At 3:21 PM 8/3/96, David Lesher wrote:

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They are going to hang one of these on EVERY bag? At what per-unit cost? Probably low enough, at least if they can reuse the tags (should be easy to find them, since they're transponder-equipped.)

My guess about how they'll be used is to replace the bar-code stickers used by many baggage-handling systems - they'll stick one on at checkin, corresponding to the number on your ticket, track them when they load them on the plane (so they know that all the bags correspond to people expected to get on the plane, as well as knowing the bags are getting on the correct plane), and track the tickets to make sure that all the people expected to get on the plane actually do get on (I think they use bar-code readers or OCR today, and that'll probably continue.) Tim> "bag escrow" will allow other agencies--such as DEA--to sniff Also useful for the baggage checkers at the baggage claim, who'll be able to check that your baggage tag belongs to your ticket, and that nobody sneaks baggage out unchecked, either stealing it or trying to pick up the contraband. Of course they'll _have_ to check all the bags to collect the transponders. David>>THEN think of the RFI problems..... Tim> The RFI problems are actually the least of the concerns, Tim> given the "code space" technology which is possible. The RFI issue isn't just telling one transponder from another, it's interference with the airplane's electronics. The devices will be a bit quieter than your laptop, since they presumably only broadcast in response to polls - probably quieter than pagers but noisier than digital watches. Bill # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority!