FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Evaluation of RFID UHF tags forelectronic marking of standing treesGianni PicchiCNR-IVALSA, Italy

Martin KühmaierBOKU, Austria

Juan De Dios DiazITENE, Spain

The SLOPE project

FORMEC 2015Linz 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

Traceability Auto-ID system

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Possible options: Visual barcodes QR Punching Laser marking Ink jet data matrix

Electronic RFID

RFID UHF

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Radio Frequency Identification operating at Ultra High Frequency

LF HF UHF MicrowavesFrequency 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

Main challenges in forest

FORMEC 2015Linz 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

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Marking standing trees

Number Maker Model1 Omni-ID Exo 6002 HID Slimflex3 Confidex Ironside4 Synometrix SMLM-82005 Confidex Ironside Micro6 Confidex Pino7 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

Marking and survival analysis

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Stapling effective and more acceptable than screws Under bark position feasible After one year all tags operative:o resino tensiono stapling on transponder

Materials tag-reader position

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Manual RFID UHF reader CAEN qID R1240IWindows interface returning value of: Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) (negative decibel-milliwatts - dBm)

Smartrac Shortdipole

Freshly felled log

(48% moisture content)

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Position of tag and readerTag position

Cross cut section

Tangential over bark

Tangential below bark

Distance (cm)

0

10

30

Angle (degrees)

0

30

45

90

180

Position of tag and reader Results

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

RSSI (dBm)

Stnd.

Level Count Mean ErrorGRAND MEAN 190 -53.4Position of tag1 (on cross cut section) 100 -44.0 2.262 (tangential over bark) 40 -58.9 3.943 (tangential below bark) 50 -57.3 3.53Distance (cm)0 40 -40.3 3.9510 100 -54.6 2.2730 50 -65.3 3.61Angle (°)0 80 -48.0 2.4330 40 -51.5 3.8245 40 -53.6 3.82180 (through the log) 30 -60.5 4.57

Level1234

Factor Means Plot for RSSIVertical 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

Moisture content

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

50% 45% 40% 35% 25% 15% 0%

-60

-55

-50

-45

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

Ø 25 cm Ø 35 cmØ 45 cm

Moisture content

Read

ing

stre

nght

(dBm

)

• 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

Dynamic reading

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Tag model

Distance (cm) Swing

RSSI main tag (dBm) SD

N. reading

RSSI control tag (dBm)

1 100 yes -59.8 1.4 10 01 100 no -58.7 1.2 10 01 200 yes -64.4 2.2 10 01 200 no -63.0 1.3 10 01 300 yes -69.2 3.1 10 01 300 no 0 0 0 01 400 yes 0 0 0 01 400 no 0 0 0 02 100 yes -55.7 1.9 10 02 100 no -53.7 0.7 10 02 200 yes -61.0 2.3 10 02 200 no -59.7 0.5 10 02 300 yes -64.8 1.4 10 02 300 no -64.0 1.6 10 02 400 yes -66.2 34.9 5 02 400 no 0 0 0 03 100 yes -66.9 34.6 4 03 100 no 0 0 0 03 200 yes 0 0 0 03 200 no 0 0 0 03 300 yes 0 0 0 03 300 no 0 0 0 03 400 yes 0 0 0 03 400 no 0 0 0 04 100 yes -65.7 3.3 10 04 100 no -68.5 21.7 9 04 200 yes 0 0 0 04 200 no 0 0 0 04 300 yes 0 0 0 04 300 no 0 0 0 04 400 yes 0 0 0 04 400 no 0 0 0 0

Thank You!

FORMEC 2015Linz 4-7 October

Gianni Picchi - picchi@ivalsa.cnr.it