At the end of last year, I had the pleasure of speaking with Laura Canning from Constructech Magazine. We discussed the work we just started on the RFID cookbook with FIATECH, NDSU and other team members. An interesting article on some of the applications and activity with RFID was just published in M2M magazine - a sister publication to Constructech.
http://www.specialtypub.com/m2m/article.asp?article_id=7440
It's a nice article that just scratches the surface of what's happening with RFID in construction. Tags are being used for tool tracking, large asset tracking, safety and security, supply chain and more.
RFID is a simple technology that is gaining traction now, but it is also part of a larger technology collection more commonly called - Auto-ID. Auto-ID is the wider category that includes technology for creating an efficient way to create an "identity" of things/people. This includes related technologies like barcodes, OCR, biometrics, mag stripe readers and other systems that can quickly scan and detect an identity.
One would think that in this economy that the industry would avoid investing in technology, but actually the opposite is true. In our last conference call on discussing the RFID Cookbook, Dan Slade of Jacobs remarked that now is the time to find and implement new technologies that can help improve our efficiency and bottom line. This doesn't mean that Dan's making a commitment - but it does mean he has a vision and a purpose - to invest and leverage technology to improve his bottom line. Others on the team share this commitment and are pioneers in the early work with RFID tool tracking (Todd Sutton of Zachry) and Metal Pipe tagging (Dan).
Universities like Texas A&M (Dr. Ben Zoghi) are actively building labs and doing research work to improve the systems in field tests and working with partners in industries like Oil & Gas. RFID construction activity is not limited to the United States. At last years FIATECH conference we heard presentations from Korea and how they have progressed to what they call the 3rd generation of RFID technology. The Korean Government provided over 30 million in funding for research in this area alone. On the other side of the pond in the UK (Neill Pawsey) is working with various RFID projects including tracking bags of special material for building highways.
It's an exciting time for RFID technology in construction. And that excitement might just turn into efficiency and bottom line $$$.