Trazabilidad RFID para material ferroviario

RFID traceability for railway equipment

A Spanish manufacturer of railway parts and complete trains, with a presence throughout Europe and the rest of the world, needed complete traceability of its train components, with up to 2,000 RFID tags per unit.

The challenge was not only technological: it involved overcoming interference from metal, vibration, demanding environmental conditions, and identifying individual parts in an environment with a very high density of tags.

What we developed: Tag selection and validation: We tested various RFID tags to ensure they could withstand the real-world adversities of the railway environment—metal, continuous vibration, temperature, and humidity—certifying only those that passed laboratory and field tests.

Custom mounting format: Since there was no standard solution capable of keeping the tag adhered and readable on metal under continuous vibration, we developed a custom mounting format.

RFID placement on the factory floor: We defined and implemented the labeling of each component during manufacturing, guaranteeing unique identification and traceability by batch and series. Custom reading middleware: We created a software layer capable of processing thousands of simultaneous readings, filtering noise and interference, and structuring the information before sending it to the client´s systems.

Antenna installation and validation: We deployed fixed reading antennas at strategic points and validated their range and actual reading rate across an entire train, adjusting power and positioning to guarantee reliable coverage of more than 2,000 tags per unit.

Result: The manufacturer went from having no individual visibility of its components to complete traceability of the rolling stock from the production line itself, with reliable bulk readings even in the most adverse environment for RFID: moving metal surfaces.