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An automated gate system based on RFID technology

Conference Paper · July 2006

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Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

An automated gate system based on RFID technology

HYUNG RIM CHOI
Department of MIS, Dong-A University, 840 Hadan-dong, Saha-gu, Busan 604-714, KOREA

NAM KYU PARK

Department of Distribution Management, Tongmyoung University, Busan, KOREA

BYUNG JOO PARK

Department of MIS, Dong-A University, Busan, KOREA

DONG HO YOO
Department of MIS, Dong-A University, Busan, KOREA

HAE KYOUNG KWON

Department of port and logistics systems, Dong-A University, Busan, KOREA

JOONG JO SHIN
Department of MIS, Dong-A University, Busan, KOREA

Abstract: - Many container terminals all over the world strive to be mega-hub port through improving efficiency of
terminal operation with high technology. Not only operating equipments in container terminal, but also container
terminal gates are introducing state-of-the-art technologies in order to develop an effective gate system. This study
focuses on an automation of identification task at gate. We develop an automated gate system based on RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) technology. It can make gate operations more effective.

Key-words:- Container terminal gate, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Automated gate system

1 Introduction system using RFID technology that comes into the

By reviewing many advanced container terminals at
home and abroad, we can find out that their
technologies mainly have concentrated on their
information system and operating equipments
(including CC, YT, TC, etc.), but recently, thanks to
the appearance of RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification) technology, major container
terminals are stepping up the automation of truck
and container identification at the container terminal
gate system. However, these attempts are at the
beginning stage, not yet in the practical application.
Among diverse functions of a container terminal
gate, i.e. identification of truck number and
container number, inspection of container damage,
confirmation of truck position in the container yard
and security related to container seal, this study
focuses on developing an automated identification
spotlight. We expect this study will make a great
contribution to improving the efficiency and
security of a gate system.
The remainder of this paper is as follows: section 2
surveys the current environment of the gate systems of
major container terminals and introduces required
technology for the automated gate system. Section 3
deals with RFID concept, performing many tests along
with diverse device configurations for an automated
gate system based on RFID. Section 4 explains in
detail automated gate system developed on the
suggested framework at previous section. The final
section concludes with expectations, limits, and
directions for future research of this study.
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

2 Current environment of container bringing in speed and accuracy in information

handling. But its cards are apt to be damaged,
terminal gate systems possibly causing difficulty in reading information.
This section arranges the technologies applied to the
The video identification technologies like OCR
diverse jobs of container terminal gates.
have brought much more reliability for gate work
than the bar code system or eyes. The OCR
2.1 Current environment of gate systems at technology widely used for an automated gate has
home and abroad additional functions such as image storage,
The gate of container terminal is a structure that gives confirmation, and security job, which have been
access of container cargoes to inside container impossible in the bar code system. But, this system
terminal and plays the role of physical interface with a needs more initial costs for installation, also being
checking system between a container terminal and liable to be affected by external environments.
outside [1]. This definition is given in terms of Recent environments surrounding the container
hardware aspect including physical fixtures. In fact, terminals are demanding higher operational
however, a terminal gate not only plays the role of efficiency and tighter global security like SST
physical fixtures, but also performs the software (Smart & Secure Tradelanes) project supported
functions of recording and keeping the input and from a group of American companies [2]. Because
output information of trucks and containers, and of this, the demand on RFID technology is rapidly
additionally playing the role of operational aspect, i.e. increasing, and more efforts are being made for the
checking container damage and providing introduction of an RFID technology.
loading/unloading location to the external trucks.
Therefore, the gate of container terminal can be Table 1 Current situation of container terminal gate
defined as the gateway of performing the tasks of systems
identification, confirmation and security such as
approving and checking the input/output of trucks
and containers, physical check of containers and
providing loading/unloading location to the external
trucks. Based on the related preceding literature and
our benchmarking survey of container terminal gate
all over the world, the current environment of the
gates is illustrated in Table 1. As shown in Table 1,
most domestic container terminal gates are using a
bar code system for the identification of both truck
number and container number, but a few gates are
using a video identification system together with a
bar code system. Owing to low reliability on the
video identification system, however, its usage level
is very low.
In foreign cases, gate jobs are divided into two
stages. Each gate performs a different function. For
identification task, they introduced, in part or in
whole, the video identification technologies such as
OCR (Optical Character Reader) and ACDI
(Automated Container Damage Inspection).

2.2 Concept and applicable technologies of

automated gate system
The current technologies for an automated gate
system are the bar code and video identification
technology (identification technology through
OCR). The bar code system has replaced the work of
existing gate that has to be done by eyes, thus
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

Confirmation
Confirmation Confirmation Confirmation Confirmation
of movement
Section of truck of container of container of container
position
number number damage seal Command
at CY

Bar code
Bar code system +
Shinsundae On-Dock alone SLIP Eye
system naked eye Response
(On-dock)

Bar code +
Bar code + RFID Communication Channel
Hutchison Video No
Video ID On-Dock alone SLIP
Jasungdae identification confirmation
system
system

Bar code +
Fig. 1 RFID communication structure
Bar code +
Hutchison video No No
Video ID SLIP
Gamman identification confirmation confirmation
system
system The international standardization for RFID
Domestic
(Korea)
Bar code
technology applicable to packing, palette, and
Uam Gate worker On-Dock alone SLIP Eye
system container are in progress by the joint working group of
Bar code Confirmation Eye
Dongbu
system
Gate worker
by eye
SLIP
(On-Dock) TC 104 (container) and TC 122 (packing) of ISO
Hanjin
Gate staff Gate worker - SLIP Eye (International Standards Organization). FCC (Federal
Gamcheon
Hanjin
Communications Commission) of United States has
Gate staff Gate worker - SLIP Eye
Gamman adopted the 433 MHz bandwidth for an active RFID
Sebang Bar code No
Gamman system
Gate worker
confirmation
SLIP Eye tag attached to the containers. And the attachment of
Korea
Express
Gate staff Gate worker - SLIP Eye RFID tag plans to be enforced for all inbound
Busan New Video ID Video ID containers to United States. Europe also has adopted a
SLIP Eye
Port system system
433 MHz-active tag as an RFID standard for
CTA
Optical ID
system
Optical ID
system
Prenotification Magnetic card - containers. The global standard of the RFID for trucks
is 860 MHz – 960 MHz, which has being used in the
Optical ID Optical ID
SSA
system system
Prenotification - - United States, European nations, and Japan. In Korea,
Overseas
TMP
Optical ID
system
Optical ID
system
Prenotification Magnetic card - 908.5 – 914 MHz was adopted as the bandwidth for
HIT
Optical ID Optical ID Video ID
- -
logistics and distribution [5]. In this study, we used
system system system
Video ID Video ID
433 MHz and 900 MHz RFID tag respectively for
OI - - -
system system containers and trucks according to the RFID
international standards [6].

3 The design of an automated gate 3.2 The structure of an automated gate

system based on RFID system based on RFID
An automated gate system based on RFID is a system
3.1 Concept of RFID automated by applying RFID technology for
RFID with the communication structure in Fig. 1 is a identification of truck and container numbers. The
very useful tool for business [3]. RFID enables us to system is to automatically identify the external trucks
read added information via wireless communication and containers passing through the terminal gate.
Table 2 Fields of RFID application
media for identification of various objects such as
people, cars, cargoes, and cattle. It makes various
kinds of manual jobs to be automated [4]. Table 2
shows diverse fields of RFID application.
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

Target price In case of inbound container, the tests were

Fields Purpose of usage Functional traits
level of RFID tag conducted according to the five access patterns of
Military supplies/
Specified trucks: a) one truck access on a lane, b) successive
positioning,
Military, medical medical devices
management
diagnostic
About 1 trucks access on a lane, c) one truck access
function, security respectively on each of two lanes, d) successive trucks
Automatic Payment certificate access on each of two lanes, e) simultaneous passage
Traffic (automatic
payment on the and security for About $10
payment)
move cars on the move of both inbound and outbound trucks. As for truck
Linkage control,
Linkage control, speed, three kinds of speed – 10 km/h, 20 km/h, and 30
and tracking of Prevention against
distribution
container, palettes, theft and losses
$1 ~ $5 km/h – were tested. The readers, individual
(container, palette)
and cattle identification system (for truck and container), and
Management of air High speed integrated identification system for identification were
Aviation, laundry, luggage, laundry, reading,
10 ~ $1 installed in an office room near the gate.
furniture, arts luxurious furniture, counterfeit
and arts prevention
Products
Manufacture management, Counterfeit
(factory), retail tracking of prevention, About 5
(high-priced items) products and tracking function
timber
Tracking of retail
Retail (low-priced
products, tracking Tracking at a
items), traffic Below 1
of traffic tickets low-priced basis
(ticketing)
(paper-based)

In order to develop the system in Fig. 2, we first

selected appropriate devices for identification of Fig. 3 Installation position of the tag and antenna
trucks and containers, and conducted diverse tests to for truck identification
select optimal installation position of antenna and tag
for high identification rate. The test results of each tag’s identification ratio are
We had tests about various positions of a tag and shown in Table 3.
antenna to check the identification rate of each tag
under diverse experiment methods such as truck Table 3 Test results of tag and antenna installation position
access patterns and truck speed. First, in order to select for truck identification
Installation position of RFID ID ratio by tag position (%)
attachment position of the tag for truck identification, antenna
we attached the tags at 6 positions on the front side and Left side of gate entrance
2 positions on the side of a truck, and put each antenna (Toward the windshield: 100 100 100 100 60 50 100 100
at different positions as shown in Fig. 3. 50°)
Upper side of gate entrance
(left),
100 90 100 80 40 30 60 60
(Toward the windshield:
70°)

Upper side of gate entrance

(right),
40 30 100 70 100 80 50 60
(Toward the windshield:
70°)

Right side of gate

entrance(Toward the 40 20 100 90 100 100 30 20
windshield: 50°)

The test was conducted 10 times per each access

pattern of trucks at speed of 10 km/h. 10 km/h is
average speed in real gate that has usually speed limit
of 20 km/h. The tests of totally 50 times were
Fig. 2 The structure of an automated gate system based on performed. As a result of these tests, which consider
RFID the distance of tag and antenna, driver’s visibility, and
convenience of sticking and removal, the antenna at
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)
the position 1 and the tag at the position 2 were
selected as the most optimal position. At the position
of a tag and antenna, additional tests were conducted
for speed. The tests also were conducted 10 times per
each access pattern of trucks at the speed of 20 km/h
and 30 km/h. The results of these tests were 100%
identification ratio at all cases. The test results show
that the devices for truck identification are more
sensitive to the distance between a tag and antenna
than truck’s speed.
Also, the tag and antenna were installed as shown in
Fig. 4 in order to find out the optimal position of tag
and antenna for container identification. The tag can
be installed in various positions. But the risk of
damage in handling a container and the possibility of
obstruction while opening and closing the door of
container are considered. We selected five positions
for installation. And the position of an antenna should
be taken into consideration if the gate gives SLIP for
storage position at the CY to truck drivers after
comparing and checking identification information of
a truck and container with COPINO (Container
pre-notification). In case of Korean container terminal
gates, the bar code identification and SLIP issuing are
taking place at the same position. The position 3
suggested in Fig. 4 is not proper position when
considering the width of gate, identification distance
of antenna and length of external trucks. The reason is
that the truck passes the position for SLIP issuing
when identifying both a truck and container. Therefore,
the tests were conducted for position 1 and position 2.
The tests were conducted 10 times for each of five
access patterns of trucks as the tests done for truck
identification. The test results of each tag’s
identification ratio are shown in Table 4.
Gate Speed bump
Upper
Point
Inner
Measure
Point
Outside
Measure Point
Fig. 4 Installation position of tag and antenna for container
identification
Table 4 Test results of tag and antenna installation position
for container identification
ID ratio by tag position (%)
Installation position of RFID antenna
Left side of gate entrance 60 70 100 100 100
(Toward the truck: 70°)
Left side of gate entrance 40 50 90 100 100
(Toward the truck: 70°)
4 Development of an automated gate
system based on RFID
This session presents the development environments
of an automated gate system based on RFID and
explains their sub-systems.
4.1 Development environment and design of
an automated gate system
The gate system developed in this study includes
diverse hardware, software, test environments, and
scenarios. Hardware is composed of the tag, antenna,
reader, computer server for information management,
printer for SLIP, and signal lamp for driver. Software
was developed with Visual C# on Window 2000
server and SQL 2000 server under consideration of the
features of identification devices, user interface, and
management of security devices.
We chose the #2 and #3 gate of P terminal in
Busan port and conducted a lot of tests in order to
select the optimal position of hardware. Finally the
optimal positions for hardware were determined.
In case of gate in and out of a truck and container,
the trucking company should send COPINO
information to the terminal via EDI, e-mail, or fax
machine in advance. The truck and container which
have 900 MHz tag and 433 MHz tag respectively pass
through the terminal gate, and the antenna and reader
read each tag information of the truck and container.
And then identification system sends the received
information of each identification system to the
integrated identification system. The integrated
identification system compares the information of
each identification system with COPINO. If their
information is coincided, it sends the confirmed
information to the gate management system of TOS
(Terminal Operating System). Additionally, the job
for checking out container damage and container seal
should be performed simultaneously.
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

The automated gate system developed in this study 4.3.1 The system of basic information management
can be applied to efficiency enhancement of truck and The system of basic information management is
container identification and to technology (e.g. e-seal) composed of user management, pre-information
related to security. (COPINO) management, and devices management
(truck and container identification devices). The user
4.2 The identification system of truck and management handles user ID, names, and other related
container information, and if necessary, correction can be made
The identification system of truck and container and new user can be added. The pre-information
contains the function of condition management of management keeps COPINO, which is to be compared
each device, information process, and information with the information acquired from truck and
transmission. The definition and function of detailed container identification system. According to the
modules of truck and container identification system results of comparison and confirmation, the
are illustrated in Table 5. pre-information can be corrected or deleted. The
Among the functions in Table 5, the key module is devices management is in charge of maintaining the
the data manager. The data manager is to extract devices (e.g. antenna, reader) connected to a truck and
effective data from tag data obtained for a certain container identification system and the server that
period. This extraction should be done on the performs the operation of truck and container
features of identification tasks of the gate including identification system.
the exceptional cases.
4.3.2 Gate In/Out management system
Table 5 Definition and function of detailed modules of truck The gate in/out management system is composed of
and container identification system information management in terms of trucks and
Section Definition Contents containers of gate in/out, management of error
- Collect tag data from the
information that can occur at gate in/out of trucks and
- Control and manage the containers, and monitoring of gate in/out.
Device reader, and send related
reader as end part of
manger
middleware
information to the data Gate in/out management of a truck and container
manager
have the function for registering of new truck’s
- Control the device manager information, searching real-time information of gate
- Filter and process the and check the maintenance in/out of a truck, and correcting or deleting
Data
delivered tag data and management.
manager
generate an effective event - Extract effective tag data information. If error occurs, it can be linked to the
through filtering error information management. The error
information management checks error information
- Control and check the data
manager of gate in/out. It also can confirm and correct the
- Connect the event data to
Information
the integrated identification
- Collect the events from data errors and register error information.
server manager
system.
- Exchange communications
Monitoring of gate in/out enables all the
with manager interface. information received from a truck and container
identification system to be displayed on the screen.
- Perform middleware It may be compared with the COPINO on the screen.
- Manage the modules such
management, system
Manager as device manager, data
monitoring, and event If the information is already included in the
interface manager, and information
server.
monitoring through COPINO, it will be displayed in blue, but if not, it
GUI-based manager interface. will appear in red. COPINO list also will be
displayed in blue on the screen, if it coincides with
the information from the truck and container
4.3 Integrated identification system
identification system.
Integrated identification system manages information
acquired from the devices for truck and container
identification, and also performs the function of
checking and comparing the information with 5 Conclusion
COPINO. The integrated identification system can be This study tried to develop an automated gate system
divided into two modules: basic information based on RFID through analyzing existing
management and gate in/out management. technologies and advantage of RFID technology to
increase efficiency and productivity of a container
Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS, Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, July 10-12, 2006 (pp251-257)

terminal gate. The newly developed system is under

various tests at the gates of P container terminal in
Busan port. The gate passage time of a truck under the
bar code system usually takes about 20 seconds, but
under the new system, it takes 5-10 seconds. We could
reduce more than 10 seconds. Unfortunately, field
application and evaluation have not yet performed
owing to time and environmental problems. This
problem is expected to be solved soon. Furthermore,
the technologies applicable to security and
confirmation should be developed soon and also
practicable researches as well as diverse evaluation
methods about newly developed technologies need to
be followed.

Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Korean Ministry of
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The study was
accomplished as a part of the development project of
an automated gate system, which is included in the
development project of intelligent port logistics
system for next generation.

References:
[1] Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries,
Port Technologies for Ultra-large Container Ship,
Volume 3, 2006
[2] Bhuptani, M. and Moradpour, S., RFID Field
Guide: Deploying Radio Frequency Identification
Systems, Prentice Hall, 2005
[3] Sweeney, P. J., RFID for Dummies, Wiley
Publishing, Inc., 2005
[4] Pyo C.S., Chae J.S. and Kim C.J., RFID System
Technology, Korea Radio Research Society
Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2004, pp.21-31
[5] Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries,
Strategy of Port Logistics digitalization based on
RFID, 2005
[6] Lee E.J., Sung N.S., Choi G.Y. and Pyo C.S.,
RFID Technology for Port Logistics, Korea Radio
Research Society Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2005,
pp.26-32.

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