South African mines are using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to track lighting, rescue, gas detection and first aid equipment. They have implemented locally developed dual-frequency (DF) RFID technology from Pretoria-based iPico Holdings.
iPico`s iP-XTM DF RFID technology uses low-frequency radiation together with the high-speed data-carrying ability of higher-frequency RFID. This allows for the reading of multiple tags even in a crowd of miners, as well as achieving improved accuracy through fast reading times and longer tag-reading distances, says the company.
"Dual-frequency tags and readers are ideal for applications requiring accurate timing of free-flow transit of people or items for access control, time and attendance systems, and loss- or theft-prevention," says Luther Erasmus, CEO of iPico.
DF tags can be read at speeds of up to 10m a second with standard single antenna readers, while multiple antennae readers allow for double this speed. An average of 7 200 tags per minute can be read on a continuous basis.
Erasmus says local large mines need automated processes to generate reliable and real-time management information for about up to 6 000 employees a shift, all using a combination of equipment that also needs to be tracked.
Mines` previous attempts at implementing an RFID solution proved to be unsatisfactory because of the inability to achieve the read distances normally associated with low-frequency RFID (125KHz) and the read speed normally associated with high-frequency RFID (13.56MHz), says the company.
"Active tags were not viable because of the relatively higher cost than passive tags and the data integrity of 900MHz ultra-high-frequency (UHF) passive tags was unsatisfactory largely due to the limitations of UHF RFID technology where people, wet goods and metal are involved," says Erasmus.
Trials at Anglo American Platinum`s Pardekraal mine in North West province by Willard batteries proved passive DF RFID technology was superior to UHF RFID in the mining environment, he says.
"Since the Pardekraal pilot, iPico`s DF RFID technology has been implemented at other mines and several system integrators are expected to adopt the iPico solution."
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