Slashdot Mirror
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?
I'll bet the RFIDs won't try to steal crap out of my bags, unlike some certain low paid airport worker.
There's not a chance it will actually be done in time for the superbowl. Town planners came up with all sorts of improvements that would be complete before the Superbowl. Almost every single one of them has been postponed or cancelled.
I have no idea how Jacksonville expect to have a successful superbowl. Thier downtown area is tiny, their main downtown attraction "the Landing" is desserted every night of the week, the hotels aren't great, their are three good restaurants in town (Bebe's, The Pom, and Bistro Aix, if you're heading to the SuperBowl), and each seats about 20 people.
I have a feeling this superbowl is going to be a disaster for Duval county.
Radio jamming for shoplifting is already in effect.
To which I can personally attest.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I can only see 2 objections to this.
If your object is 1, I will point out that most of the cutbacks were during 911 and only now starting to come back. the airlines are growing slowly. This is the time to do it. It will allow costs to be contained. Admittly, low end jobs will not come back, but I would rather place these people in better jobs.
If your objection is 2, well, you are way too late for that. On the day that Huesein's capture (turn-over according to Israel and most of the mid-east countries) was announced, congress and W passed patriot act II in a unrecorded votes. Basically, the government has the total ability to track you now. So, if you are objecting to this based on making life easier, well, stop using your car, your bike, public transportation, Credit Cards, Banks, Libraries,School, Hospitals, any business in america, and of course, your home. Because, they can track you iff they want without these. In fact, it does nothing for them.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The problem I see here is that these folks are trying to apply new tech in an old-fashioned way: they want to tag luggage with RFIDs the same way they used to tag them with barcodes. This makes it more expensive and doesn't resolve the old issue of what happens when the tag is torn off. Better way:
The travellers buy their own RFID tags, each with a unique number. The tag is theirs to keep, throw away or trade as desired. When travelling, they put one tag in each piece of luggage, get the luggage scanned at check-in and go from there. When they recover their luggage at the airport, they can put the tag in a protective sleeve to prevent further scanning.
The cool thing about this, there is no continuous cost to the airlines, no waste of material: the tag can be reused. It'll make it actually cheaper to operate. Of course, the RFID tag should be optional (at least for the short-term) or really cheap to buy right at the check-in coutner.
"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."
Maybe using this technology could lead to cheaper RFID tags.
I have this theory that the more (theoretically) reliable computer systems we use to assist us with tasks, the more stupid/lazy/unreliable/incompetent the human operators operating the systems become.
My impression is that "in the old days" people made some effort and were thorough in making sure things were done right. Now all people have to do is press a damn button on a computer, and they can't even seem to get that right. You say "no onions", all they have to do is press a single button on a computerised ordering system, they nod "uh-buh, yeah" and you get onions. Or you try get, say, an ISP account disconnected, all they need to do is press a few buttons on a damn computer, they assure you it's getting done and later you discover nothing happened.
Our systems may become more reliable, but I think the human operators become more stupid, and the whole thing sort of balances out in the end.
Just watch, the guy at Jacksonville whose ONLY required task for his job is to sit and point an RFID reader at bags all day, is going to f* it up.
Remember that these will allow a read from about 1 meter (3 feet) away. Basically, it makes sorting bags possible for an automated system and relatively error free. Right now, the system at DIA/Some airport in germany depends on trays having a barcode which is prone to all sorts of problems.
Now, as to your lowest level theorey, I tend to agree. I would rather see us pushed up the ladder doing more interesting things rather than doing less.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.