))) TI's RFID transponders provide automatic guidance and tracking at Europe's largest container port

))) DALLAS, TX (July 30, 2000)

Automated container handling at Europe's largest container port in Rotterdam is an impressive sight! Unmanned Automatic Guided Vehicles transport containers around the port and unmanned bridge cranes stack them – all without human supervision. In reality, the containers are under computer control and are continually identified, tracked, guided by tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) transponders from Texas Instruments which are buried in the ground and used to detect, identify and guide the Automatic Guided Vehicles to their correct destinations.

The system is installed by Europe Combined Terminals (ECT), one of the largest operators of container-handling facilities in Holland's massive Port of Rotterdam. The company began implementing an automated system for container handling and transfer some 10 years ago. The company initially used buried induction cables to track and control the containers, but these proved unreliable and difficult to maintain in such a busy industrial port environment (any cable fault meant digging up the port).

Then the company tried RFID technology and as a result of its success, ECT has adopted RFID technology at not just one but all three of its major container handling facilities and is currently underway with the development of a further installation. As a result of its pioneering approach, the company is reaping some impressive rewards including higher efficiency, lower costs, greater accuracy and improved logistics control. Since the transponders are powered automatically whenever a vehicle approaches, they do not need power or cabling or even batteries, making them easy to install and completely reliable and maintenance free. Also the design of TI's glass encapsulated transponders makes them completely immune to moisture or dirt allowing them to be buried in the ground even in hostile outdoor conditions.

Millimeter accuracy and consistency using RFID technology

A complete grid of RFID transponders is laid across the entire terminals. They were initially installed every four metres. "An advantage of the TI transponders is that they are freely programmable," says Roos. "Each is programmed with its own X/Y position co-ordinates so the system knows where the AGV's are at any given time. However, for some applications such as guiding vehicles to their stacking stations, even this does not provide the high accuracy of 3-10 centimetre required for accurate manoeuvring. For this reason, the driverless vehicles have two antenna systems installed in them, so that not only the programmed location of the transponder can be 'read' but also the position of the AGV with respect to that transponder can be determined. Under laboratory conditions, the system achieves an accuracy of a millimetre. In practice, we don't need that degree of accuracy, so we round the positioning off to the nearest centimetre which gives us all the accuracy we need."

The AGVs ply their routes with astounding consistency, as can be seen from the dead-straight tyre tracks on the quay. In their turn, the bridge cranes place their loads on top of other containers with amazing precision. And there are virtually no people to be seen. All the equipment is controlled by the central process-management system. It calculates the routes and clears them by checking the positions of the other AGVs. Only changes of direction are transmitted to the AGVs, which in turn report their position every ten metres. More than that is not needed. The system can also stop an AGV, for example to give another vehicle priority. There is no question of collisions – a vehicle can stop of its own accord using separate sensors that can detect another container up to 30 metres away.

The flow of data which controls the process is entirely computerised. Customer information comes in by EDI, after which it is automatically converted into task orders. Then the process-management system kicks into action, controlling container movements right up to dispatch and even that is automated.

The RFID system has proved to be totally reliable even in the rugged all-weather conditions of a busy industrial port," says Roos. "Not a single RFID transponder has failed in four years. We are so delighted that we are already installing the same system in another new container terminal currently under construction."

Why automation?

What was the main reason for launching this project? Dick Roos, Project Engineer, Logistics, at ECT's Delta Container Division pointed out that "In shipping, it's all or nothing. One day the quay – and we have six kilometres of it – is packed with ships. The next it is empty. Then we work a five-shift system. Allocating labour is problematic under those conditions. That's why we began to think about the partial automation of transhipment at the end of the 1980s."

The new automated terminals achieve a much higher efficiency than its manned counterparts. Its performance is consistent, and labour costs are considerably lower.

At the ports, the largest container ships in the world – some carrying 18 rows of containers – moor alongside the terminals, and the containers unloaded and transferred to coasters, barges, trains or lorries to continue their journey to their final destinations throughout Europe. All container transfers are controlled by automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and unmanned bridge cranes carry out stacking operations – all without human intervention. Only the main quay cranes are still manned – all the subsequent transportation and stacking of the containers is entirely automated.