RFID Deployment at an Airport: A Simulation Study

Abstract

In this paper, the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) deployment at an airport baggage handling system is investigated. The impact of number of RFID readers at different power levels with varying conveyor (i.e., baggage handling conveyors) speeds on timely delivery of baggage is studied via a simulation. Unlike typical simulation studies related to RFID deployment where any read-rate issues are often ignored, this study captures read rate in a realistic manner in the simulation model by incorporating the effect of 1) number of RFID tags in the interrogation zone, and 2) time that RFID tags spend in the interrogation zone. The layout of the baggage handling system (BHS) at the Hong Kong International Airport and data pertinent to its RFID deployment in 2005 are used to build the simulation model. The study shows that operational visibility to manage timely arrival of bags at their gates can only be obtained by finding the right combination of number of readers, reader power levels, and conveyor speed, not by operating with the highest possible number of readers for maximum read rate at the fastest conveyor speed for maximum throughput.