Customer Satisfaction with Service and Quality
Millions of pieces of luggage are misrouted every year, which means a lot of work and additional costs for the airlines. A new technology at the airport – and RFID tags attached to the suitcases – will change that.
The quality of the baggage tracking has increased greatly over the last few years. Nevertheless, airlines and airport operators are still faced with the task of handling the ever-increasing number of passengers and luggage without any losses, while at the same time meeting passengers’ expectations for transparent baggage tracking.
White paper by Kathrein Solutions.
17 Jan 2024 - Track & Trace of E-bikes Supported by Apple Find My network
Introduction
Cost and reliability have always been the main problems in the air freight logistics chain.
The next logical step in this field is to introduce RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) as the state-of-the-art tracking technology. With this new technology, airlines will be able to save more than 2 billion US dollars over the next 4-5 years and to improve quality of the baggage tracking.
According to the SITA Baggage Report 2018, the number of passengers has increased by 64% since 2007 and the number of misrouted/lost baggage items per 1,000 passengers has fallen by approximately 70% since then.
The use of RFID enables automated readings at various points along the entire process chain, from the check-in counter to the transfer of baggage to the customer at the baggage carousel on arrival.
Kathrein’s approach
07 Aug 2023 - Kathrein Solutions Presents New RFID Case Study
With this white paper, we would like to show possible actions which the companies involved have to take into account in order to implement the IATA R753 and, in particular, the UHF RFID use, as effectively as possible. The return on investment for the introduction of RFID clearly depends on the reliability of the systems and the perfectly aligned processes.
Kathrein and its partners provide a turnkey solution to carry out a detailed analysis of the baggage-tracking process. It goes without saying that compliance with global technology standards is a fundamental prerequisite.
Cost-effective passive UHF RFID tags in combination with Kathrein’s high-performance hardware and the modular CrossTalk IoT software suite, which has already become standard in various markets, are the components of a mature and future-oriented baggage-tracking solution.
What advantages does Kathrein offer?
The main advantage of our technology compared to others is the efficiency of the hardware, which achives very high read rates without any human involvemenent or visual contact
For data transmission, objects are equipped with passive RFID tags (labels with a powerful RFID chip) which are read and written via RFID antennas. In a logistics scenario, in addition to baggage, this can also include containers, transport trolleys, boxes on the conveyor system, etc. A Kathrein reader captures the baggage ID, and the tracking event is then forwarded via our CrossTalk middleware to an existing IT platform.
To enable easy implementation of RFID technology at check-in counters, Kathrein Solutions offers an ARU 2400 reader with an integrated SMSH antenna. This antenna is designed for near-field applications, providing a very high, homogenous detection field. This way, it is possible to read only the luggage placed on the scale of a given check-in counter.
This turnkey solution with a single device is a smart way to start with RFID at the very first point of the luggage journey; the reader is easily and cost-efficiently installed on the existing counters.
It is possible to seamlessly integrate the CrossTalk IoT suite into any back-end software, which brings many possibilities of data processing. It works independently of the existing IT systems and can consolidate, process and provide all kinds of sensor and localisation data from other sources.
Turkey solutions:
- Kathrein’s ARU 2400 slim RAIN RFID reader with an integrated antenna
- Kathrein’s SMSH RFID antenna for precise reading
- Kathrein’s CrossTalk end-to-end IoT suite
- Kathrein’s RFID solution in baggage tracking▪Easy migration and upgrading of the existing infrastructure
Kathrein's RFID solution in airport terminals and on the airfield
While RFID in baggage tracking is the main topic, we still see a variaty of reasonable use cases in the airport and aviation environment and look forward to your other projects to improve your ROI in the RFID area.
Loading Containers and Trolleys:
- Tagging containers and wagons and matching them to the loaded baggage
- Better coordination of locations and idle times
- Tagging containers and baggage waggons to record weights
Airport Terminal – Gate and Entries/Exits:
- Recording entrances and exits of baggage, thus reporting the locations and times
Loading onto the Aircraft:
- Preventing incorrect loading when loading an aircraft using antennas and readers on the loading conveyors and, if necessary, hand-held devices
- Re-checking the number of suitcases and the load weight
- Automatically cross-checking the passenger and baggage list
We can design the processes together with your team. Our colleagues from the Professional Services team will support you in creating a blueprint and carrying out a proof of concept for your individual use cases.
