Air Transportation Experts to Discuss RFID's Impact on Security and
Efficiency at 2008 IEEE RFID Conference

WASHINGTON (11 April 2008) — The impact of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on improved air transportation security and efficiency will be highlighted during the second IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID 2008) at the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, 16-17 April.

Anthony "Buzz" Cerino, an RFID and transportation security systems expert, will moderate the Thursday 17 April symposium panel discussion, "RFID Technology for Transportation Security Logistics." The 90-minute panel starts at 8:30 a.m.

Panelist Dave Bourgon, airline systems manager, information systems, at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, will discuss the airport's deployment of RFID technology in baggage tagging and tracking. Now in its third year, McCarran's RFID system is far superior to traditional bar-coding for luggage identification.

When a passenger drops off a bag — which can also be done at two Las Vegas Strip hotels, the Las Vegas Convention Center and McCarran Rent-A-Car Center — it is marked with a read-only RFID tag. The bag passes along a conveyor system, where it is screened and X-rayed for security purposes. Each tag's unique 10-digit ID number is transmitted to various RFID readers along the way. The bag is matched securely with a passenger's personal data and flight information.

RFID systems do not require a clear line-of-sight to read the tag like traditional bar-code technologies. This increases the read accuracy rate to more than 99 percent, thus moving luggage to the proper jet cargo bay almost all the time.

Traditional tracking systems have a read accuracy rate of between 80 to 90 percent. RFID improves airline efficiency by reducing the need for someone to manually read a luggage tag. This increases the likelihood of an on-time departure and saves the airlines money. Lost or late bags cost the industry an estimated $1 billion a year.

Bourgon will be joined on the panel by Ken Ehrman, founder, president and chief operating officer of I.D. Systems, a leading provider of wireless solutions for managing and securing high-value enterprise assets; and John C. Shoemaker, president of Shipcom Wireless, a leading provider of integrated supply chain execution software solutions.

"We hope our panelists will shine some light on the current state of RFID standards and applications," Cerino said, "as well as the significant opportunities for RFID technology within the transportation industry."

IEEE RFID 2008 will address the technical and policy challenges of RFID technologies, examine job opportunities and feature 44 technical papers by leading academic and industrial researchers from around the world. The conference is co-located with RFID Journal Live! executive conference and exhibition (www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/).

For more information, see www.ieee-rfid.org/2008. You can register through partner RFID Journal Live! by going to www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/registration_options.php. Choose https://www.one-stop-registration.com/rfidlive/OSR.Index.

IEEE-USA and the IEEE TAB New Technology Directions Committee (www.ieee.org/web/volunteers/tab/tab_507.html) are financial co-sponsors for IEEE RFID 2008. IEEE-USA President Russ Lefevre chairs the committee.

IEEE RFID 2008 is funded in part by a U.S. Army Research Office grant of $5,000, which represents seven percent of the total estimated cost of the conference.

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 215,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society with 375,000 members in 160 countries. See www.ieeeusa.org.

# # #

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Contacts:

Brian Fraser
Publicity Chair, IEEE RFID 2008
Phone: + 1 972 977 3517
Email: bfraserpr@verizon.net

Chris McManes
IEEE-USA Public Relations Manager
Phone: + 1 202 530 8356
E-mail: c.mcmanes@ieee.org