Case Study

Case Study: Dayton Adopts RFID-Based Security Gate

CLIENT PROFILE AND ISSUE

As the City of Dayton analyzed operations, they recognized city vehicles, waste collection trucks, maintenance crews, and roadway service teams were unable to quickly enter and exit city-lots. Maintaining a guard at the gate during business hours, and trying to respond to after-hour needs, was not economically feasible. Manually checking credentials was inefficient and often caused traffic back-ups. This issue was exacerbated during peak traffic times, after-hour operations, or in emergency situations.

DISCOVERY PROCESS

Designing an automated gate system began with defining a means to automatically identify each vehicle. The City of Dayton worked with CDO Technologies to identify, design, and test an automobile tag containing passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Tags either hung in the vehicle’s windshield or were placed on the front-face of the vehicle. RFID tag selection was customized to accommodate vehicles ranging in size from waste collection trucks to riding lawn-mowers and guard against inclement weather conditions impacting RFID effectiveness range.

SOLUTION

With a more efficient gateway, the City of Dayton sought to decrease response time, eliminate vehicles blocking the main thoroughfare while waiting to enter the lot, and ensure roadways would be more efficiently cared for during weather emergencies. Applying an automated solution would eliminate the financial responsibility of a full-time guard and more efficiently approve entry for authorized vehicles while developing a record of activity for additional analysis.

To accommodate a greater volume of vehicles more quickly, the lot entry underwent reconfiguration to include a wider driveway onto the street, a greater distance between the street and the entry gate, and a gate system containing RFID readers which would quickly identify a vehicle. Fence posts lining the driveway were equipped with RFID readers controlled by and reporting to CDO’s High-Value Asset Tracking (HVAT) software. With passive RFID in place, gates opened automatically upon vehicle identification.

RESULTS

Implementing passive RFID into its entrance re-design significantly improved the City of Dayton vehicle-flow efficiency while reducing the expense of a full-time guard. The City also plans to use data collected by the system to identify additional ways to serve its citizens. CDO’s tailored solution helped the City of Dayton decrease response time, eliminate vehicles blocking, and ensure roadways would be more efficiently cared for during weather emergencies.

If you have questions or would like to further discuss your unique asset tracking challenges, please schedule an appointment.