RFID Bracelets die at the Prison

I’d just like to point out that bread + water, left for a period, becomes an alcoholic brew…

MHW

Skidbladnir said :

dvaey said :

Seriously, who created the system design, let alone the limited testing scope and signed off on the project as complete?

Well, like most government procurement, its was probably run by someone who actually is a policy officer with little technical understanding and no budget to hire specialist advisers (whereas giving more money to the contractor ‘delivering’ the capability is perfectly fine). The usual situation in which one bucket of money (staffing) has nothing in it and the other (capability) has plenty.

And/or the sole aim was to deliver ASAP and the fact that what was delivered doesnt actually work and used short cuts to get to the ribbon cutting stage is someone elses problem.

dvaey said :

Maybe Im out of touch, but why exactly does RFID need batteries? Maybe if the device was a GPS receiver with some sort of radio beacon, but are they or are they just an RFID? If RFID’s need new batteries, how do dog microchips manage to last for the dogs entire life? How does RFID in supermarkets work forever? The easy solution is inductive power, you dont have batteries in the ID tag at all.

Active RFID, rather than passive RFID, consumes power to ensure sufficient broadcast ranges. They are also bigger, due to needing larger circuitry and native power demands.
Passive RFIDs like the ones in passports (the cardboard page in the middle, hold it up to the light sometime), retail stock inventory (that silvery adhesive patch you find on things), your dog (the injected rice-sized lump), etc induct their power from the transmiter\receiver, but only work at short distances due to minimal circuitry being involved.
All of them are of the “hold it close to the scanner, or walk through a radio field” variety.

IE: You can put people on active RFIDs and then let them outside, or use passive RFIDs, and never let them step more than a meter from an antenna.

I am still courious as to how and why a larger-than-normal volume of maintenance messages can possibly become a data flood of suffient proportions to become a valid method of critical-system service denial for a safety (ie: potentially fatal if it fails) system in a prison.

Seriously, who created the system design, let alone the limited testing scope and signed off on the project as complete?

dvaey said :

If RFID’s need new batteries, how do dog microchips manage to last for the dogs entire life? .

And why isn’t every prisoner being chipped for life?

johnboy said :

Yes, but a tracking system that lets the prisoners turn off the guards’ duress alarms? That’s a whole new level of special.

There is no reason to put on maintenance broadcasts on the same network as and with the same priority as safety alerts, especially if a surge of low-priority maintenance messages denies service to your critical comms.
Scope, Scale, and Stress test fail.

damien haas said :

This is the same thing as all light globes in a house failing within weeks and needing replacement. Then they all fail at the same time again. Obviously you need to have a regular battery replacement program for this security system, replacing the batteries in different phases, and they haven’t.

Maybe Im out of touch, but why exactly does RFID need batteries? Maybe if the device was a GPS receiver with some sort of radio beacon, but are they or are they just an RFID? If RFID’s need new batteries, how do dog microchips manage to last for the dogs entire life? How does RFID in supermarkets work forever? The easy solution is inductive power, you dont have batteries in the ID tag at all.

cleo said :

I say give em bread and water!

Let them grow the grain to make flour for bread and dig for water.

The whole prison has just been a complete and utter clusterf*ck from the start hasn’t it?

Openings before it was finished, security that doesn’t work, etc…

Yes, but a tracking system that lets the prisoners turn off the guards’ duress alarms? That’s a whole new level of special.

I say give em bread and water!

Beau Locks said :

There’s a few things going on at AMC that I’m considerably more surprised or concerned about, or that are just plain hilarious, but the likely reaction they’d cause wouldn’t be worth the bother of pointing them out on a public forum.

C’mon….don’t leave us hangin’ man. What’s the scoop?