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With fuel prices in the US skyrocketing above US$4 per gallon and analysts predicting a price of US$200 per barrel by 2010, the ripple effect is already causing chaos around the world, according to RFID Switchboard's roving editor, Erik Wood.
But buried amidst all this is a sinister by-product: fuel is more tempting a target for large scale theft than ever before. Imagine the temptation of a tanker truck driver in Ecuador, Ghana or Lithuania who can change his life, and feed his entire family for more than a year, by siphoning a load of fuel and reselling it. Just one tanker load.
Can RFID provide a solution?
Not only does the theft of refined fuel impact costs, concerns about reliable access to fuel can have a far larger impact. It has never been uncommon for commodity markets to spike on whispers of political instability.
The global volume of stolen fuel could reach as high as 10%, potentially. Erik Wood had the opportunity not long ago to speak with sources at ExxonMobil regarding the problem of refined fuel "shrinkage". Unlike barrels of oil, refined fuel is a high valued item, easily use or sold to others. According to Wood, a significant amount of the company's revenues are set aside to account for shrinkage in the supply chain.
Growth of fuel theft
Apparently 6% is an accepted industry standard for shrinkage. But the reserve for theft may even grow to 10% this year, thanks to rapidly rising fuel prices.
In the US, the theft of refined fuel is at an all time high. Major domestic fuel heists had been rare occurrences until now, happening only once or twice a year. But recent reports suggest that they will be approaching weekly frequency soon.
Targeting tankers
The entire downstream fuel supply chain, from refinery to retail, is vulnerable to shrinkage. Tanker trucks are the primary means of transport in this segment. No place is this truer than in third-world and other emerging economic regions.
In developed nations, too, theft occurs at the retail station or the tanker truck, by people siphoning gas from transport or storage tanks, whether through actual hijacking, driver theft or retail theft.
aRFID to the rescue?
By using wireless active RFID (aRFID) communication devices with integrated sensors, the capabilities exist to prevent, or greatly reduce, the problem of refined fuel theft. The key question had always been, of course: Since this is a hazardous liquid asset, where exactly do you put the RFID tag?
The answer is that you monitor the hatch point of entry into the container, and the valve point of exit out of the container. Customized mechanical enclosures can be integrated with "open/close" monitoring aRFID tags. In conjunction with GPS location, you now have a viable and reliable in-transit monitoring platform.
How it works
The open/close monitor is an electromagnetic sensor on the metal post extending out of the sealed tag. Within the mechanical enclosure, the post finds its home, or set position, when it is in contact with a complementary magnetic piece. In the mechanical enclosure, the tag is held down to the base and the other end lifts away when a hatch or valve is opened. The active RFID provides the details of the shipment.
In conjunction with GPS data, you can catch the culprits red-handed. Users can set up "geo-fencing" in software to warn when, for example, compartment 2 of truck 14 has been opened but not when it reached its intended GPS location.
Depending on the fuel police's capabilities, satellite pictures and other techniques can then help when fuel is unloaded into mobile receivers, but certainly tanker drivers will not be able to feign ignorance and will then be able to face serious legal repercussions. Effectively, aRFID will help to eliminate "crimes of opportunity".
A case in point
Four years ago, technology firm Hi-G-Tek made its primary market focus the Fuel Transport segment because it offered a business problem for which RFID was a natural solution. Some of the technical challenges that the team had to overcame included using aRFID in proximity to explosive gas, using satellite packet data modems for data transmission, and how to get the data coordinated with existing truck fleet management systems.
These challenges were solved by creating a sophisticated enclosure that met IP66 ratings and eliminated the chance of igniting the fuel with radio transmissions. Cellular real time connectivity could not be relied upon, and working with limitations of satellite modem packet data size was also a challenge. This also meant restructuring the protocol to optimize the way longer messages (including ID, time/date stamp, GPS lat/long, sensor headers and sensor values) could be sent using short packet data streams.
Keeping up with, and integrating into, the growing industry list of fleet management systems continues to be a serious task for the company, too. A simple firmware interface is required to extract the GPS location Lat/Long data and open the communication channel of the cellular or satellite modem link.
Interestingly, apart from the direct financial benefit of having less theft from tankers and in-ground tanks, several indirect benefits finally emerged. These included the reduction of trucks, trailers, and drivers required to carry the extra inventory (replacing fuel that had been stolen). And, because each tagged valve can carry the compartment load information (i.e. grade of fuel), when a tanker compartment is opened and a ground tank is opened, if they are not both the same grade (e.g. Diesel) an alarm can be automatically triggered, preventing the costly error of grade mixing.
For additional information:
· Visit RFID Switchboard at http://www.rfidsb.com
· Visit Hi-G-Tek at http://www.higtek.com
Source: RFID Switchboard
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