Silent tunnel for reading smallstock EID tags

Traceability is critical to red meat processors, the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has revolutionised various industries, including the red meat industry, by providing efficient and accurate inventory control of live animals (and other assets). However, RFID interference and signal loss can pose significant challenges to its performance, resulting in inaccurate data, data loss, and system failure. This is true in the area of passively reading livestock ear tags. This project will work with an Australian leader in RFID and antennae design to ascertain if the concept of a ‘silent tunnel’ can be developed with the aim of achieving a 100% read rate of Smallstock ears removed from the head of Smallstock with RFID ear tags on them and compare this with traditional panel readers. Note, silent here refers to shielding the reader from all external electrical noise. Report will be provided to AMPC and industry 12 months of comparison data between the two reader styles.