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RFID Luggage Tracking at Jacksonville Airport 123

Posted by michael from the if-it's-computerized,-it-must-be-good dept.
securitas writes "AP reports that the Jacksonville Airport permanent RFID luggage tracking system will be installed this fall in time for the Super Bowl. The article concludes explaining that when San Francisco and Seattle ended their RFID pilot programs, they 'switched back to bar-code systems, saying the radio systems were unnecessary.' Mirror at Globetechnology, with more at Computerworld ,a large article at Jacksonville Business Journal, as well as some history from RFID Journal and Computerweekly." Moving to an untested system... paying for it by firing the baggage handlers who could help you recover from problems if the system proves to have bugs... what could go wrong?
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RFID Luggage Tracking at Jacksonville Airport More

RFID Luggage Tracking at Jacksonville Airport

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  • Yeah, this is a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SeanTobin ( 138474 ) * <byrdhuntr AT hotmail DOT com> on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:08PM (#8897763)
    So, with an unmarked van in long-term parking, a few deep cycle batteries, a power inverter, a laptop, a frequency generator, and a pringles cantenna I can single handedly take out an entire airports luggage tracking system whenever I want?

    Granted this would probably be an act of terrorisim, but rfid is not a secure system. Using it to track your inventory is ok because if it fails, you have alternate means of tracking it. Additionaly there isn't too much incentive for 'terrorists' to jam it (NYT Headline: Gilette unable to locate 22 pallets of Mach3 Turbo razor blades for 30 minutes during terrorist cyber-attack). Now, if the same happened to our luggage system (NYT Headline: Air traffic around the country delayed because of Jacksonville terrorist cyber-attack) people would notice.

    Perhaps a even more destructive approach would be to record and randomly playback rfid signals. You'd have luggage going all over the country.

    RFID is a good means of tracking items no one is going to go to the effort to jam/misdirect. It is not a secure means of tracking those items and should never be the only means.

    Think about the upcoming system. Right now, pallets and maybe cases are tracked on the manufacturing/distribution level. If they were tracked individually _and_ were the sole means for product checkout.. well.. just sticking that pack of razor blades under your tin-foil hat during your full-cart insta-checkout would fool it (not that sticking it under any other hat in our bar code system is any different). The point is with RFID I can sit outside a wallmart on christmas eve at 5pm and shut down thier checkout systems.

    Well, enough ranting RFID can be a great tracking tool when added to current systems. It is not a replacement for all current systems. Anyway, i'm not planning on flying through florida any time soon.
    • you cant live you life under feer that terrorists are going to do something. If someone wanted to do something terrorist like blocking RFID tags would be pretty far down the list, knocking out the power to the airport would be a far more efective thing. RFID tags are a good idea for airports, yeah there will be bugs but there are also bugs in the barcode system least with rfid tags when the system come back online they know exactly ware your stuff is, and if its setup corectly could tell if you stuff got se

    • Re:Yeah, this is a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by scotty777 ( 681923 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:28PM (#8897875) Journal
      very true, it's bad if the system can be jammed. But jammers can be detected, counteracted, and can be, in and of themselves, indicators of hostilities.

      Countermeasures are easily instituted. A simple and cheap metal shield around the reading station is all that's really needed.

      The great advantage of RFID over bar code is that items of any shape can be reliably read. The big drawback of bar codes is that they can't be "deactivated" the way that rfid tags can. bar code systems are often confused by good labels that are "old".

    • Re:Thanks for your input Chicken Little (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tundog ( 445786 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:52PM (#8898013) Homepage
      Give me a break. Given your agruments you should immediately stop using the internet because "it is not a secure system". Move along people, there's nothing to see here.
      • Not exactly-- your analogy doesn't quite hold up.

        To create a stretched but more accurate analogy, imagine we already have a tested, secure internet-like network, but we're going to fire all the administrators and switch over to a brand new network we've never tested that can be jammed at will by a single guy in a van. And then we're going to rely on it to match thousands of people to their baggage.

        The transition is probably a good idea in the long run, but firing the baggage handlers now seems a tad prem
    • Radio jamming for shoplifting is already in effect.

      To which I can personally attest.

    • So the security department buys a directional antenna and sticks it in a second van. Problem solved.

    • Re:Yeah, this is a good idea (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So, with an unmarked van in long-term parking, a few deep cycle batteries, a power inverter, a laptop, a frequency generator, and a pringles cantenna I can single handedly take out an entire airports luggage tracking system whenever I want?

      All your bags are belong to us!

    • Granted this would probably be an act of terrorisim

      Uh, HOW? Disabling a few RFID tags doesn't threaten anyone at all in any way. "Ooooh, I'm so scared, I'm terrified, someone might disable my airline's luggage tracking system!" .. get real.

      Vandalism, yes, terrorism, puh-lease. Terrorism is when you put bombs in the luggage and blow people up.

      Anyway, what's the worst that would happen if you did do this? People would have to spend an hour or two manually re-sorting the luggage. Big f*cking whoop. The mos

  • "We lost your luggage..." (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:12PM (#8897789)
    But we do know for sure that it's located in Madagascar. Sorry, we have no flights to Madagascar.

    • To quote the great Douglas Adams: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort. This ugliness arises because airports are full of people who are tired, cross, and have just discovered that their luggage has landed in Murmansk (Murmansk airport is the only known exception to this otherwise infallible rule), and architects have on the whole tried to reflect this in their designs."

    • Re:"We lost your luggage..." (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ALITALIA:
      Arrive Late In Turin, All Luggage In Albania.

  • First "Conversation Post" (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:13PM (#8897796)
    Husband: Fuck Jacksonville, I'll never visit their city again.

    3 years later...

    Husband: Honey...What cities don't have rfid tracking?

    Wife: None, dear. Looks like were vacationing in the basement again this year.

    Husband: Sweet, I think Doom 3 should be out by then.

  • Does this AT ALL diminish the chances... (Score:3, Redundant)

    by MacAndrew ( 463832 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:14PM (#8897803) Homepage
    ...that they'll lose my bags?!?

    i'm serious, folks, it happened again a few weeks ago ... they'd somehow misplaced it at an airport the size of a thimble.
    • in a word, yes once all the other airports switch over. Until then, it will mean that jacksonville will make fewer mistakes.

      • I have this theory that the more (theoretically) reliable computer systems we use to assist us with tasks, the more stupid/lazy/unreliable/incompetent the human operators operating the systems become.

        My impression is that "in the old days" people made some effort and were thorough in making sure things were done right. Now all people have to do is press a damn button on a computer, and they can't even seem to get that right. You say "no onions", all they have to do is press a single button on a computerise

        • Remember that these will allow a read from about 1 meter (3 feet) away. Basically, it makes sorting bags possible for an automated system and relatively error free. Right now, the system at DIA/Some airport in germany depends on trays having a barcode which is prone to all sorts of problems.

          Now, as to your lowest level theorey, I tend to agree. I would rather see us pushed up the ladder doing more interesting things rather than doing less.
      • Merely having RFID is not any guarantee that luggage will be lost with a lower frequency...

        I actually had a piece of *gate-checked* luggage lost once. At the door of the airplane, I handed it to the baggage handler who took it downstairs to deposit it in the cargo area. When we arrived at the airport, it was missing. It didn't show up at the gate, it didn't come out at the baggage claim, the airline denied that it was their fault, and then had the gall to say that the would forward it to my destination onc
    • Where were you? Not Jacksonville, from your description of the airport.

  • Help find lost bags? (Score:5, Informative)

    by EvilStein ( 414640 ) <.ten.pbp. .ta. .maps.> on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:14PM (#8897805)
    I don't see how this will help you find lost luggage unless you & the luggage simply get seperated in the airport. Usually when you notice that your luggage is lost, you're already at your destination airport and the luggage either a)didn't leave the origin airport or b)left, but on another flight.
    Lost bags often sit in the airlines office for weeks..months sometimes. I worked for a ground handling company and would occasionally try to reunite lost baggage with the owners, but even after contacting the owners, they never claimed it. Probably because the airline already paid out their lost-baggage claim settlement.

    Point is, 2 of the largest airports on the west coast said "This isn't really useful" and dropped the plans. Maybe the others shouldn't even bother with RFID.
    • The system is just supposed to make sure the bags make it on the correct departing plane, which will insure that your luggage arrives in the correct destination city. It's not supposed to be some "Global Baggage tracking system" where if your baggage goes "Broken Arrow" they will be able to track it to Katmandoo. And just as a side bar, I think all passengers should have to fly naked for security reasons. If every one is naked, then no one has pockets and security lines would be a lot shorter. Especially i

  • Unecessary? Right..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hwapper ( 756180 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:15PM (#8897810)
    they 'switched back to bar-code systems, saying the radio systems were unnecessary.'

    They can't even get my luggage from one plane to another when they're next to each other.

    Now if they mean they have a harder time losing track of the luggage then I would agree with the above statement.

  • Slanted view perhaps? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nizo ( 81281 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:20PM (#8897833) Homepage Journal
    Tests have shown that the chips can be read with an accuracy rate of about 99%, better than the 85% typical with bar-code scanners.

    snip
    The authority is trying to recoup that money through state and federal grants and by eliminating some of the 30 part-time, temporary workers that reroute lost bags.

    Aww come on, it is just a few part-time jobs (probably jobs with high turnover that they won't need if the system works as promised) and it looks like it really increases the chance that your luggage won't get on a plane to Tahiti when you are going to Los Angeles. Must we just assume that RFID == Evil in every case??

    • I'll bet the RFIDs won't try to steal crap out of my bags, unlike some certain low paid airport worker.

    • Re:Slanted view perhaps? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Of course, we're talking about accuracy and cost. Will the system be a significant improvement over the current system? Will the significant improvement be realized before the super bowl? Will the cost of the system, including the costs of "state and federal grants", be less than the cost of less than 30 part-time, temporary workers?

      If the answer to all of these question is "yes", then the time is right to implement this system. If the answer is "no", they may want to wait.

      From everything I know about

    • Slanted view perhaps?-Ink Jet RFID. (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "The authority is trying to recoup that money through state and federal grants and by eliminating some of the 30 part-time, temporary workers that reroute lost bags."

      Maybe using this [informationweek.com] technology could lead to cheaper RFID tags.

    • Actually my dad worked as a baggage handler for Delta air lines for over 28 years (he retired Nov 2001) and got benefits out the butt (insurance, healthcare, unlimited flights, investment options, stock options, retirement) not to mention a $50k a year salary (for unskilled manual labor!).

      The full-time turn-over rate is really low at Delta actually. Unfortunalty Delta is not hiring many more full time ground crew types anymore.

      The world has changed.
  • "I've lost my luggage!"

    "No, your luggage is smarter than you and has decided to go to California for the winter. Have a nice stay in Jacksonville!"

    Seriously: RFID tags on luggage is a good idea, as any traveller wondering where the heck his suitcase went to will tell you. The systems will have teething problems, but today's barcode tickers are not 100% successful either. I've been stranded without luggage at two destinations in a year, both times I had to buy a set of clothes on arrival. In one case it took 4 weeks for my luggage to make it home.

    • Re:Smart luggage, what next? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Want a better job? No problem too big? My FOSS firm seeks top SW developers in Belgium. Email me your CV.

      You know, I've seen your sig several times already, and I almost wanted to get in touch with you, since I'm looking for a job and all, but then I though to myself: "are you sure you want to work for a guy who spends his time posting on Slashdot?" and also "do you really believe he run a company at all, since he obviously have a lot of free time to post bollocks here, and I sort of remember I didn't whe
      • Very funny.

        Slashdot is a important source of info (indeed) and I type very quickly, the bollocks does not take a lot of time. I spend significantly less time on /. than I do answering email, for instance.

        But you say you "were running yours"... past tense? What happened? If you're a particularly good programmer and happen to live in Belgium, maybe you want to send me your CV. :)

    • Re:Smart luggage, what next? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:53PM (#8898022)
      I'm a baggage handler at an International airport.

      Here are the top reasons bags go lost:

      1. Missed connection. Bags travel slower than you do. A 10 minute delay into the airport is enough to cause several bags to miss your flight.

      2. Automatic Baggage System breakdown. This happens a LOT on all major airports. All bags are then routed to a central area for manual sorting and distribution. This adds to the time, and makes a lot of bags miss flights.

      3. Automatic Baggage System sorting error (and subsequent failure of bagagge handler to notice the error). Bags loaded on wrong aircraft / destination. (This often happens if bags are missing from A to B)

      4. Loss of baggage tag. Bags go to a tracking office, or arrival service for entering into the global baggage tracking system.

      What happens when your bag is "lost":

      1. You arrive at the airport, notice your bag is missing (or you're summoned over PA). Head over to arrival-service for the airline in question (the last airline you traveled on), state your details, show the tag receipt for the bag missing.

      2. Details about your bag (tag number, colour/type, your address, phone, misc. delivery information, contents (rarely)) will be entered into the global baggage tracking system called World Tracer.

      3.

      - In case of missed transfer, baggage handlers *should* (depending on how much time they got) enter a "forwarding message" in World Tracer, in which arrival-service already knows when your bag will arrive.

      - In case of wrong airport, the arrival service handlers for your airline will send a "forwarding message" to the destination for the tag. This may take a while, say, if your bag goes on a trip overseas.

      This info is "matched" inside World Tracer (most prevalently: the tag number, but also all other info like colour/type, name, address, etc.).

      IF YOUR BAG IS MISSING A TAG, AND NO NAME/ADDRESS INFORMATION ON THE BAG:

      Arrival-service will enter details about your bag into World Tracer, as an "onhand file". This includes colour/type and contents list. If bag is locked, it'll take a few days until someone will bother to crack it open, in case colour/type/extra info will match to your "missing file".

      Tagless bags take the longest time to re-unite with the owner. ALWAYS WRITE NAME AND ADDRESS ON YOUR BAG!

      Last, when your bag arrives the airport in question, it's stored on one of the daily "lost baggage distribution" hours, and someone will call you for delivery information. Or, in case of many low-cost carriers, they'll call you, or wait for your call, to inform you to pick it up at the airport, at your own expense.

      - Over 90% of "lost baggage" is really delayed baggage, and will be found within 24 hours.

      - Pilferage is almost non-existing. There are bad apples everywhere, but most baggage handlers are honest people.

      So, don't worry. The "forever lost bag" is an urban myth. Just label your bags, and you'll be just fine.
      • - Pilferage is almost non-existing. There are bad apples everywhere, but most baggage handlers are honest people.

        Perhaps at your airport, but how can you be sure all the airports have the same level of honest baggage handlers. Can you really vouch for the baggage handlers in other countries? And can you really vouch for the baggage handlers in the US are that are earning half or a third of what you make?

      • I always thought one of the reasons was when you didn't tip the sky cap and they just entered a different destination airport for your bag by "mistake".

      • What kind of special handling do firearms get? That firearms ID tag is supposed to go *inside* the bag, but if you run across a clueless front counter, it may be placed outside the bag. That always just struck me as a giant "Steal Me First!" sign.

    • Re:Smart luggage, what next? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bug-eyed monster ( 89534 ) <bem03@NOsPam.canada.com> on Sunday April 18, 2004 @03:00PM (#8898551)
      The problem I see here is that these folks are trying to apply new tech in an old-fashioned way: they want to tag luggage with RFIDs the same way they used to tag them with barcodes. This makes it more expensive and doesn't resolve the old issue of what happens when the tag is torn off. Better way:

      The travellers buy their own RFID tags, each with a unique number. The tag is theirs to keep, throw away or trade as desired. When travelling, they put one tag in each piece of luggage, get the luggage scanned at check-in and go from there. When they recover their luggage at the airport, they can put the tag in a protective sleeve to prevent further scanning.

      The cool thing about this, there is no continuous cost to the airlines, no waste of material: the tag can be reused. It'll make it actually cheaper to operate. Of course, the RFID tag should be optional (at least for the short-term) or really cheap to buy right at the check-in coutner.

      • Yes (Score:1)

        by mrsev ( 664367 )
        But I dont want to pay for a RFID tag. I pay the airlines they should do their job. As regards using RFID or Barcode I DONT CARE.... my bag getting where it is going, is all i care about.
        • If the airlines give you free RFID tags, you'll just get new ones with every trip and dump them afterwards, adding to the pile of trash in the world. If you pay for a pair of RFID tags, you're much more likely to keep them and reuse them.

          Besides, the airlines won't give you anything for free, they'll just add the cost to your ticket price.
      • Or what you could do is just make people load there own freaken bags on to the plane them selves and then if it doesn't make it to the other plane then its your own fault. Tickets would be a lot cheaper and most planes would have to be redesigned but other than that you would save money on people, uniforms, tracking devices, ect ect. Roll the savings over into a "Lost and Found" for dummies.
    • In Soviet Russia, your baggage looses you!

  • What could go wrong? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:21PM (#8897838) Journal
    What could go wrong? At the Super Bowl?

    Well, if your halftime show costume has some sort of RFID system controlling its closures, you may want to check for interference during rehearsals. Or at least wear nipple jewelry.

    Also, not giving Tom Brady the ball with a minute left seems like a sensible precaution, RFID or no.

  • RTFA (closer) poster... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ethanms ( 319039 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:36PM (#8897928)
    The Airport Authority is spending between $200,000 and $300,000 on the devices, Snowden said. The authority is trying to recoup that money through state and federal grants and by eliminating some of the 30 part-time, temporary workers that reroute lost bags.

    Granted, 29 is "some" of 30 workers if that's what they mean... but it's also sounding they aren't planning to eliminate all the workers who route bags... just some of the ones who are temporarily employed to deal with lost bags...

    Of course, I've been temporarily employed for 3 years now...

  • If it's like the rest of the JAX SuperBowl Project (Score:5, Interesting)

    by acaben ( 80896 ) * <bstanfield.gmail@com> on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:41PM (#8897960)
    There's not a chance it will actually be done in time for the superbowl. Town planners came up with all sorts of improvements that would be complete before the Superbowl. Almost every single one of them has been postponed or cancelled.

    I have no idea how Jacksonville expect to have a successful superbowl. Thier downtown area is tiny, their main downtown attraction "the Landing" is desserted every night of the week, the hotels aren't great, their are three good restaurants in town (Bebe's, The Pom, and Bistro Aix, if you're heading to the SuperBowl), and each seats about 20 people.

    I have a feeling this superbowl is going to be a disaster for Duval county.
  • No thanks. Ill avoid any flights that connect thru that city.

    I will take my money elsewhere.
    • I'm from there. You don't have to worry. That's the end of the line.

    • Re:Permanent ?? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Neil Blender ( 555885 ) <neilblender@gmail.com> on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:51PM (#8898009)
      This just in: "Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Alarmed at nurb432's boycot of city. Rethinking RFID decision."

    • Re:Permanent ?? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by WindBourne ( 631190 )
      I am curious as to why?
      I can only see 2 objections to this.
      1. Jobs are lost.
      2. Allows the government to track you

      If your object is 1, I will point out that most of the cutbacks were during 911 and only now starting to come back. the airlines are growing slowly. This is the time to do it. It will allow costs to be contained. Admittly, low end jobs will not come back, but I would rather place these people in better jobs.

      If your objection is 2, well, you are way too late for that. On the day that Huesein's cap

  • Well... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:50PM (#8898001)
    "Moving to an untested system... paying for it by firing the baggage handlers"

    Almost sounds like their outsourcing the baggage handling it to India.

    • Re:Well... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      After all, that's where your bags are going...
    • Is this the same airport that was trying to screen the masses with face recognition technology?

      Florida is a haven for pseudo-tech marketeers. Face recognition, e-voting, rfid-luggage.

      It's good to have a dumping ground, so we don't have to keep the techno-trash lying around the rest of the continent.

  • But what happens if I pack a cow in my luggage? (Score:3, Funny)

    by crem_d_genes ( 726860 ) * on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:55PM (#8898034)
    Will there be interference [informationweek.com]?

  • Not necessary ?? (Score:4, Funny)

    by BorgDrone ( 64343 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @01:58PM (#8898045) Homepage
    The article concludes explaining that when San Francisco and Seattle ended their RFID pilot programs, they 'switched back to bar-code systems, saying the radio systems were unnecessary.'
    But RFID is the Next Big Thing(tm) how could anyone not need it ?

  • Well, what wrong could happens? (Score:3, Funny)

    by gmuslera ( 3436 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @02:00PM (#8898060) Homepage Journal
    ...is not like the luggage will grow feets and go away by itself, like this one [bigpond.net.au].
  • ..well, that's why I lost my suitcase the last time .. It didn't have a baggage tag (barcode) and therefore didn't get on the plane at all. Not putting any other tag on the bag would have resulted in the excact same disapearnce..

    I did get my bag back, after a week, because I was able to describe it and it's contents ..

  • Lost the bag, but found the clothes (Score:5, Funny)

    by chiph ( 523845 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @02:12PM (#8898144)
    Sorry, the scanners aren't able to locate your bag. But they have found the 3-pack of underwear you bought at Wal-Mart last week.

  • This is actually a much better idea than barcodes. (Score:5, Informative)

    by eriko ( 35554 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @02:20PM (#8898236) Homepage
    For once, here's a system that I think RFID is really meant for.

    The problem with barcodes is that they have to be scanned. They're passive, and it takes time to stop, grab a scanner, and hit the barcode.

    The biggest cause of misrouted bags is time crunches -- somebody rushing to get the bag onto a flight, not stopping to find a scanner to scan in, misreading the three letter code, and throwing it onto the wrong belt, cart, or into the wrong plane.

    Ideally, you'd have RFID boxes on the belts, the carts -- and in the cargo doors (for narrowbodies) and the LD-3 loading station (for widebodies.) that's programmed to know what flight(s) are invovled, and sets off an alarm when a tag doesn't match. So, if they're rushing, and they read "LAS" (McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas), the beeper on the cargo door goes off, they look again, and see that, no, it is really "LAX" (Los Angeles International), and *not* put the bag on the Las Vegas flight.

    Even if the LAX flight has already left, this is a better answer. It is far easier to fix the "Bag Didn't Make The Flight" error (you put the bag on the next flight) than it is to fix the "Bag Went On The Wrong Fight" error, since there may not be a direct flight from the bag's current destination and the bag's correct destination.

    This particular error is quite common -- esp. when someone has been working one of the two flights, and gets a bag for the other. They see "L" and "A" and, having seen "S" for the last hour, don't bother to parse the "X" at the end.

    As to privacy concerns? As long as the tag is on the bag for one trip only, it is no worse than barcode. Indeed, your nametag often gives away *more* privacy information than your trip tag -- and it is always there. (Get one of those tags you have to open up, and if you are employed, put your work address on the bag.)

    Another issue -- a bag is loaded onto a plane, but the passenger isn't onboard. Nowadays, this means that they have to pull the bag. Right now, this means wading through a loaded bay or container to find it. With a handled RFID box, you can at least get close to the bag quickly.

    This is an application where a well build RFID system could make a very real improvment in luggage handling -- for both the passengers and airlines.
    • The problem with barcodes is that they have to be scanned. They're passive, and it takes time to stop, grab a scanner, and hit the barcode.

      Actually, the bags don't ever stop moving. I worked on the team that put in one of the first automated baggage handling systems at the Pittsburgh Int'l Airport in the early 90's.

      They zip by the scanning stations at about 20mph. The scanning station is a ring of six or so laser scanners around the belt, including the bottom. There's a gap of several inches between t

  • DIA was to have this. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Sunday April 18, 2004 @02:22PM (#8898246) Journal
    Denver International Airport had an automated luggage system that actually depended on doing just this. Once it was not able to be easily checked, the system could only handle about 1/3 the load. That of course lead to the nightmare of doubling the costs of DIA (thanx to Ex-auditor Web, he killed back-ups to the baggage and train system; Then elected for denver mayor 3 times; Does not speak well for denverites) from 2.5 to 4.?. If other airports implement this, it will make it possible to bring in a fully automated system back into DIA as well as hopefully other airports. Yeah, many of the baggage handlers will be shifted, but this is the time to do it. Many were laid off after 9/11, and the airlines are only now starting to come back. If airports do this, it will allow the airlines to lower costs, improve handling of baggage, and not lay off any more employees.
    • Come to Denver. Look at all the manual conveyor belts that were firmly welded on top of the hi-tech RFIDed, computer controlled baggage system that was to be the model for the next generation. I work in a Postal facility and they even came to check us out for ideas to make it run. Most reputable company in the world doing that stuff lost millions on Denver. If I didn't need to carry tools most of the time when I fly, I'd never check a bag by choice.
      • I live here. This is because Webb did not listen to all those who said to not fully trust it; They correctly pointed out that DIA was a compact city and needed backup systems. Yet, he saved us 50 Million and only cost 2 BILLION dollars (wait till we have to add the back-up system for the train from a->b->c; then we will truely see what he saved us). The baggage system itself worked (and is still in use by United). What did not work was that most baggage did not have rfid, so any manual part killed it.

  • Discworld (Score:2, Funny)

    by Laverne ( 700282 )
    If you're Rincewind the Luggage tracks you!
  • I'll still have to connect in atlanta anywhere I go right? yaaaaay
  • fact is, if rfid are to be effective for baggage trackeing, it has to be introduced on every airport in the world. Or at least on the big hubs. Otherwise it is passenger/tax payer's money thrown out of the window.
    The whole baggage tracking relies nowadays on the barcode on the bag tag (which is basically the number of the airline - 4 digits - and the bag number - 8 digits), and a very complex message passing based machinery. So if only jacksonville has rfid, these are hopeless unusefull on the baggage sorta

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