid is not a secure system. Using it to track your inventory is ok because if it fails, you have alternate means of tracking it. Additionaly there isn't too much incentive for 'terrorists' to jam it (NYT Headline: Gilette unable to locate 22 pallets of Mach3 Turbo razor blades for 30 minutes during terrorist cyber-attack). Now, if the same happened to our luggage system (NYT Headline: Air traffic around the country delayed because of Jacksonville terrorist cyber-attack) people would notice.

Perhaps a even more destructive approach would be to record and randomly playback rfid signals. You'd have luggage going all over the country.

RFID is a good means of tracking items no one is going to go to the effort to jam/misdirect. It is not a secure means of tracking those items and should never be the only means.

Think about the upcoming system. Right now, pallets and maybe cases are tracked on the manufacturing/distribution level. If they were tracked individually _and_ were the sole means for product checkout.. well.. just sticking that pack of razor blades under your tin-foil hat during your full-cart insta-checkout would fool it (not that sticking it under any other hat in our bar code system is any different). The point is with RFID I can sit outside a wallmart on christmas eve at 5pm and shut down thier checkout systems.

Well, enough ranting RFID can be a great tracking tool when added to current systems. It is not a replacement for all current systems. Anyway, i'm not planning on flying through florida any time soon.

Re:Yeah, this is a good idea

[Squarewav]

you cant live you life under feer that terrorists are going to do something. If someone wanted to do something terrorist like blocking RFID tags would be pretty far down the list, knocking out the power to the airport would be a far more efective thing. RFID tags are a good idea for airports, yeah there will be bugs but there are also bugs in the barcode system least with rfid tags when the system come back online they know exactly ware your stuff is, and if its setup corectly could tell if you stuff got sent to another airport, notify who ever is in charge and have it sent to the right place rather fast as they dont have to search for it, they can just pick it up and throw it on a plane to ware it needs to be

Re:Yeah, this is a good idea

[scotty777]

very true, it's bad if the system can be jammed. But jammers can be detected, counteracted, and can be, in and of themselves, indicators of hostilities.

Countermeasures are easily instituted. A simple and cheap metal shield around the reading station is all that's really needed.

The great advantage of RFID over bar code is that items of any shape can be reliably read. The big drawback of bar codes is that they can't be "deactivated" the way that rfid tags can. bar code systems are often confused by good labels that are "old".

Slanted view perhaps?

[nizo]

Tests have shown that the chips can be read with an accuracy rate of about 99%, better than the 85% typical with bar-code scanners.

snip
The authority is trying to recoup that money through state and federal grants and by eliminating some of the 30 part-time, temporary workers that reroute lost bags.

Aww come on, it is just a few part-time jobs (probably jobs with high turnover that they won't need if the system works as promised) and it looks like it really increases the chance that your luggage won't get on a plane to Tahiti when you are going to Los Angeles. Must we just assume that RFID == Evil in every case??

Re:Slanted view perhaps?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, we're talking about accuracy and cost. Will the system be a significant improvement over the current system? Will the significant improvement be realized before the super bowl? Will the cost of the system, including the costs of "state and federal grants", be less than the cost of less than 30 part-time, temporary workers?

If the answer to all of these question is "yes", then the time is right to implement this system. If the answer is "no", they may want to wait.

From everything I know about bagage handling and airports and government-subsidized projects, the answer is probably a resounding "NO!".

Smart luggage, what next?

[heironymouscoward]

"I've lost my luggage!"

"No, your luggage is smarter than you and has decided to go to California for the winter. Have a nice stay in Jacksonville!"

Seriously: RFID tags on luggage is a good idea, as any traveller wondering where the heck his suitcase went to will tell you. The systems will have teething problems, but today's barcode tickers are not 100% successful either. I've been stranded without luggage at two destinations in a year, both times I had to buy a set of clothes on arrival. In one case it took 4 weeks for my luggage to make it home.

RTFA (closer) poster...

[ethanms]

The Airport Authority is spending between $200,000 and $300,000 on the devices, Snowden said. The authority is trying to recoup that money through state and federal grants and by eliminating some of the 30 part-time, temporary workers that reroute lost bags.

Granted, 29 is "some" of 30 workers if that's what they mean... but it's also sounding they aren't planning to eliminate all the workers who route bags... just some of the ones who are temporarily employed to deal with lost bags...

Of course, I've been temporarily employed for 3 years now...

QUESTION

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does slashdot think RFID tags. National ID cards, e-voting, et cetera are "news for nerds."

News for nerds is stuff about cool science, toys, and computers, not this paranoid "it's 1984, man!" bullshit.

Re:Thanks for your input Chicken Little

[tundog]

Give me a break. Given your agruments you should immediately stop using the internet because "it is not a secure system". Move along people, there's nothing to see here.

Re:Thanks for your input Chicken Little

[raygundan]

Not exactly-- your analogy doesn't quite hold up.

To create a stretched but more accurate analogy, imagine we already have a tested, secure internet-like network, but we're going to fire all the administrators and switch over to a brand new network we've never tested that can be jammed at will by a single guy in a van. And then we're going to rely on it to match thousands of people to their baggage.

The transition is probably a good idea in the long run, but firing the baggage handlers now seems a tad premature.

DIA was to have this.

[WindBourne]

Denver International Airport had an automated luggage system that actually depended on doing just this. Once it was not able to be easily checked, the system could only handle about 1/3 the load. That of course lead to the nightmare of doubling the costs of DIA (thanx to Ex-auditor Web, he killed back-ups to the baggage and train system; Then elected for denver mayor 3 times; Does not speak well for denverites) from 2.5 to 4.?. If other airports implement this, it will make it possible to bring in a fully automated system back into DIA as well as hopefully other airports. Yeah, many of the baggage handlers will be shifted, but this is the time to do it. Many were laid off after 9/11, and the airlines are only now starting to come back. If airports do this, it will allow the airlines to lower costs, improve handling of baggage, and not lay off any more employees.

Luddite

[Anonymous Coward]

"Moving to an untested system... paying for it by firing the baggage handlers who could help you recover from problems if the system proves to have bugs... what could go wrong?"

We'd still be living in caves with attitudes like this. Or is their a different agenda invoving paranoia of of being tracked by guys wearing sunglasses and driving plain looking sedans.