Market Opportunities for Paper Industry in Radio Frequency Identification

The paper industry has been experiencing remarkable structural changes since paper demand growth has ceased and some markets are declining. One reason behind the declined demand is the Internet, which has partially substituted the newspaper as a source of information. Paper products alone can no longer provide livelihood, and the paper industry has to find new business areas. In this research, we studied radio frequency identification (RFID), and the market opportunities it could provide for paper industry. The research combined a quantitative industry analysis and qualitative interviews. RFID is a growing industry in the beginning of its life cycle, in which value chains and technologies still evolve significantly. The industry is going to concentrate on the future, and in the long term RFID-identifiers will probably be printed on paper substrate or directly onto products. Paper industry has the chance to enter the RFID industry, but it has to obtain the required competences, for example through acquisitions. The business potential RFID offers to paper industry is inadequate, and while reviewing new strategic options, the paper industry must consider more options, for example the entire printed intelligence.

The radio frequency identification technology in the supply chain management: a case of a big logistics company

Nowadays global business trends force the adoption of innovative ICTs into the supply chain management (SCM). Particularly, the RFID technology is on high demand among SCM professionals due to its business advantages such as improving of accuracy and veloc-ity of SCM processes which lead to decrease of operational costs. Nevertheless, a question of the RFID technology impact on the efficiency of warehouse processes in the SCM re-mains open. The goal of the present study is to experiment the possibility of improvement order picking velocity in a warehouse of a big logistics company with the use of the RFID technology. In order to achieve this goal the following objectives have been developed: 1) Defining the scope of the RFID technology applications in the SCM; 2) Justification of the RFID technology impact on the SCM processes; 3) Defining a place of the warehouse order picking process in the SCM; 4) Identification and systematization of existing meth-ods of order picking velocity improvement; 5) Choosing of the study object and gathering of the empirical data about number of orders, number of hours spent per each order line daily during 5 months; 6) Processing and analysis of the empirical data; 7) Conclusion about the impact of the RFID technology on the speed of order picking process. As a result of the research it has been found that the speed of the order picking processes has not been changed as time has gone after the RFID adoption. It has been concluded that in order to achieve a positive effect in the speed of order picking process with the use of the RFID technology it is necessary to simultaneously implement changes in logistics and organizational management in 3PL logistics companies. Practical recommendations have been forwarded to the management of the company for further investigation and procedure.

Implementation and Integration of New Baggage Logistic Centre at HelsinkiVantaa Airport

This thesis deals with improving international airport baggage supply chain management (SCM) by means of information technology and new baggage handling system. This study aims to focus on supply chain visibility in practice and to suggest different ways to improve the supply chain performance through information sharing. The objective is also to define how radio frequency identification (RFID) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) can make processes more transparent. In order to get full benefits from processes, effective business process management and monitoring as well as the key performance indicators must be defined, implemented and visualized through e.g. dashboard views for different roles. As an outcome of the research the need for the use of information technology systems and more advanced technologies, e.g. RFID in the supply chain management is evident. Sophisticated ERP is crucial in boosting SCM business processes and profitability. This would be beneficial for dynamic decision making as well in the airport and airline supply chain management. In the long term, economic aspects support the actions I have suggested in order to make production more flexible in reacting to quick changes.

RFID-teknologia kulunvalvonnassa

Tämä kandidaatintutkielma on kirjallisuuskatsaus, joka käsittelee RFID-teknologian hyöndyntämistä kulunvalvonnassa. Työssä perehdytään pintapuolisesti itse teknologiaan, ja luodaan katsaus kulunvalvontaan. Työn pääaihe on kuitenkin kulunvalvonnan ja RFID:n yhdistyminen: miten RFID:tä hyödynnetään kulunvalvonnan toteutuksissa ympäri maailmaa. Työssä tarkastellaan RFID:n vahvuuksia, sekä heikkouksia kulunvalvonnan suhteen. Tämän lisäksi pyritään luomaan kuva nykyisistä ja tulevista implementaatioista. Viimeinen tärkeä työn osa-alue on turvallisuus. RFID:tä käytetään korkeankin turvatason kulunvalvontaratkaisuissa ja tällöin turvallisuuden maksimoiminen on ensiarvoisen tärkeää.

Mobiiliteknologioiden hyödyntäminen rakennusteollisuudessa

Mobilding-hanke toteutettiin Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston tietoliikennetekniikan laitoksella vuosien 2006 – 2008 aikana. Hankkeen alkuperäisenä tavoitteena oli selvittää, millä menetelmillä voidaan hallita rakennukseen liittyvät tiedot koko sen elinkaaren ajalta alkaen suunnittelusta, jatkuen läpi elementtivalmistuksen ja rakennusvaiheen sekä myöhemmin koko rakennuksen käyttöiän. Myöhemmin hankkeessa tehtiin kuitenkin elinkaaren osalta rajaus niin, että tarkasteltava elementtien elinkaari katsotaan alkavaksi rakennuksen suunnittelusta ja tarkasteltava elinkaari päättyy rakennuksen valmistumiseen, kun elementit ovat asennettu niille kuuluville paikoilleen ja jälkitarkastus on suoritettu. Yksi hankkeen johtavia ajatuksia oli aiemmin Etap II-hankkeen yhteydessä testatun RFID-etätunnistustekniikan (Radio Frequency Identification) hyödyntäminen rakennuselementtien tunnistamiseen. Kiinteänä osana tähän liittyy tiedon kerääminen ja sen hyödyntäminen mobiililaitteiden avulla. Tämä tieto voi olla esimerkiksi elementin dimensio-, paikka tai tilatietoa. Jotta tuotettavaa tietoa pystytään hyödyntämään ja jakamaan hankkeen muille osapuolille, toteutettiin keskitetty Mobilding-tietojärjestelmä, joka sisältää erillisiä rajapintoja myös muihin elementin ja rakennushankkeen elinkaaren aikana käytettäviin järjestelmiin.

Radio Frequency Measurement Method for Detecting Bearing Currents in Induction Motors

Induction motors are widely used in industry, and they are generally considered very reliable. They often have a critical role in industrial processes, and their failure can lead to significant losses as a result of shutdown times. Typical failures of induction motors can be classified into stator, rotor, and bearing failures. One of the reasons for a bearing damage and eventually a bearing failure is bearing currents. Bearing currents in induction motors can be divided into two main categories; classical bearing currents and inverter-induced bearing currents. A bearing damage caused by bearing currents results, for instance, from electrical discharges that take place through the lubricant film between the raceways of the inner and the outer ring and the rolling elements of a bearing. This phenomenon can be considered similar to the one of electrical discharge machining, where material is removed by a series of rapidly recurring electrical arcing discharges between an electrode and a workpiece. This thesis concentrates on bearing currents with a special reference to bearing current detection in induction motors. A bearing current detection method based on radio frequency impulse reception and detection is studied. The thesis describes how a motor can work as a “spark gap” transmitter and discusses a discharge in a bearing as a source of radio frequency impulse. It is shown that a discharge, occurring due to bearing currents, can be detected at a distance of several meters from the motor. The issues of interference, detection, and location techniques are discussed. The applicability of the method is shown with a series of measurements with a specially constructed test motor and an unmodified frequency-converter-driven motor. The radio frequency method studied provides a nonintrusive method to detect harmful bearing currents in the drive system. If bearing current mitigation techniques are applied, their effectiveness can be immediately verified with the proposed method. The method also gives a tool to estimate the harmfulness of the bearing currents by making it possible to detect and locate individual discharges inside the bearings of electric motors.

Antenna Design for Contactless IC Card Applications

Contactless integrated circuit cards are one form of application of radio frequency identification. They are used in applications such as access control, identification, and payment in public transport. The contactless IC cards are passive which means that both the data and the energy are transferred to the card without contact using inductive coupling. Antenna design and optimization of the design for contactless IC cards defined by ISO/IEC14443 is studied. The basic operation principles of contactless system are presented and the structure of contactless IC card is illustrated. The structure was divided between the contactless chip and the antenna. The operation of the antenna was covered in depth and the parameters affecting to the performance of the antenna were presented. Also the different antenna technologies and connection technologies were provided. The antenna design process with the parameters and the design tools isillustrated and optimization of the design is studied. To make the design process more ideal a target of development was discovered, which was the implementation of test application. The optimization of the antenna design was presented based on the optimization criteria defined in this study. The solution for the implementation of these criteria and the effect of each criterion was found. For enhancing the performance of the antenna a focus for future study was proposed.

Hiontarobotti-solun tietojärjestelmä

Hiontarobotteja käytetään nopeuttamaan hiontaprosessia ja vähentämään henkilöiden tarvetta tehdä kuluttavaa ja raskasta työtä. Yleensä hiottavat kappaleet ovat suuria, jolloin hionta robotillakin kestää kauan. Kun hiottavat kappaleet ovat pieniä, robotti hioo kappaleen nopeasti. Tällöin tarvitaan automaattinen varastointi, jotta hiontarobotti pystyy jatkamaan nopeasti seuraavan kappaleen hiontaa. Automaattinen varastointi tarvitsee tiedonhallintajärjestelmän, jolla hallitaan varastossa olevien kappaleiden tietoja. Hiottava kappale täytyy esimerkiksi pystyä tunnistamaan ennen hionnan aloittamista. Yhtenä tunnistusmenetelmänä voidaan käyttää radiotaajuudella toimivia RFID-tunnisteita. Kun kappale tunnistetaan ennen hiontaa niin voidaan varmistua, että robotti suorittaa oikean hiontaohjelman kappaleelle. Diplomityö liittyy Master Automation Groupin ensimmäiseen automaattista varastoa hyödyntävään FlexMill™-hiontarobotti-soluun. Työssä on suunniteltu ja toteutettu tietokanta ja siihen liittyvä tietojärjestelmä. Kehitettävä ohjelma toimii solun toiminnasta vastaavan soluohjaimen tiedonhallintaosana. Ohjelma hyödyntää RFID-laitteita kappaleiden tunnistuksessa.

Radio-frequency-based measurement methods for bearing current analysis in induction motors

The most common reason for a low-voltage induction motor breakdown is a bearing failure. Along with the increasing popularity of modern frequency converters, bearing failures have become the most important motor fault type. Conditions in which bearing currents are likely to occur are generated as a side effect of fast du/dt switching transients. Once present, different types of bearing currents can accelerate the mechanical wear of bearings by causing deformation of metal parts in the bearing and degradation of the lubricating oil properties.The bearing current phenomena are well known, and several bearing current measurement and mitigation methods have been proposed. Nevertheless, in order to develop more feasible methods to measure and mitigate bearing currents, better knowledge of the phenomena is required. When mechanical wear is caused by bearing currents, the resulting aging impact has to be monitored and dealt with. Moreover, because of the stepwise aging mechanism, periodically executed condition monitoring measurements have been found ineffective. Thus, there is a need for feasible bearing current measurement methods that can be applied in parallel with the normal operation of series production drive systems. In order to reach the objectives of feasibility and applicability, nonintrusive measurement methods are preferred. In this doctoral dissertation, the characteristics and conditions of bearings that are related to the occurrence of different kinds of bearing currents are studied. Further, the study introduces some nonintrusive radio-frequency-signal-based approaches to detect and measure parameters that are associated with the accelerated bearing wear caused by bearing currents.

Wireless Applications Evaluation and Development Process: Case -Paper Industry Logistics

Sähköisen liiketoiminnan ja mobiliteetin konvergenssi yhdessä teknologisen innovaation kiihtyvän vauhdin kanssa ovat saaneet aikaan kiinnostusta langattomia liiketoimintaratkaisuja kohtaan. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli tutkia sähköisen liiketoiminnan langattomien sovellusten arviointi- ja kehitysprosessia. Työ keskittyy tarkastelemaan paperiteollisuuden toimitusketjun langatonta seurantaa. Tutkimuksessa esitetään langattoman sähköisen liiketoiminnan määritelmä, kuvaillaan langattomuuden eri sovellusalueita ja sovellusten arviointi- ja kehitysprosessin strategisia sekä teknologisia ulottuvuuksia. Työ luo viitekehyksen, jonka avulla tarkastella langattomien teknologioiden merkitystä logistiikassa. Tutkimuksen merkittävin tulos on prosessimalli sovellusten arvioimiseksi ja kehittämiseksi. Mallilla kehitetty langaton sovellus osoittautui tarkastelussa hyödylliseksi toimitusketjun hallinnassa.

Design of RFID-system for industrial after-sale service

RFID-tekniikka on radiotaajuudella toimivaa etätunnistusta, jossa hyödynnetään RFID-tunnisteiksi kutsuttuja tageja, sekä RFID-lukijoita. RFID-tekniikan käyttökohteet ovat erittäin laajat. Tässä kandidaatintyössä tutkitaan RFID-tekniikan hyödyntämismahdollisuuksia teollisuuden huoltopalvelusuhteessa. Työ keskittyy huollettavien laitteiden etätunnistamiseen mobiileja RFID-lukijoita hyödyntäen. Laitteiden tiedot noudetaan olemassa olevasta tietokannasta web-käyttöliittymän kautta. Koska laitteet koostuvat pääosin metallista, joudutaan tunnistetyyppien valintaa pohtimaan tarkasti. Metallipinnat sekä nesteet vaikuttavat erittäin negatiivisesti useiden tunnisteiden lukuetäisyyteen. Työssä keskitytään vaadittavan järjestelmän suunnittelemiseen aikaisempia tutkimuksia hyödyntäen, mutta itse järjestelmän toteutus ei kuulu tähän kandidaatintyöhön. Lopussa järjestelmän alustava suunnitelma esitellään.

RFID-teknologia ja kulunvalvontajärjestelmät

RFID on radioaaltoja hyväksikäyttävä langaton kommunikointitekniikka, jota käytetään tunnistamaan tunnisteella merkittyjä esineitä tai ihmisiä yksilöinä. RFID on jo pitkään ollut tunnettu tekniikka, mutta vasta viime vuosikymmeninä sitä on alettu hyödyntämään kaupallisesti eri sovellusaloilla. Kandidaatintyön tarkoituksena on tehdä yleiskatsaus RFID:n historiaan, järjestelmien osiin ja niiden toimintaan sekä kartoittaa RFID-markkinoiden nykytilaa ja lähitulevaisuutta sekä globaalilta kannalta että Suomessa. Lopuksi työssä tarkastellaan RFID-perusteisten kulunvalvontajärjestelmien perusominaisuuksia ja niiden toimintaa.

RFID-teknologian hyödyntäminen valmistavan teollisuuden toimitusketjuissa

Tässä työssä tutkitaan RFID-etätunnistusteknologian avulla saavutettavia merkittävimpiä hyötyjä valmistavan teollisuuden toimitusketjuille. Tavoitteena on kartoittaa saavutettavat hyödyt jo käytössä olevilla RFID-teknologian sovellutuksilla. Työssä esitellään RFID-teknologian perusteet ja käytössä olevat sovellutukset sekä toimitusketjujen yleisimmät riskit ja kustannustekijät. Käytössä olevilla sovellutuksilla saavutettavia hyötyjä verrataan toimitusketjujen yleisimpiin riski- ja kustannustekijöihin. Tutkimuksessa todettiin RFID-teknologialla olevan merkittäviä positiivisia vaikutusmahdollisuuksia toimitusketjujen tehokkaampaan ja taloudellisempaan toimintaan.

Tuning the design procedures for laser processed microwave mechanics

This research has been focused at the development of a tuned systematic design methodology, which gives the best performance in a computer aided environment and utilises a cross-technological approach, specially tested with and for laser processed microwave mechanics. A tuned design process scheme is also presented. Because of the currently large production volumes of microwave and radio frequency mechanics even slight improvements of design methodologies or manufacturing technologies would give reasonable possibilities for cost reduction. The typical number of required iteration cycles could be reduced to one fifth of normal. The research area dealing with the methodologies is divided firstly into a function-oriented, a performance-oriented or a manufacturability-oriented product design. Alternatively various approaches can be developed for a customer-oriented, a quality-oriented, a cost-oriented or an organisation-oriented design. However, the real need for improvements is between these two extremes. This means that the effective methodology for the designers should not be too limited (like in the performance-oriented design) or too general (like in the organisation-oriented design), but it should, include the context of the design environment. This is the area where the current research is focused. To test the developed tuned design methodology for laser processing (TDMLP) and the tuned optimising algorithm for laser processing (TOLP), seven different industrial product applications for microwave mechanics have been designed, CAD-modelled and manufactured by using laser in small production series. To verify that the performance of these products meets the required level and to ensure the objectiveness ofthe results extensive laboratory tests were used for all designed prototypes. As an example a Ku-band horn antenna can be laser processed from steel in 2 minutes at the same time obtaining a comparable electrical performance of classical aluminium units or the residual resistance of a laser joint in steel could be limited to 72 milliohmia.

Digital Audio Broadcasting: Technology and Prospects

The subject of the thesis was the digital audio broadcasting technology developed in the Eureka project 147. The research was based on the literature on the subject. At first, some reasons for the digitisation of broadcasting technology were given. Next, the channel multiplexing and channel coding methods employed by digital radio were discussed. The design of these methods is based on certain phenomena related to the propagation of radio-frequency signals, and these phenomena were also described. After that, audio and data transfer mechanisms as well as the structure of digital radio network were explained. Furthermore, digital audio and data services were considered. Finally, the digital radio was examined from marketing and administrative aspects. From a merely technical point of view, the digital radio technology offers several improvements in comparison with analogue technology. However, the digital radio has not become as widespread as it was perhaps originally expected during its development.