Potential applications of radio frequency identification (RFID) in transportation operation and intelligent transportation system (ITS)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system typically includes an RFID device containing data, an antenna transmitting signals, an Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver generating signals, and a reader receiving RF transmissions. The lower cost producing and the long-lasting energy supply enables RFID technology with potential applications in many areas including transportation and logistics. It is anticipated that great applications of RFID technologies in transportation operations are foreseen in next few years. Under the RFID equipped vehicle and highway system, almost all components (vehicles, highways, traffic signals, signs, symbols, pavement markers, etc.) can be provided with the long-lasting and cheap RFID tags or labels. Potential RFID applications in transportation operations include: (1) intersection and highway signal control; (2) Vehicle Infrastructure Integration(VII) system; (3) Automatic Vehicle Identification(AVI); (4) mobile report and incident detection; (5) corridor management; (6) dynamic route choice; (7) pre-trip route choice and route guidance system; (8) others. Besides, RFID technologies can be easily incorporated into almost all aspects of the Intelligent Transportation Systems, including the ITS required functions, most of the physical entities or subsystems, and the information flows and data flows connecting functions and physical subsystems in the integrated system.