Gin Utilization of RFID Technology

RFID technology is fairly new and evasive especially for small gins in South Texas. There is not a whole lot of information out there for an average IT professional, so it became natural for me to want to contribute something to the industry that could be useful to anyone willing to take on the challenge of setting up RFID technology for their cotton gin. When RFID was first presented to me I did not think much of it in and of itself, considering my background in wireless. I also wasn’t so sure about its simplicity and knew I was on the path to learning something new. I was willing to take on that challenge which meant I had to get busy researching and discovering the ins and outs of what exactly is RFID and how is it used. Many questions arose and the idea of picking up data automatically just by driving under an arch of RFID antennas was something that I could visualize in my head as very doable. The very first piece of documentation that I came across was the instruction manuals for the Impinj 420 Gateway Reader, and I will never forget what the first sentence of the first paragraph clearly stated, and that was that the material in this manual is intended for systems architect and software engineers. That quickly informed me that I was up against a huge challenge and that there is a need for more information in laymen terms of what exactly is RFID and can a cotton gin be more successful utilizing this technology in a practical sense in order to better track cotton modules. We use multiple RFID readers in various configurations, and I believe that our experience and technical information will help others decide whether RFID is right for their ginning operation.