RFID is a reliable, cost-effective way to track assets, but only if the system behind it is set up correctly. When a goods depot found its RFID vehicle tracking system was missing vans in one lane, CoreRFID’s audit traced the fault to four separate issues, none of which were down to faulty technology.
The problem: one lane worked, the other didn’t
The depot used two identical UHF RFID tags mounted on each side of every van’s cab, read by UHF RFID readers positioned in the inbound and outbound lanes. Vehicles were meant to be detected reliably in both directions every time they passed through.
An audit found the outbound lane was detecting vans at a 99.5% success rate. The inbound lane was managing just 70% to 80%. For a system meant to log every vehicle movement automatically, that gap was enough to undermine confidence in the data.
What the audit found
CoreRFID’s engineers examined the tags, the mounting, and the reader configuration across the fleet. Four issues came up:
- Some vans had two different tag models fitted, one on each side of the cab, with different performance characteristics between them.
- Tag mounting position varied from van to van. Some tags sat where the antenna could pick them up cleanly; others were mounted next to metal framing, which interferes with UHF signals.
- Some tags were FCC frequency rather than ETSI, meaning they weren’t matched to the readers’ regulatory band.
- One van had a tag fitted with no active RFID inlay inside it. It looked like a working tag but had never been able to transmit anything.
None of these issues were down to the RFID technology itself. They came from inconsistent tag specification and fitting across the fleet, which is a common cause of poor performance in logistics tracking systems.
Testing 36 vehicles
CoreRFID tested 36 vehicles in the fleet to measure the scale of the problem. Three had tags that failed to read at all, caused by incorrect mounting. Five more had readability index values close to the point where a read starts to fail intermittently, meaning they were passing tests but close to the edge of reliable performance.
The fix: switching to bi-static mode
CoreRFID tested different reader and antenna configurations against the existing setup. Reconfiguring the antenna and reader to bi-static mode (separate antennas for transmitting and receiving, rather than one antenna doing both jobs) improved detection by over 10%, bringing the inbound lane up to a level that supported reliable operation.
What this means for other logistics operators running RFID
The issues on this system are common across RFID vehicle and asset tracking deployments generally. Worth checking on your own system:
- Confirm every tag in use is actually active and transmitting, not just physically present.
- Audit tag positioning across the full fleet, not a sample.
- Match tag frequency to reader compatibility (ETSI vs FCC) before rollout.
- Replace tags in pairs when upgrading models, rather than mixing old and new.
For the full set of tag fixing rules, including guidance on positioning, materials and mounting methods for different asset types, see CoreRFID’s guide: 10 Rules for Fixing RFID Tags.
Get an independent audit
If vehicles or assets are going undetected in your own RFID system, the fault is rarely the technology. CoreRFID offers vendor-independent audits to identify what’s actually happening in the field and recommend fixes based on what we find, not what we sell. Get in touch to talk through what you’re seeing.