Evaluation of RFID UF tags for electronic marking of standing trees

1. FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Evaluation of RFID UHF tags for
electronic marking of standing trees
Gianni Picchi
CNR-IVALSA, Italy
Martin Kühmaier
BOKU, Austria
Juan De Dios Diaz
ITENE, Spain

2. The SLOPE project
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Integrated proceSsing and controL systems fOr sustainable forest Production in mountain arEas (SLOPE)
FP7-NMP-2013-SME-7
 10 partners
 3 years
 Precision forestry
 Forest digital model
 Intelligent machines
development

3. Traceability Auto-ID system
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Possible options:
Visual
 barcodes
 QR
 Punching
 Laser marking
 Ink jet data matrix
Electronic
 RFID

4. RFID UHF
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Radio Frequency Identification operating at Ultra High Frequency
LF HF UHF Microwaves
Frequency 125-134 KHz 13.56 MHz 868-902 MHz > 902 MHz
Average
reading range
<1 cm 2-5 cm 0-10m 0-100m
Battery no no no yes

5. Main challenges in forest
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
• Capacity to endure long term exposure to forest environment
• Influence of tag and reader position on readability
• Moisture content influence
• Motion influence (dynamic reading)
• Survival rate in forest operations

6. FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Marking standing trees
Number Maker Model
1 Omni-ID Exo 600
2 HID Slimflex
3 Confidex Ironside
4 Synometrix SMLM-8200
5 Confidex Ironside Micro
6 Confidex Pino
7 Smartrac Shortdipole
GROUPED ACCORDING TO APPLICATION MODE
1) hard shell - screw or rivet (tags 1,3,4 and 5);
2) soft cover - stapling (tags 2, 6 and 7).
Traditional
system
(axe – stamp)
Stapling
soft cover
Screwing
hard shell

7. Marking and survival analysis
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
 Stapling effective and more acceptable than screws
 Under bark position feasible
 After one year all tags operative:
o resin
o tension
o stapling on transponder

8. Materials tag-reader position
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Manual RFID UHF reader CAEN qID R1240I
Windows interface returning value of:
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)
(negative decibel-milliwatts - dBm)
Smartrac Shortdipole
Freshly felled log
(48% moisture content)

9. FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Position of tag and reader
Tag position
Cross cut section
Tangential over bark
Tangential below bark
Distance (cm)
0
10
30
Angle (degrees)
0
30
45
90
180

10. Position of tag and reader
Results
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
RSSI
(dBm)
Stnd.
Level Count Mean Error
GRAND MEAN 190 -53.4
Position of tag
1 (on cross cut section) 100 -44.0 2.26
2 (tangential over bark) 40 -58.9 3.94
3 (tangential below bark) 50 -57.3 3.53
Distance (cm)
0 40 -40.3 3.95
10 100 -54.6 2.27
30 50 -65.3 3.61
Angle (°)
0 80 -48.0 2.43
30 40 -51.5 3.82
45 40 -53.6 3.82
180 (through the log) 30 -60.5 4.57
Level
1
2
3
4
Factor Means Plot for RSSI
Vertical scale = -640,0 to -240,0
Angle Distance Position
Angle
Distance
Position
•Distance main factor
• 90° never detectable, 180° just parallel to fiber
• Position significant effect

11. Moisture content
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
-60
-55
-50
-45
-40
-35
-30
-25
-20
50% 45% 40% 35% 25% 15% 0%
Readingstrenght(dBm)
Moisture content
Ø 25 cm Ø 35 cm Ø 45 cm
• Clear influence of dielectric effect
• total reduction 37% (minimum -57.8 dBm)
• decreasing moisture to 40% improved RSSI 20%
• superficial moisture apparently most important
• no effect of tree/log size

12. Dynamic reading
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Tag
model
Distance
(cm) Swing
RSSI
main
tag
(dBm) SD
N.
readin
g
RSSI
control
tag
(dBm)
1 100 yes -59.8 1.4 10 0
1 100 no -58.7 1.2 10 0
1 200 yes -64.4 2.2 10 0
1 200 no -63.0 1.3 10 0
1 300 yes -69.2 3.1 10 0
1 300 no 0 0 0 0
1 400 yes 0 0 0 0
1 400 no 0 0 0 0
2 100 yes -55.7 1.9 10 0
2 100 no -53.7 0.7 10 0
2 200 yes -61.0 2.3 10 0
2 200 no -59.7 0.5 10 0
2 300 yes -64.8 1.4 10 0
2 300 no -64.0 1.6 10 0
2 400 yes -66.2 34.9 5 0
2 400 no 0 0 0 0
3 100 yes -66.9 34.6 4 0
3 100 no 0 0 0 0
3 200 yes 0 0 0 0
3 200 no 0 0 0 0
3 300 yes 0 0 0 0
3 300 no 0 0 0 0
3 400 yes 0 0 0 0
3 400 no 0 0 0 0
4 100 yes -65.7 3.3 10 0
4 100 no -68.5 21.7 9 0
4 200 yes 0 0 0 0
4 200 no 0 0 0 0
4 300 yes 0 0 0 0
4 300 no 0 0 0 0
4 400 yes 0 0 0 0
4 400 no 0 0 0 0

13. ThankYou!
FORMEC 2015
Linz 4-7 October
Gianni Picchi - picchi@ivalsa.cnr.it