RFID Trucker/Driver ID cards

The identification of trucks and truck drivers on terminals can be automated by introducing RFID cards. A RFID card is a perfect token to accurately track and trace truckers and vehicles on a terminal, with LPR reading as a more costly and less accurate alternative.

The same card system can also be used as access control system when the port or terminal is obliged to follow the ISPS rules. One card can serve these two purposes making it a more economical exercise.

Ideal is the situation when a card system is already implemented for ISPS compliance. It can than be used as well for track and tracing purposes without having to spend more money.

Setup - organisation

The issuing and distribution of trucker-ID cards is most of the time the responsibility of port authorities or other local government organizations, although in some cases cards are also introduced at terminal level.

Examples of trucker-ID card implementations are the CargoCard in Rotterdam, AlfaPass Card in Antwerp, the RHIDES card in Felixstowe and TWIC card in the U.S.

Minimum specifications for trucker-ID card

• Preferably contact-less
• Optional picture of the driver (allows manual ID check)
• Personal information printed and embedded (Name, address, employer, etc.)
• Optional biometrics (allows unattended ID check)
• Issued on port level (common card on multi-terminal sites)
• Use of distributed black list (keep track of "locked" cards)

Personal data storage

Every country has regulations concerning the storage and usage of personal information. To avoid conflicts with this kind of regulations most ID card systems store the personal data, including biometrical data, on the card. In this case the database holds only a limited number of information, basically nothing more than the trucker-ID card unique numbers.

Vehicle identification

Vehicle identification serves several purposes:

• In the gates it is used for lane matching between OCR portal and gate lane; to make sure that the correct OCR data is linked to the correct truck when standing in a gate lane.
• At the out gate to check if the correct truck combination is leaving the terminal: truck ID + container ID's + driver ID need to match
• In the Interchange zone vehicle identification is used to make sure that the right container is loaded or discharged on or off the correct chassis. Today it is typical to have the truck license number painted on the roof of the truck cabin to enable a visual check by the straddle or RTG driver.

Solution

The current most popular vehicle identification method is the reading of the front license plate number with a LPR camera system. Although straightforward, this system is one of the main sources generating exception calls at the operator desk. The number of calls depends of the quality of the plates and ranges between 2 and 5%.

A more recent and more accurate solution is the introduction of  long read-range RFID tags. Those tags are attached behind the windshield of the trucks and can be read while the trucks are passing a tag reader. Typically these readers are mounted inside the OCR camera portals. The same tag is also read in the gate lanes or interchange/ Grid area.

RFID Technologies

Today several RFID technologies are available and used in the market. From short range (1 to 10 cm) up to long range (14 meters and more). RFID tags can be categorized in function of energy use (passive, semi-passive and active), used frequency band and data storage read/write capacity.

Passive

Most popular are the HID (125kHz) and Mifare (13,56MHz) RFID card technologies. The 125kHz solutions are phasing out and replaced by the more popular Mifare cards (allowing storage up to 4Kbit of data). The data storage is typically used to store biometric and other personal data.

Recently the EPC GEN2 tag became more popular. Its 860-960MHz technology has the advantage of a longer read range (up to 14m), but the downside is that it lacks security.

Both Mifare and EPC GEN2 tags are standard, readers and tags can be bought from different suppliers.

Semi passive

Those tags, operating in the 2.4 GHz band, have a small battery. They are "semi passive" as they are normally in "sleep mode" and only when activated by the antenna the battery is used. This concepts guarantees a longer lifetime, up to 5 years and a quite long read range up to 12m. This kind of tags are not standardized and by consequence not interchangeable between suppliers.

Active (transponders)

These tags operate in the 2.4 or 5.8 GHz bands. As most of them work as a transponder (sending a message at regular intervals), the battery lifetime is limited (ranging from 3 to 10 years). The read distance ranges from 3 meters up to 100+. Examples are the AEI transponders mounted on the rail wagons in the U.S. and Australia; in Europe tollways are using DSRC transponders.

Combined Card technology

Besides the above described cards, CAMCO offers a special credit-size card that combines the short range tag (typically used or personal identification) with the long range tag card (vehicle identification).

The advantages of this CombiCard technology are that one card serves two main purposes: vehicle identification while driving, and personal identification when standing still at a kiosk.

CAMCO has introduced this CombiCard system in several terminals such as Cargo Service in Arhus, Denmark and the different Transnet terminals in South-Africa. Transnet has equipped more than 13,000 trucks with CombiCards allowing an easy, automated and accurate access control and vehicle tracking.

CAMCO's expertise and products

CAMCO has a long track record in implementing RFID card systems. Since the start of the company, we have installed numerous RFID solutions, from simple short read-range applications (HID, Mifare), up to semi-active and active RFID tags, including AEI as well as DSRC readers.

CAMCO offers ports and terminals complete turnkey ID-card solutions for driver- and vehicle identification, including all the necessary hardware (cards, client stations, enrollment stations, readers...) and software (databases, enrollment software modules, access control interfaces...).

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