DLT offers RFID technology | Bangkok Post: tech

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) has applied Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology offered as an option of the new system of annual tax payment badge and it's expected that the number of lost vehicle will decline.

According to DLT director-general Chairat Sanguansue, the department has offered the smart RFID technology as an option on the annual tax payment badge to pave the way for connecting vehicle data with other organisations.

"The RFID program is not compulsory, but the department will provide it to the public on a voluntary basis. The vehicle owners are required to pay an additional 120 baht for tax if they prefer to have the annual tax payment badge with the RFID system," he said.

The RFID system comprises two parts: the smart tag which is the RFID chip to attach on the front mirror of the vehicle, and the smart pass which is the RFID chip to attach to the front light of the vehicle.

The RFID system will function once the reader transceiver the data from the tag via radio frequency and sends the data to the computer centre. The data will then decode the vehicle's tax mark which is attached on the vehicle's mirror.

The director-general noted that the department is now connecting the data system with the Royal Thai Police and in the future it will be linked with other organisations such as the Department of Corrections so that there will be data of criminal records and drivers' records.

The smart RFID will be officially provided to the public on August 11, and the department will offer the service free of charge from August 11-30.

Chairat said that the DLT did not spend the budget for the project, but it was invested by the private sector company, Kolakorn Co, Ltd.

The company plans to install at least 450 chip readers in the first phase, within September 2011, which will cover the main roads including state highways, provincial highways and the expressway and will then expand into the districts, tambons and villages if the requirement is complete to 100 percent.

The director-general added that car-leasing companies and insurance firms will benefit from the project. "We expect that there will be some 15-20 percent of the total number of vehicles and all of the new cars to apply for the RFID tag because more than 90 percent of new cars are paid for by credit payment and this new kind of technology is very helpful to the financial institutes as they just pay 120 baht, but get better security in pursuing the vehicles," he said.

According to Somapa Information Technology managing director, Namchoke Somapa, as the RFID project's system developer, the RFID reader can function at a distance of 200 km per hour.

With a capability to contain some 60 letters, the smart tag encompasses the vehicle's data including the colour, brand, plate number, machine number and the expired date of tax.

This project is going to create the logistics standard of the country, he said, noting that this project has been developed with open standard technology in order to have other organisations integrate with the system in the future.

Apart from the leasing companies and insurance firms, Namchoke said the organisations associated with transportation can more systematically manage the traffic, the security agencies will be able to examine the vehicle use in cases of crime, while those involved with the logistics can precisely check the transportation procedure.

Namchoke noted that the project targets to have some 1-2 million cars, in the mass transport group, to apply the RFID system. "We would like to have a collaboration of the public and private sectors on this project and acknowledge that this technology will help the country to do better planning on logistics," he said.

The insurance companies will be the first target of the project and then it will expand the benefits to other groups including individuals and real estate developers as they can apply the RFID tag instead of the authorised passing card.

The smart RFID project can be applied for a variety of purposes including smart parking, access control, authorised access, electronic-claim, e-toll collection, tracking, real-time traffic monitoring and vehicle identification.