RFID Improves Intermodal Connectivity

Interstate-35 Corridor Coalition - This coalition was formed to support a high-priority corridor from Laredo to Duluth, Minnesota. The I-35 Priority Corridor will cut the driving time between Chicago and Mexico City by as much as 40 percent, to 36 hours. Currently it takes trucks crossing the Rio Grand 8 to 12 hours just to get past the border. Included in the Corridor Coalition design are arrangements for building customs inspection stations at a few spots along the highway, allowing the trucks to be checked and then sealed hundreds of miles away from the congested crossings at Laredo. The tracking technologies used will include "smart cards" containing an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) microchip to identify the truck. Assuming the seal was unbroken when the truck crossed the Mexican border, the truck could avoid long lines at the border inspection stations and drive North through the interior. The smart cards could also be used to automate the payment of fees or weight penalties owed to US states traversed en route. The infrastructure required for the corridor would include a fiber-optic cable along the Interstate-35 which would be connected at numerous points to short-range transmitters which would send a radio signal. The signal would interact with the smart cards in the trucks and identify each one to the appropriate computer system, so that highway authorities could ensure that trucks weren’t deviating from the routes they had paid to use.

Critical Technology Elements: Today’s large-fleet trucking companies are equipped with a number of electronic devices in heavy trucks operating in long-haul corridors. These devices allow the driver to pay tolls electronically, keep a trip log for hours-of-service reports, carry cargo manifest and bill-of-lading information on the on-board computer (OBC), perform scheduling and dispatching functions, monitor the performance of the engine or the temperature-sensitive cargo, and carry records of vehicle safety inspections. A typical high-technology truck is likely to be equipped with what is referred to as a "mobile terminal," equipped with devices such as a satellite receiver, an OBC, a data communication unit for processing data that allows messages between drivers and dispatchers to be sent via the satellite connections, a continuous tracking antenna, and an electric motor that keeps the antenna aligned with the satellite. More recently, heavy truck fleets are likely to be equipped with a modem-equipped personal computer for accessing the Internet for load dispatching information. The mobile terminal also includes a removable memory cartridge to transfer data to an office microcomputer or to pass from the recorder to a radio or satellite data receiver for relay to dispatch office ...