Vicinity RFID a Pioneer in Delegate Management at India Medical Conference

Vicinity RFID Solutions Pvt. India has pioneered the use of UPM UHF Gen 2 RFID tags for event ticketing at a medical conference in India. The solution utilized ThingMagic Astra Readers provided by Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd., Agile Middlewares supplied by Vicinity RFID, and UPM ShortDipole UHF RFID inlays from UPM RFID.

Vicinity RFID Solutions is the leading provider of innovative RFID-based business solutions in India, and an associate company of Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited. The conference, the 63rd Annual National Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society (ANCIPS) 2011, was held in January in New Delhi and attracted more than 1,900 attendees. One of the main event sponsors was Alkem Laboratories, the seventh-largest pharmaceutical company in India.

The conference and various technical sessions took place in 10 halls during four days. Delegates were given an RFID-tagged conference pass containing their personal data and access rights. The Indian Psychiatric Society hoped to find out how much time the delegates spent in the conference halls. The delegates’ movements were constantly monitored by Astra Readers installed at the entrances to each hall, and their entry and exit times were recorded as they moved from one hall to another.

The data gathered by RFID readers in each hall was processed and evaluated. Data was presented for each delegate and each session, including the time spent at each session and a report of total hours spent in different halls.

Vicinity RFID Solutions and Alkem Laboratories are aiming to implement more than ten similar projects in the year ahead with a variety of medical associations.

“It’s not an easy task to track 1,900 delegates spreading out in ten halls in the event area with accuracy and in real time. Using RFID to automate people tracking has significant advantages over traditional manual processes, as there’s no need for extra staff to check IDs or the participants’ attendance in various sessions. Information about entries and exits, movement around the area and time spent in various locations is captured in real time and available for analysis and immediate action. This helps organizers develop their events according the interests of the relevant key target group,” said Edward Lu, sales and marketing director, Asia for UPM RFID.