The Sticky Question – India adopts a new RFID standard. What does this actually mean?

August 18, 2010

By: Marc Obrowski

RFID, DSCR, active, passive ETC. If this is confusing to you it means you are quite normal. The terms are often enough used incorrectly or at least ambiguously in the media.

Indian Tollways gives you some clarity.

RFID means simply Radio Frequency Identification. This covers the DSCR (Dedicated Short-Range Communications) standard currently deployed in India, like at the Delhi –Gurgaon expressway. It covers also smart price tags at supermarkets and a way to collect toll electronically using small passive transponders.

It is those new passive transponders that people and media have in mind when talking about RFID.

They are in fact small stickers that attach to the inside of the windscreen with all the electronics in a thin layer.

The industry promise is to provide them much cheaper than our current tags. They can’t be swapped between vehicles (important to prevent fraud in closed toll systems) and they don’t need a battery.

On the downside they don’t beep and the technology is less proven than DSCR tags. Also changing from DSCR to passive RFID means installing new ETC radio equipment at your toll lanes (they can be in addition to existing DSCR gear as the two technologies work in different frequency bands).

RFID DSCR tag	Passive RFID sticker tag
Active transponders, needs battery (lasting between 5 and 10 years)	No battery needed
In a hard case	Circuit in sticker foil
Changing tags between vehicles can be prevented by a mechanism that sets a flag in the tag when it is removed from the bracket. The flag is read out at the tolling point. (This is an optional extra)	Tags can not be removed from the windscreen without destroying them
5.9 GHz	915 MHz
Reading from tag and writing on tag	Reading from tag and writing on tag
Tag beeps when detected in the toll lane	No beep
Price around Rn1000	Under Rn 200 (this is an estimate, there is no established Indian market price yet)

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under RFID

2 Comments on “The Sticky Question – India adopts a new RFID standard. What does this actually mean?” Post your comment

Deepak Raturi on September 14th, 2010 12:17 pm

UHF Passive tags are best suitable for this application. I am shocked why our government is using microwave based active tags those have a life of few years or less and are very costly about 1000 INR to 1500 INR. While UHF passive tags are ranges from 25 INR to 100 INR. Some peoples don’t want to use active tags due to the cost factor they are very costly but UHF passive tags are cheaper and peoples will also co-operate in using this technology due to low cost solution. UHF passive tags can be designed in read range from 3 meters to 10 meters and can be made in plastic robust packaging to make the tags dust and waterproof. Also the tags don’t need any battery, hence much more advantageous in comparison with active tags.
Sanjay Chadha on October 24th, 2010 8:01 pm

I agree – rather than adapting an older technology (DSCR) India should adopt a solution based on a newer technology (ISO 18000-6C).

Today passive windshield tags can be read up to 12 meters, battery assisted passive (BAP) tags can be read up to 50 meters. Companies have created location capabilities of passive tags which allows accurate and secure knowledge of location of vehicles in real-time. The location technology enables readers to be shared between lanes reducing costs or improving availability.

There is huge R&D capital being spent enhancing this technology around the world to improve this technology and all that would benefit deployments in India.
ISO 18000-6C i.e. UHF passive tag technology must be given the consideration it deserves.

Did I forget to mention that passive tags are paper thin and hence can be dispensed using RFID dispensers in petrol pumps, grocery store or special automatic kiosks improving overall user experience.