At A2B Tracking, we like to use Fixed RFID Gateways at chokepoints such as warehouse dock doors and office doorways for our implementation designs when creating real-time RFID asset tracking systems. This allows us to create a hands-free, automated tracking capability that works for your organization around the clock. This kind of an automated system is always-on and provides a far superior level of inventory accuracy and asset visibility over a manual barcode system.

The concept of using a fixed RFID gateway at a chokepoint is best explained as an egress such as a doorway, or hallway, that all of your assets are forced to move through. Fixed RFID gateways are strategically positioned in this chokepoint to accurately read all of the passive RFID tags on assets as they move through this area.

Fixed RFID GatewaysFor example, let’s imagine an item leaving the receiving dock and moving to the warehouse. During that movement, let’s assume that there is some sort of a physical bottleneck between these two locations. If we set up a Fixed RFID reader at this chokepoint we would be able to capture every asset and record it’s new location with a date and timestamp.

One of the details that needs to be worked out with a Passive RFID implementation is the ability to not only scan the asset tag consistently; but, also record the direction that the asset is moving — from the receiving dock area to the warehouse in this case. This might seem like a trivial point; but, getting directionality working properly is trickier than you think and the benefits are huge.

Audit Trails

Fixed RFID Gateways are a great way to capture the movement of your assets. The ability to automatically capture and record data every time your asset moves through a gateway is a powerful way to generate an audit trail.

An audit trail is a record of all the lifecycle events, such as movement events, for your particular item which provides a history of that item from its creation to the present day. Maintaining a chronological record that provides evidence of the lifecycle events for an asset is required for many industries and is a powerful tool for any organization.

Fixed RFID Gateways

In this illustration above, the red arrows represent egresses where RFID gateways capture assets as they move from one part of the facility to another.

Start small and grow

Depending upon your needs (and the investment you are ready to make) you can obviously set up as few, or as many, gateways in your facility as you choose. More gateways will provide you with smaller zones and more granular locations — while fewer gateways will provide you a way to easily get started and keep your costs low to test the effectiveness.

Implementing a single RFID gateway in a strategic location might be all that your organization needs; while others will want to break their facility into smaller zones separated by multiple gateways. The key to the system design is that as an asset moves from one zone location to the next it’s forced through a gateway and the new location recorded.

Mounting gateways and defining locations

The A2B Tracking software platform is designed to recognize an RFID gateway when it’s plugged into the network. Using the A2B Tracking software simplifies the installation of these devices with the assignment of locations to the reader in the software. This translates to instant location awareness of assets 24×7 once the reader has been plugged into the network.

Watch the video

Watch this quick 3-minute video on Fixed RFID Gateways taken from my recent webinar on How RFID can improve inventory accuracyLearn how RFID Gateways and chokepoints can automatically track your assets as they move throughout your facility providing you with increased asset visibility and inventory accuracy.

Fixed RFID Gateways

 

Fixed RFID Gateways

In conclusion, Fixed RFID Gateways provide several benefits for businesses and organizations. These gateways, which are typically installed at points of entry or exit, allow for the automated tracking and identification of RFID-enabled assets. RFID gateways can be used to improve efficiency and security in a variety of applications, such as inventory management and access control. Additionally, fixed RFID gateways can be integrated with other systems, such as databases and ERP software, to provide real-time data and analytics. This can be used to gain valuable insights into operations and to make data-driven decisions. Overall, fixed RFID gateways are a cost-effective and scalable solution for automating a wide range of tasks and processes.