The RFID system that tracks and identifies vehicles used to transport aircraft fuel at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York is now being used on hundreds of food-service and employee transportation vehicles at the air traffic hub.

To ease runway and facilities access, trucks with airport access are equipped with active radio tags that provide identification and validation when they approach entrance gates.

"The driver doesn’t have to step out of the truck anymore," said Allan Griebenow, CEO of Axcess, which provides the RFID transmitters and receivers for the systems.

Exiting the truck to enter a key code exposed the drivers to the potential threat of being hijacked and slowed transportation, causing trucks to back up onto the runway during peak traffic, according to Griebenow. The rolling-access RFID system installed at JFK allows a passing speed of 35 miles per hour at the gates.

A small battery-powered RFID tag, mounted under each vehicle's hood, contains integrated circuits connected to an antenna activated by larger underground antennas around the gates. The tag only transmits when called upon, which keeps a tag working for up to five years.

The tags respond with their own unique signals and each control point within the system uses a special frequency and message to activate the RFID chip in order to track the vehicle's route.

"We can cover any area, like a Wi-Fi system," Griebenow said. The ability to cover a limited area with RFID readers is a crucial part of another Axcess-based system, approved three weeks ago at a JFK cargo warehouse, which monitors personnel. Employees are only allowed within certain boundaries delineated by colored marks on the ground, eliminating the need for physical barriers.

"If someone enters an area where he or she is not authorized, the system sends that information to the guards," Griebenow said.

Also, assets such as laptops or other goods can be associated with a certain individual or vehicle, allowing, for example, only certain individuals access to specific computers.

RFID technology has been used in commercial business applications since the 1980s but adoption has never really taken off.

"The high cost of the hardware, tags and readers is an inhibitor of the adaption of RFID technology among companies," said Dan Vesset, research director for IDC's analytics and data warehousing software unit.

Axcess' personnel tag, worn on the wrist and the size of a wristwatch, costs $10 per unit compared to the vehicle units, which are priced between $30 and $50. Passive read-only tags, used in the retail sector for loss prevention and tracking goods, can cost less than $0.30.

Both Griebenow and Vesset expect that the demand for lower-priced tags, active and passive, will be met when demand volume increases.

"We have already seen the price drop substantially," Griebenow said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.