Founded in 1966, New Zealand Company Skyline Enterprises Ltd is a global leisure operator with five sites in New Zealand, Singapore, and Canada. The company operates an inventory of thousands of luge carts, a purpose-built three-wheeled cart which is gravity-fueled, with the rider having control over speed and direction using a braking and steering system.
The activity is fast-paced, with luge carts typically sustaining high levels of vibration and physical impact. As the carts are used and stored outside, they are also subjected to challenging environmental conditions in the form of wet weather, high levels of humidity and extreme cold.
Improved operational efficiency
Correctly executed maintenance schedules are essential for regulatory compliance and improved operational efficiency. Knowing when reusable assets are due for maintenance can be a real challenge for organizations, especially when the asset is a luge cart and is used in a range of extreme physical and environmental conditions.
To address these challenges, the company launched a project to have all luge carts RFID tagged and tracked by reading stations each time they complete a track circuit, demonstrating a recorded cycle history for each cart. The overall RFID solution incorporates several key components, each addressing the issues of this challenging environment. A SlimLine A8060 linear polarised multi-purpose antenna from Times-7 was chosen specifically for its slim form factor and optimized RF field.
Integrated read stations
The A8060’s optimized RF field also allowed the antenna to accurately read all tags with ease
At only 86 mm wide and 8 mm thick, the antennas were easily mounted into integrated read stations above the luge tracks. The A8060’s optimized RF field also allowed the antenna to accurately read all tags with ease, safely above the fast-moving luge carts below.
The use of the Xerafy Cargo Trak versatile on/off metal tag is also critical in the success of this solution. With its long read range and incredible shock resistance, Cargo Trak tags are mounted inside each luge cart, with excellent all-weather performance. Completing the solution was the Speedway Revolution R220 RFID reader from Impinj.
Excellent read range
Information & Business Systems Manager at Skyline Enterprises, Richard Allen, said, “Times-7 UHF antennas were chosen because of their form factor and optimized RF field, which gave excellent read range. Coupled with super-rugged Xerafy tags, Skyline has deployed a successfully robust and flexible RFID solution for our demanding environment.”
“We plan to continue using this winning UHF antenna/tag combination to deploy RFID at all of our luge sites, including our newest site in South Korea. Future projects include tracking our gondola fleet and using RFID to enhance our luge customer experience allowing for real-time photo sharing. Times-7 and Xerafy RFID technology will be involved in these exciting new projects.”
