<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Sep 23, 2009
TECHNOLOGY
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Forget RFID tags, two-dimensional tracking far cheaper
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Saturday's report, 'KKH to track surgical dressings electronically', which stated that KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) implemented a complex and costly radio frequency identification (RFID) system to track its surgical tools to reduce an error that happens about only once every two years.
In Britain and the United States, there is a common alternative that costs at least eight to 10 times cheaper than the RFID solution; and the alternative does not affect the instrument's shape and operation owing to the protrusion of an electronic tag.
It is simply a barcode system. Instead of using the traditional one-dimensional barcode (which one sees printed on labels in the supermarkets and at the back of our driving licences), the alternative solution uses the direct-part-mark (DPM) technology.
A laser marker takes only one second to create a two-dimensional mark, called the data matrix code, and tattoos the instrument's unique identification number onto the instrument permanently. A relatively cheap plug-and-play code reader is then connected to the computer and transmits the decoded data into the tracking software.
Most solution providers in Singapore commonly offer a low-cost one-dimensional barcode tagging solution, or a high-end RFID tracking solution, as they are unaware or unfamiliar with an intermediate and cheaper solution like DPM traceability.
A government grant of $330,000 to do the hospital job seems hefty and, more importantly, unnecessary, because an RFID solution may be an overkill for what KKH has in mind.
I also look forward to the day when the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will adopt DPM technology for weapons tracking.
It is time that we did away with manually recording names and rifle identity numbers on a greasy register. With DPM technology, the armskote in-charge just scans the soldier's identity card number and the rifle's DPM code when taking and returning weapons.
Clarence Sim
TECHNOLOGY
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Forget RFID tags, two-dimensional tracking far cheaper
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Saturday's report, 'KKH to track surgical dressings electronically', which stated that KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) implemented a complex and costly radio frequency identification (RFID) system to track its surgical tools to reduce an error that happens about only once every two years.
In Britain and the United States, there is a common alternative that costs at least eight to 10 times cheaper than the RFID solution; and the alternative does not affect the instrument's shape and operation owing to the protrusion of an electronic tag.
It is simply a barcode system. Instead of using the traditional one-dimensional barcode (which one sees printed on labels in the supermarkets and at the back of our driving licences), the alternative solution uses the direct-part-mark (DPM) technology.
A laser marker takes only one second to create a two-dimensional mark, called the data matrix code, and tattoos the instrument's unique identification number onto the instrument permanently. A relatively cheap plug-and-play code reader is then connected to the computer and transmits the decoded data into the tracking software.
Most solution providers in Singapore commonly offer a low-cost one-dimensional barcode tagging solution, or a high-end RFID tracking solution, as they are unaware or unfamiliar with an intermediate and cheaper solution like DPM traceability.
A government grant of $330,000 to do the hospital job seems hefty and, more importantly, unnecessary, because an RFID solution may be an overkill for what KKH has in mind.
I also look forward to the day when the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will adopt DPM technology for weapons tracking.
It is time that we did away with manually recording names and rifle identity numbers on a greasy register. With DPM technology, the armskote in-charge just scans the soldier's identity card number and the rifle's DPM code when taking and returning weapons.
Clarence Sim
