Technology implementation is not always welcomed by the general public. I am one of those people who is unhappy of the Salik system that has been implemented in Dubai. But having said that we cannot take the credit off the people who designed and implemented the RFID system.

One of the biggest bottlenecks of RFID implementation was the automatic checkout. And the guys seem to have improvised a bit and the system seem to work amazingly well. After successful tryouts with retail chains the technology companies have come to a solution of working out the problem of reading a Passive RFID Tag stuck on the windshield of a car traveling at 100 Kmph.

How it works ?

When Toll was suggested in Dubai for Congested routes, Most people from Dubai i.e Indians pictured the same toll system as used in India in various locations, toll booths at the entry of the toll managed roads and endless queues to get to the toll gates. But Dubai being Dubai had to find an ingenious solution to this issue. They turned to RFID.

There will be two tolling points: Al Garhoud Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road near Mall of the Emirates. Each time a car passes through a Salik tolling point, the toll of AED4 will be deducted from a prepaid toll account using the latest in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Cars will be identified to the system through communication with the small, thin Salik sticker tag affixed to your windshield. See Pics.

The RFID tag seems to be a passive RFID tag with a magnetic field induced chip built into it. It seems that the tags are made such that they will destroy if tried to remove. So every time a car passed an RFID reader the reader induces the tag with enough power to actually permit the tag to send out its unique ID. Once the ID is sent the reader picks this information up and sends it to the server along with the location and a timestamp. The server then deducts the amount based on the ID received, and an SMS is sent accordingly. If the balance is low in the account of the subscriber, an SMS is initiated as well. See a schematic below for the same.

I am trying to find out the details of the company who actually implemented the system to get information regarding the manufacturers and component manufacturers.