**1. Introduction**

[14] Lamarre H., MacVicar B. and Roy A.G. Using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags to investigate sediment transport in gravel-bed rivers. In Journal of Sedimentary

Research, v.25, 736-741, 2005

396 Radio Frequency Identification from System to Applications

Radio frequency identification is becoming a modern trend in many sectors. It provides a contactless identification, tracking and tracing of goods, property and people in real time. Increase efficiency, performance and competitiveness. One area of application of RFID tech‐ nology is also postal processes. In this context there are several question of feasibility of the use of identification of letters. In addition to the costs associated with the introduction of technology is necessary to examine the feasibility of using RFID technology in the field of postal processes.

Today, postal operations have implemented RFID in various closed-loop systems to meas‐ ure, monitor, and improve operations. For example, RFID is being used to monitor interna‐ tional mail service between major hubs. By randomly "seeding" tagged letters into trays, elapsed delivery time can be measured. This allows service issues to be identified and ad‐ dressed in a reliable and cost-effective manner.

Other postal operations have piloted tracking mail containers to measure trailer utilization and to track container locations. Manual container tracking systems tend to break down when volumes are high and there's a deadline to meet departure times. By allowing information to be captured automatically, RFID makes sure it is done, even under stressful conditions. Postal managers can rely on the information to make decisions that improve transportation costs and to relocate containers when needed. RFID-tracked mailbags, which provide delivery sta‐ tus, have already been created for priority mail services. Tagged mailbags are automatically read at specific points in the network to provide this automated track-and-trace capability. Four additional areas can benefit from the cheap, accurate, and pervasive information ob‐ tained using RFID. Each of them has the prospect for returning substantial monetary benefits, as well as having the potential to significantly upgrade postal service capabilities, an ever more important consideration in the competitive delivery market.

© 2013 Vaculík et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Vaculík et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Chapter is divided on several parts. We will be talk about basic of RFID, possibility of tech‐ nology in postal and logistics processes, other mobile technology in processes, security of technology with contents to postal services, impact of operational characteristic on the read‐ ability and finally results of testing RFID technology in our laboratory of Automated identi‐ fication and data capture (AIDC Lab) of University of Žilina.

**•** A semi-passive tag is a passive tag that uses a battery to power on-board circuitry, but not to produce return signals. When the battery is used to power a sensor, they are often called sensor tags. They typically are smaller and cheaper than active tags, but have greater functionality than passive tags because more power is available for other purposes. Some literature uses the terms "semi-passive" and "semi- active" inter‐

Possibility of RFID in Conditions of Postal Operators

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53285

399

Like bar codes in an earlier time, RFID is the next revolution in AIDC technology. Most of the advantages of RFID are derived from the reliance on radio frequencies rather than light (as is required in optical technology) to transmit information. This characteristic means that

**•** Without optical line of sight, because radio waves can penetrate many opaque materials,

**•** At greater speeds, because many tags can be read quickly, whereas optical technology of‐ ten requires time to manually reposition objects to make their bar codes visible, and

**•** Over greater distances, because many radio technologies can transmit and receive signals

more effectively than optical technology under most operating conditions. [3]

changeably. [3]

**Figure 1.** Passive and Active Tag Processes

RFID communication can occur:
