Major testing is beginning this month on radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. The tests will examine a number of variables in RFID technology, and aid in developing a data infrastructure to manage the information collected. Expected to last for at least 8 months, the tests are being coordinated by the Auto ID Center (www.autoidcenter.org) at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The center, in partnership with Cambridge University in the UK, is funded by major corporations interested in using the technology for tracking assets and products throughout the supply chain. Many of the sponsoring companies are participants in the testing program, including Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, Unilever, Kraft Foods, CHEP, and Savi Technologies.

The tests will examine the effectiveness of RFID systems including one-time-write and many-time-read tags and the receivers that read them. Long considered a technology with extremely high potential, the major drawbacks in the past have been accuracy and expense.

"We need to create a critical mass of users to guide the research. It also really only makes sense if you have a standard system that everyone is using," says Kevin Ashton, the center's director.

MIT expects its research will also enable the price of reading the tags to come down to about $10 to $20 per cubic foot of read range, with a target price of a typical reader at about $100.