Africa News: South Africa adopts framework standards for RFID deployment

Sharon

Sharon Gill

---

28th January 2008

Standards South Africa (STANSA) has formally published the SANS 504 and SANS 24535 standards.

SANS 24535 provides a framework for electronic registration and identification of vehicles using passive RFID, while SANS 504 describes the criteria applicable to RFID air interfaces that form part of Intelligent Transport Systems.

The SANS 504 and SANS 24535 standards, which had been developed by STANSA over a period of several years, have been accepted in anticipation of the deployment of passive UHF RFID based systems within the South African transportation sector.

Within this sector, passive UHF RFID systems are particularly useful to law enforcement agencies looking to efficiently authenticate vehicle license discs and licence plates. They are also used for monitoring individual vehicles as part of traffic management systems aimed at improved road network utilisation, free-flow electronic toll collection and in various other applications.

"The formal adoption of these standards clears the way for the expected deployment of RFID-based systems in the South African transportation industry," said Luther Erasmus, president of IPICO Innovations in South Africa. "Since IPICO's IP-X based UHF RFID technology is fully compliant with these new standards in South Africa, we are now exceptionally well positioned to compete for such deployments, not only here but also in several other developing nations that are expected to follow the South African example."