First EPC/RFID Test Centre in Africa established in Tshwane

	Eon de Koker, CEO, Techsolutions (Pty) Ltd and Mr André Hattingh, F’SATIE.
	The latest Printronix printer sponsored by Roan Systems.
	Chep pallets displaying EPC Gen2 tags.

Hub resident, Techsolutions (Pty) Ltd, participated in the opening of the first African Test Centre for RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology on 28 June 2007 at an event hosted by the Tshwane University of Technology. The opening was conducted by Mr André Hattingh, Deputy Director of F'SATIE (French South African Technical Institute in Electronics).

According to Eon de Koker, chairman of the Test Centre project, the centre provides services and expertise to industry regarding the implementation of RFID solutions which comply with EPCglobal standards. "The centre allows local industry to evaluate and test RFID solutions without having to incur the expense of purchasing expensive equipment", says de Koker.

"Until now, local industry had to use overseas Test Centre facilities, making it expensive to implement RFID solutions. Our Test Centre, located in Tshwane, provides assistance with issues such as tag selection, tag placement, reader selection, reader performance, data coding and architecture selection. We have also compiled an extensive knowledge base of technical information as well as business cases", he added.

At the opening, a number of RFID solutions were demonstrated for tracking pallets and other returnable transport items, tracking assets such as notebook computers and tracking people. Different RFID technologies are on permanent display including various passive and active RFID tags and readers. The operation of a Printronix RFID printer was also shown, which was donated to the Test Centre by Roan Systems. Equipment donations were also received from SAVI Technologies. CHEP SA donated returnable plastic containers. Software for the demonstrator was supplied by Techsolutions.

One of the founding partners in the Test Centre is EPCglobal South Africa. EPCglobal Inc is a joint venture between GS1 and GS1 US and supports the global adoption of the Electronic Product Code (EPC) as a global standard to enable accurate information and visibility about products in the supply chain using RFID technology.

"This centre will assist South African companies in becoming more competitive by utilizing RFID technology" says Fiona van der Linde, Manager for EPCglobal South Africa. "International experience has shown that the biggest returns on investment are achieved when there is collaboration between partners in the supply chain. This centre provides an independent platform for such collaboration."

Current members of EPCglobal South Africa include Procter & Gamble SA, Unilever SA, Pick n Pay, Shoprite Checkers and an extensive base of solution providers. A number of members have already indicated their interest to co-operate with the Test Centre in establishing local pilot projects. "Through the Test Centre, our members will also benefit by having access to skills and equipment which have been certified internationally by organizations such as EPCglobal and ISO. We look forward to having the Test Centre certified for performance certification testing according to the EPCglobal standards" says van der Linde.

The project was established under the 3-year THRIP scheme (Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme), which is managed by the NRF (National Research Foundation). Funding for the second year of the project has just been approved.

The Test Centre is located on the campus of the Tshwane University of Technology. "Another important objective of the project is to involve students in exploring this multidisciplinary technology. Apart from the Tshwane University of Technology, we are also in contact with other academic institutions such as the North West University and the University of Johannesburg and hope to develop the co-operation further in the following year", says van der Linde.

Van der Linde went on to expand on the laboratory. "Visitors can expect to see samples of the various RFID tags and readers, view a demonstration of how palletized goods are tracked through the supply chain, see how RFID can be used for inventory management, see an operational dock door portal and learn what a spectrum analyzer is."

The EPC/RFID Test Centre is now open for visits by Industry. For bookings in advance, please contact Fiona van der Linde at EPCglobal South Africa on +27 11 789 5777 or fvdl@epcza.org.