Vehicle tracking in car dealership parking garage - location detection at floor level with RFID!
Where am I!?!
Vehicle tracking in car dealership parking garage - location detection at floor level with RFID
Daily vehicle search with intensive time wasting due to lack of location information.
The problem
A large car dealership with various well-known vehicle brands is looking for its vehicles every day. A customer comes to pick up and has to wait a long time before he can receive his vehicle.
A service employee is looking for the vehicle that was brought in for service. There are hours to days a year when an employee does nothing other than "walk around" looking for vehicles. It doesn't matter whether it's a new vehicle, a used vehicle or a vehicle that needs to be serviced. A waste of time, resources and associated costs.
The task
The customer wanted a "rough" location information from RadioForce. KISS (keep it short and simple) was the motto. This means that the customer only wanted to know on which floor, underground car park or service point a specific vehicle is parked. Perfectly sufficient to reduce search times by around 85-90%. A win for all employees, the customer and ultimately the company.
Solution development:
This project began with the discussion of the problem and subsequent inspection of the different locations and corresponding initial evaluation of the reading points. Both entry and exit of the vehicle must be registered. This vehicle information is previously stored in a database with its individual ID. Thus, the tag (transponder) fulfills the uniqueness that is important to identify EVERY INDIVIDUAL vehicle.
The next topic was the attachment of the RFID tags. On the bumper, rearview mirror, windshield or other places were suggested by customer. However, the vehicles differ significantly in shape, color (color has a major impact on the readability of a tag) or materials. In addition, it is very desirable not to see the day.
Proof of concept
Said and done. After intensive deliberations and various tests, a position was found that is ideal for attaching tags and making them readable, regardless of the vehicle. The reading works for both new vehicles and used vehicles (regardless of type).
That was the start of the project! After installing the infrastructure at the points where the RFID readers and antennas are to be installed, the RFID components (readers, entry/exit antennas, antenna cables and small items) were installed. The tests gave satisfactory reading results (even at a distance of 3 – 4 m).
Now it was time to send the information about the read tags at the different points to the customer's ERP system. In this system, the vehicle data is "linked" with the corresponding ID of the tag and entered in advance. The RFID labels are then printed and attached to the vehicle at the selected location.
AT THIS MOMENT THE LOCATION CAN BE REGISTERED AND FOUND IN THE CAR PARK.
As soon as the RFID reader has forwarded the last vehicle position (floor) via a web service (tag ID and time stamp), the vehicle can be searched for in the ERP system. In a fraction of a second, the employee receives the location position.
Topic done!
We would like to thank everyone involved for the good cooperation.
On to the next challenge to the RadioForce RFID Solutions Team....