RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) uses radio waves to read and write data to a small IC chip paired with an antenna. Where a barcode has to be presented within line of sight, RFID needs no line of sight, and that single difference is what changes how baggage can be handled at scale and with accuracy >99.95%.
The basic mechanism and operating principle of RFID
RFID comprises an IC chip joined to an antenna embedded in a tag. When the tag picks up radio waves (electromagnetic waves) from a reader, it uses that energy to send its stored data back the same way. The reader's antenna both transmits and receives data and in a baggage operation that means sharing sortation and loading instructions to the baggage handling system.
The mechanism itself is simple. Radio waves from the reader induce a weak current in the tag's antenna, and that current powers the IC chip — a passive tag carries no battery of its own. Once powered, the chip sends back its pre-written identification data, and the reader decodes the signal and passes it to the system as a digital read. Because a reader can pick up many tags at once, an entire cart or container of bags can be read in a single pass, without a handler having to turn each tag toward a scanner. That is what makes continuous tracking across the whole journey practical rather than aspirational.
Types of RFID Tags
RFID tags come in two types: "Passive Tag," which does not have a built-in power supply, and "Active Tag," which has built-in power supply. For airline baggage handling only the “Passive Tag” type is used. At the volumes an airline handles — a tag on every bag, used once and thrown away — cost per tag is decisive, and a passive tag costs a few cents where an active tag would cost dollars. The relevant standard is the EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2 (ISO/IEC 18000-63) UHF chip.
Types of RFID readers
- Fixed reader: installed in specific locations, suitable for applications where tags are continuously read (e.g., baggage conveyors).
- Portable reader: Convenient for agents to carry and read tags when needed (e.g., baggage irregularities, IROPs).
- Gate-type readers: installed in aisles and entrances, used to read passing tags (e.g., baggage loading carts, belt loaders).
Limitations and inefficiencies of traditional management methods
For decades the industry tracked baggage with the printed barcode tag wrapped around the handle. It works, but it carries limits that anyone who has run a bag room will recognize:
- Mis-reading error: A scanner has to actually see the printed label. A bag lands tag-down on the belt, or the label is creased, smudged or torn, and the read fails. Automated barcode read rates on a conveyor typically can range 85 to 98 percent, which means at least two bags in one hundred must be diverted for manual encoding.
- Time, effort, and traceability limitations: Barcodes are read one at a time and only when the label is in view, so a missed read at any point can leave a bag delayed or misrouted with no clear record of where it went.
- Risk of loss or mis-delivery: Every mishandled bag has to be traced, forwarded and, often, compensated — a cost that lands on the airline and a service failure the passenger remembers.
Benefits and Transformation of RFID Implementation
RFID addresses each of these weak points directly.
- Higher read rates and throughput: Because tags are read by radio waves based on the use can be read one by one or ] many at a time. This makes it possible to read a full cart of bags with one read.
- Visibility in real time: Each read updates the record automatically, so the current location of a bag is known at every point it passes a reader. Staff can see where a bag is, spot one going the wrong way before it leaves, and act on it.
- Lower operating cost: Fewer manual reads, fewer mishandled bags and less time spent tracing them all take cost out of the operation.
Use Cases of RFID in the Aviation Industry
Enhancing baggage tracking and passenger experience
A mishandled bag is one of the few service failures a passenger feels the moment they reach the carousel, and it is remembered long after the flight. Each one also carries a real cost to the airline in tracing, forwarding and compensation. This is precisely where RFID earns its place.
Fewer mishandled bags, tracked in real time
IATA (International Air Transport Association) adopted Resolution 753, which came into effect in June 2018 and requires member airlines to track baggage at four key points in the journey.
At the 75th IATA Annual General Meeting in Seoul in 2019, member airlines then voted unanimously to support the global deployment of RFID for baggage tracking.
Between the two, the direction is set: RFID is moving from trials to the default for baggage tracking, and many of the larger hubs and carriers are already there.
Speed up and automation of baggage handling
A conveyor equipped with RFID readers can sort bags and act on loading instructions automatically, and more accurately than relying on manual encoding. That cuts sortation errors and keeps the flow moving, which feeds directly into on-time departures.
Use case of implementing RFID for aviation
Delta Air Lines – Global Leader in Baggage Tracking
Delta Air Lines is the reference case for RFID at scale. In 2016 the airline put UHF RFID tags on nearly all of the more than 120 million bags it handles a year (an investment of about $50 million), and the effect on handling accuracy showed up quickly:
- Fewer lost and misrouted bags: Mishandling fell by around 25 percent, which put Delta well ahead of the tracking obligations set out in IATA Resolution 753.
- Real-time tracking visualization: Passengers can now follow their bag in real time in Delta's mobile app, which takes a good deal of the anxiety out of the wait at the carousel.
- Streamlining baggage handling: Roughly 4,000 readers were built into Delta's conveyor systems across its stations, cutting manual sortation errors and giving the airline confidence that a bag is loaded onto the flight it belongs on.
