.

This is a guest blog post by Darren Terpstra, Marketing Assistant at Matrix Product Development. Matrix Product Development is an Engineering firm which has done extensive work with RFID in Healthcare. They have many innovative products including a clinical inventory management system and a wireless temperature monitoring system.…

For years there has been one problem which plagues crowded city spaces, “Where do we park?” If you’ve never had the pleasure of circling a city block 5 or 6 times, you are certainly one of the few. This problem is especially trying for local business owners as they require a constant flow of traffic in order to obtain sales.

IBM is partnering with parking technology firm Streetline to create a RFID enabled solution.  Their solution is embedding magnetic sensors within each parking space. This sensor can detect whether a car is above it or not. RFID technology then relays this information to a reader/repeater. These repeaters are placed on light poles and other stationary objects throughout the designated city area. The information is then transformed into a usable format and sent to end users.

This system correlates with Streetline’s Iphone application “Parker” which will graphically display where parking is available. The system can also be used in parking garages both to measure how long a car has been there, as well as directing newcomers to available spots.

Parking seems to be the new trend as a similar RFID enabled product rolls out for corporate parking lots. A RFID tag carried by the employee can be read from within the car and will open the front gate. A screen will also direct the newcomer to an available parking spot. This system, however, allows the tag to be taken with the employee. So if they are coming in the early morning with minimal lighting, RFID enabled lights will guide them to the building. If they cannot remember where the car was left, they can hold the tag near a screen (by the main entrance) and be shown the exact location of their vehicle.

These new adaptations of RFID are extremely exciting! Could this help solve even more problems we currently face in this transportation heavy culture? Could roads and interstates be outfitted with these same magnetic sensors to detect traffic jams, instantly uploading this to an iPhone app, or even a RFID enabled GPS systems? RFID is already being used for drive-through toll systems, why not traffic jam prevention?

What about the shopping experience. Could this “Parker” Iphone app be combined with another system to provide information about local businesses (hours of operation, sales, coupons, estimated busyness, etc.) as well as parking available? Everything an avid shopper would need, all in the palm of his or her hand.

Could amusement parks use this information to help guests locate spots parking spots (and upon leaving their cars) more easily and know when to open additional parking lots and when to leave them closed? In fact, who says this has to stay with just parking lots? Could amusement park lines have built-in repeaters sensing (from guests’ wristbands) how long the lines are for certain rides?

The applications for RFID seem never ending. As the technology continues to improve and the price continues to drop, there is no telling how widely RFID can be used to our benefit. So please, as you begin seeing RFID used in different places, give it a chance to benefit you in your daily life.

Many thanks to John Ridley for the photo.