In a project coordinated by Qatar's postal authority, Q-Post and two other neighbouring Posts are testing various RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies to measure quality of service in the Gulf region.
Since the beginning of March, operators have been measuring transmission times for letter post between Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, using RFID chips read remotely and without direct visual contact, by means of seven RFID readers or gates installed in mail processing centres.
The aim of the project is to test, in a live environment, semi-active and passive RFID technologies for quality of service measurement of letter mail. The three-month project will demonstrate the abilities of the various real-time monitoring network technologies within the same environment. The pilot will provide the parties involved with some concrete information on the range of new technologies available, and help assess the feasibility of using new technologies for the UPU's Global Monitoring System. Eventually, this system will use RFID technology to measure the time taken by the destination country to forward incoming mail to the final delivery point. This will enable a link to be established between quality of service and the rate of remuneration of the destination countries for the mail.
At the Postal Operations Council in January, the Quality of Service Project Group decided to go ahead with this system and to focus on the interoperability of different technologies. Various standards will be defined this year, and the global monitoring system will enter its first pilot phase in 2009. It will then be extended to all UPU member countries. As well as being a helpful tool for calculating terminal dues, this system could be used by operators to improve mail flows.