Bermuda Deploys World's First Countrywide Electronic Vehicle Registration System Using TransCore's RFID Technology

Bermuda's Transport Control Department (TCD), an arm of Bermuda's Ministry of Tourism and Transport, has launched an island-wide deployment of electronic vehicle registration (EVR) to automate compliance and enforcement using TransCore's radio frequency identification (RFID) eGo(R) windshield sticker tags and readers. Initial deployment is underway.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BusinessWire EON) July 10, 2007 -- Bermuda’s Transport Control Department (TCD), an arm of Bermuda’s Ministry of Tourism and Transport, has launched an island-wide deployment of electronic vehicle registration (EVR) to automate compliance and enforcement using TransCore’s radio frequency identification (RFID) eGo® windshield sticker tags and readers. Initial deployment is underway.

Bermuda is a country with 53 square kilometers of land with 65,000 people and 47,000 moving vehicles. We're the sixth largest population per square mile

The EVR system will automate enforcement of Bermuda’s vehicle-specific regulations including vehicle inspection, insurance, and registration and ensure the accuracy of vehicle data. Over the next five years, TCD expects to recover approximately $11 million in lost fees from unlicensed vehicles on the island’s roadways and reduce the number of non-compliant vehicles to less than 1 percent.

“Bermuda is a country with 53 square kilometers of land with 65,000 people and 47,000 moving vehicles. We’re the sixth largest population per square mile,” said Randy Rochester, Director of Bermuda’s Transport Control Department. “Bermuda has the world’s highest density per square kilometer of motor traffic on its roads. Consequently, we needed a system to facilitate compliance and lessen the burden on law-abiding citizens and our civil servants. EVR will expedite enforcement and ticketing of those not in compliance and recover lost fees more efficiently than our current manual system.”

About Electronic Vehicle Registration

All vehicles in the jurisdiction will be outfitted with TransCore’s eGo RFID window sticker tags, specially designed so if tampered with they are both rendered inoperable and visually indicate tampering. The first step in establishing the EVR system will be to equip Bermuda’s motor vehicle population with RFID tags through the vehicle inspection and registration process. The system will verify vehicle registration compliance via a network of fixed reader points throughout the island, transportable tripod-mounted readers and handheld readers. The system operates similar to electronic tolling, popular in high volume traffic centers around the world.

The EVR system, designed and developed by TransCore and being deployed in Bermuda in conjunction with 3M, consists of RFID tags, antennas, readers and a host computer database system. A unique electronic identification code is established for each vehicle via a tamper-evident windshield sticker tag and each unique code is linked to a record in the centralized vehicle-database. A violation processing system (VPS), also provided by TransCore, will automatically generate citations. EVR will also in later stages of the program adoption, enable validation of commercial vehicle registration and issue violations for those operating in restricted areas during rush hours without a permit.

Designed to operate while maintaining privacy and anonymity of Bermuda citizens, no personal data will be maintained on the secure encrypted tags nor will the system track or store individual vehicle traffic patterns or history. The system identifies only vehicles not drivers and retains only photo images of non-compliant vehicles. This system represents a fair, unbiased method to enforce current transportation regulations. The EVR system maximizes TCD’s ability to process violations, collect associated fees, and fund and maintain roadway infrastructure.

Throughout the world, motor vehicle compliance and enforcement is an issue that affects countries both large and small. In the United States, an estimated five to 10 percent of motorists fail to legally register their vehicles, resulting in lost annual state fees of between $720 million and $1.44 billion. Outside the United States, some government agencies report the problem at 30 to 40 percent of vehicles.

About TransCore’s RFID Technology

The eGo windshield sticker tag is an 865-875 or 902-928 MHz radio frequency (RF)-programmable, battery-free transponder. Packaged as a flexible sticker, this tag is ideal for applications that require low-cost, easily installed tags. The tag is suitable for a wide variety of automatic vehicle identification transportation applications, including electronic vehicle registration, parking, airport, and security access applications. The windshield sticker tag offers an extended read range of up to 31.5 feet (9.6 meters) and 1024-bit read/write memory at a fraction of the cost of older, less flexible RFID technology. The tag provides the capability to read, write, rewrite, or permanently lock individual bytes. Custom printing and labeling is also available. Each eGo sticker tag comes equipped with a factory-programmed unique tag identification number that prevents the tag from being duplicated.

TransCore’s Encompass™ family of RFID reader products is comprised of integrated multiprotocol 865-875 or 902-928 MHz readers designed for a wide range of applications. The readers include a radio frequency module, digital signal processor, power supply, I/O ports, serial communications interface and either an internal or external antenna connector. Some Encompass readers are ideally suited for electronic vehicle registration and high-speed tolling applications where tags are to be read and/or written to at highway speeds, while other models are suitable for slower speed parking and security access applications with a requirement to read TransCore’s eGo tags. Certain models of the Encompass family also enable high-speed tag and/or mutual authentication providing unprecedented system security. The readers transmit an RF signal that is reflected back from an RFID tag, and then decodes the tag data carried by the reflected signal. This data is transmitted to a local host computer for processing.

About TransCore

TransCore operates as a unit of Roper Industries, a market-driven, diversified growth company with 2006 revenues of $1.7 billion, a market capitalization of over $4 billion, and is a component of the S&P Mid-Cap 400, Fortune 1000 and Russell 1000 Indexes.

With more than 100 patents worldwide and pioneering applications of RFID and satellite communications technologies, TransCore's expertise is unparalleled in the transportation markets it serves.

TransCore’s RFID tags are deployed in transportation applications in 39 countries with easily recognizable wireless toll collection systems in use in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma or internationally in Hong Kong. Additionally, to track rail assets there are two TransCore tags installed on virtually every rail car in interchange service in North America. Universities like Harvard, Michigan and more than 30 others use TransCore tags for parking and access control while more than 60 airports use TransCore’s RFID tags for parking and ground transportation applications. In 2006, TransCore surpassed 25 million RFID tags and 45,000 RFID readers worldwide enabling transportation applications.

For more information, visit www.transcore.com.