“Use of Radio Frequency Identification technology in pet registration with Lucknow Municipal Corporation is a new way to track lost pets as well as keep a record of vaccination status and to track complaints against pet owners”
The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in India is witnessing a massive high as various business sectors such as retail, supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, etc. are rapidly adopting this new age IoT technology along with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons, NFC (Near Field Communication), UWB (Ultra Wideband), etc. but that is about use of technology in the business sector.
Besides business, IoT technologies find many applications in personal use cases such as smart homes, health, and education as well.
The RFID technology is an efficient AIDC technology that is capable of wirelessly identifying and tracking assets, be it pets or some objects, with accuracy. Keeping that in mind, many municipal corporations across India are using this technology to tag pets in the city with RFID implant tags and create a database of pets.
Let’s see how RFID technology is being used to track lost pets, track their vaccination status, and track owners of pets in case of pet-related complaints.
What is RFID Technology?
RFID is a wireless technology that leverages radio wave communication for identifying and tracking items. RFID employs a small device called an RFID tag, which has a microchip and antenna unit housed together. An RFID reader, antenna, and a computer software interface are also used for reading the encoded data from the RFID tags and displaying and storing the data for the end users.
When a UHF passive RFID tagged item is in close proximity to a UHF RFID reader, it captures the reader signal and relays the encoded data in the form of an RF signal. The RFID reader catches this signal with the help of the RFID antenna and decodes the data for the end user.
Though RFID technology is significantly old and well-known for its accuracy and efficiency, its commercial success is tied to the IoT boom post-2000. With the rise of advanced internet technology (4G and 5G network standards), RFID is now applied for item-level track and trace applications. The RFID market is witnessing a significant rise in the last few years and with the RFID tag and Reader prices coming down significantly, more businesses in retail, supply chain and logistics, healthcare, education, etc. are employing RFID technology for better results than barcoding technology, which was in use before.
RFID as a wireless technology offers pertinent advantages over barcodes and QR codes. Being wireless, RFID offers quick scanning capabilities sans clear line-of-sight, which allows you to accurately identify items rather quickly, saving precious time. You can also track items with accuracy over a distance of 12-15m easily.
RFID Tagging of Pets/Animals
Radio Frequency Identification is very useful in pet/animal tracking as well. In countries like USA, UK, China, India, etc., RFID tags are already being used for livestock tracking and management.
Livestock owners are attaching RFID tags on the ears of animals, implanting animals with RFID tags, and deploying RFID antennas and RFID readers for identifying and tracking their livestock.
Now coming to pets, RFID provides an accurate and rather easy solution for identifying and tracking lost pets in many Indian cities. Recently, the municipal corporation of Lucknow (LMC), started this project to register all the pets within the corporation limit and keep track of lost and unidentified pets and their vaccination status. The strategy involves people paying a fee for registering the pet with the LMC and then a fee for RFID tagging their pets. They can also update details of the vaccination of their pets in the municipal corporation database and request for vaccination upon scheduling the same.
After registration of a pet, the municipal corporation will implant the RFID microchip near the neck of the pet which has no apparent health side-effects. The database of pets will also help in registering complaints against pet owners upon request by the public as there have been multiple cases of pets like dogs attacking small kids in residential buildings, public lifts, and parks. Various cases of toddlers being mauled by dogs have also come to light, and this is where RFID tags help in preventing such incidents.
The RFID implant will give a digital unique identification to each pet which will be registered with the municipal corporations, just like Aadhar Card no. for people. A mobile app will also update all the details of pets and pet owners for easy information access to the public.
To conclude, RFID implants in pets will help pet owners as well as municipal corporations with identifying pets in case one is lost. It will also curb the stray dog menace and prevent dog attacks on kids in residential buildings and parks.
RFID will help create a database of pets across the city and municipal corporations can arrange for vaccines and health check up at state-run veterinary clinics.
The technology provides an accurate and easy way to track pets and track them by placing RFID readers at various locations. RFID handheld readers will also be helpful in finding lost pets.
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