NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack College senior Joe Gaudreau is already putting his education to use.
The electrical engineering major is working on a pilot project to embed electronic tags into the college's IDs so students can buy lunch, check out a library book or gain access to computer labs to do homework — all with one card.
Gaudreau is something of a pioneer. He's working in the college's new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) lab, set up using technology donated by TAGSYS, a Burlington company that designs and manufactures RFID systems used to track inventory in retail stores, among many other uses.
"I got interested in this after I tried to get into the lab to do homework," Gaudreau told TAGSYS CEO Bill Stuek, who was at the school for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the RFID lab last week. "I couldn't get in, and I thought this would be cool project to solve a problem."
While RFID tags have been derided by some civil liberties and privacy advocates as an advanced way of tracking the movement and spending habits of people, the tiny devices are already in widespread use in a variety of industries.
TAGSYS, for example, makes transmitters that are embedded in library books, luxury watch and jewelry components and clothing. The tags allow manufacturers to monitor supplies. They help librarians keep track of books and other materials in collections, and the tags let clothing retailers track inventory as it comes in and then out the door.
Each tag is made up of a chip and an antenna. The tags, which are passive computer chips, contain information about the product. When a reader is directed at or near the chip, information about the item is displayed on a screen. Further, the reader is usually linked to a larger inventory database.
For example, in the school's RFID lab, women's razors hang on a small display rack you might see in a place like CVS or Walgreens. Each razor has a chip securely fastened to the plastic packaging, while a reader is on the shelf. When someone takes the item off the shelf, the reader automatically sends a message to an inventory control computer, which makes an assessment of how many razors are left on the shelf and whether more razors need to be ordered from the manufacturer or put on the shelf for the next customer.
"Big-box retailers are moving toward keeping a real-time record of products on the shelf," said Charlie Kochakian, adjunct professor in the college's electrical engineering department. "And it tells the back room when to restock the item."
Another part of the lab has what's called a "point of sale station," which is similar to a grocery store's check-out lane. Not yet in widespread use, this technology would make it quicker, easier and more accurate to check out of a grocery store using RFID technology.
At the lab, a basket is filled with a variety of items, each of which has an RFID tag attached. The basket is placed on top of a large, square glass plate that is actually the reader. The reader takes stock of all the items in the basket, which are then displayed on a computer screen. Each item comes up with price and a small picture of the actual product.
"It reads all the stuff inside the tote," Kochakian said.
Further, if someone has an RFID tag in their store card, the reader will scan the card and display the person's name and other salient information needed to make the sale.
The lab has a variety of other stations and is intended to allow students to learn how RFID works while also doing experiments with the technology, Kochakian said.
Dr. Ronald Champagne, interim president of Merrimack, thanked TAGSYS for its donation of $60,000 worth of equipment, noting that "students now have the opportunity to learn actively on the latest RFID technology that will provide them with superior hands-on experience and unmatched preparation for their professional lives. This will, in turn, allow us to deliver highly qualified RFID candidates to the field."
That may already be happening.
During last week's ribbon-cutting, Stuek, the TAGSYS CEO, asked Gaudreau what he was doing after graduation.
When Gaudreau answered that he was interested in getting a job in the RFID field, Stuek asked him if he would mind moving to France, the location of one of the company's research and development labs.
"Well, I've always heard it's a nice place," Gaudreau said.
