Air cargo warehouse environment and RF interference

The air cargo transportation chain is a complex network where freight is moved from origin to destination via many different intermediates. This creates multiple opportunities for misplacement of goods, and their retrieval can be very time consuming and in some cases not even possible. Monitoring of goods within containers and the air cargo warehouse can enhance operation efficiency, security and provide valuable real-time information. For radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to be implemented in an air cargo warehouse, comprehensive RF assessments need to be done. In particular, interference levels within the radio spectrum will determine the suitable frequencies for a specific RFID implementation. Hence, in order to identify the multiple RF interferences encountered inside air cargo warehouses, this study analyzes the spectrum around three more commonly used RFID frequencies: 433 MHz, 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz. The main findings of this research reveal that interference levels are lowest around 915 MHz and highest around 2.45 GHz inside the two different air cargo warehouses studied.