RFID Case Study: RFID-Enabled drones transform warehouse inventory tracking
In an increasingly competitive logistics environment, businesses are always looking for better ways to optimize warehouse operations and improve inventory visibility. Traditional RFID systems, though effective, rely on fixed readers and gates, creating bottlenecks and limiting scalability. Verity, a company that provides AI-powered autonomous drone systems for real-time inventory tracking, explored how autonomous drones integrated with RFID technology could provide a seamless, real-time inventory tracking solution.
Challenge
One of the primary challenges was tracking inventory beyond line-of-sight while keeping accuracy and operational efficiency. Fixed RFID readers need items to pass through designated scanning points, which can be inefficient in high-volume warehouse environments. Additionally, maintaining real-time inventory updates across millions of items without disrupting existing workflows posed a significant hurdle.
Solution
To solve these challenges, Verity launched a pilot project. The solution combined Verity’s AI-powered autonomous drones with RFID technology, enabling real-time, high-accuracy inventory tracking.
The drones autonomously navigated warehouse aisles, scanning RFID tags at speeds of up to 1,000 items per second with an accuracy rate of 99.9%. Unlike traditional RFID systems, which require close-range scanning, Verity’s drones provided flexible, mobile tracking. This allowed warehouses to track inventory inside and outside of boxes without interrupting normal operations.
During the three-month pilot phase, the system efficiently read over 80 million RFID tags across 1.25 million individual items. This made inventory tracking more precise, reduced the need for manual work, and helped avoid mistakes.
Results:
The use of RFID-enabled drones brought major improvements:
- 99.9% Inventory Accuracy: The drones tracked inventory almost perfectly, reducing errors and missing items.
- 80 Million RFID Reads: The system completed 1,500 drone flights, scanning a huge number of items quickly and efficiently.
- Real-Time Tracking: Inventory data was updated constantly, allowing warehouse managers to make informed decisions without manual checks.
- More Efficient Operations: Automating inventory tracking reduced the need for time-consuming manual scans, allowing workers to focus on other tasks.
- Easier Scaling: Unlike fixed RFID scanners that need expensive setup changes, Verity’s drone system is flexible and can be used in different warehouses without big modifications.
Conclusion
The pilot project demonstrated that integrating AI-powered drones with RFID technology can significantly improve warehouse inventory tracking. The results show strong potential for reducing errors, increasing efficiency, and enhancing real-time stock visibility. As Verity continues refining the system, this technology could become a valuable tool for warehouses looking to optimize their operations in the future.
Used Cisper products:
- RFID Reader development kit
Read the press release from Verity: 'Verity, On, and Maersk pilot RFID technology with autonomous drones in warehouse inventory management'