Drents Museum Uses RFID to Create a

Personalized Visitor Experience

By issuing entrance tickets with EPC passive tags, the Dutch history and art museum can track its visitors' interests, and
eventually deliver content tailored to each individual.

By Claire Swedberg
Tags: Asset Tracking, Innovation

Mar 13, 2013When the Drents Museum, in the Netherlands city of Assen, planned the construction of a new wing, it sought to
incorporate technology that could help it understand which exhibits were of the most interest to guests, thereby better managing
which items should be on display at any given time, and where, while the bulk of its inventory is housed in storage. In addition,
the history and art museum sought a way to tailor each person's visit and enable that guest to take the experience home with
him or her, via a Web site dedicated to that individual's specific interests.

To enable these functions, the museum installed an RFID system that was taken live in November 2011, when the new wing
opened. The technology was collaboratively developed by the museum and Dutch RFID provider Ferm RFID Solutions. The
system consists of passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID cards, which serve as admission tickets; fixed readers
installed at the new wing's entrance and exits, as well as throughout the existing facility; and RFID-enabled kiosks that read each
card presented by a visitor, and link that card's ID number with the topic that the individual selected on the screen as being of
interest (such as a specific type of painting). Upon returning home, the user can then enter the same ID number, printed on the
back of that person's card, and access that information on Drents' Museum Plus Web site.

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 Drents Museum Uses RFID to Create a
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Marc Flederus, Ferm RFID's CEO and co-owner, holding one of the Drent Museum's RFID-tagged
tickets in his hand

Software for interpreting RFID read data was created by Hans Ruedisueli, who is now employed at Ferm RFID. The software,
known as Trovato, links a user's RFID ticket ID number with data on the kiosk, enables that information to be viewed online, and
tracks each card's movements throughout the museum, for the purpose of business analytics. The first RFID card user was the
Netherlands' Queen Beatrix, says Marc Flederus, Ferm RFID's CEO and co-owner.

The technology was developed as part of a modernization project for the museum, according to Annabelle Birnie, Drents
Museum's director. The museum sought a way to improve the experience for the 253,000 visitors that it receives on average per
year, and to better understand which exhibits were the most popular, using the same technology. Approximately 80 percent of
the museum's artifacts (artwork, as well as historical and pre-historic specimens) are in storage; therefore, the museum felt it
was important to know which objects may be less popular, so that they could be swapped out more quickly for other items that
may generate greater interest.

Ferm RFID provided the biodegradable RFID cards, which were developed in partnership with Italian RFID tag manufacturer

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Smart Res specifically for this application, Flederus says. The process involves placing an EPC Gen 2 Impinj Monza 5 chip and
antenna directly on the paper used to manufacture the card, thereby integrating the tag directly into the card, and reducing the
amount of material necessary to manufacture it. The museum needed the card to be readable at any orientation at a distance of
about 3 to 5 meters (9.8 to 16.4 feet) from the reader. "The other challenge was to build a card that is completely biodegradable
the paper, printing and glue," Flederus states. "This card is based on only paper and a piece of copper wireno etched
antenna or PET plastic inside."

Motorola FX7400 and FX 9500 readers, each containing eight Motorola AN480 antennas, are installed throughout certain parts of
the museum, and can read tags at a range of up to 5 meters (16.4 feet). When an individual enters a particular section of the
facility, a fixed reader captures that person's ID number once he or she arrives, and again when that individual leaves. The
museum was especially interested in measuring attendance within the section of the new wing dedicated to rotating exhibits,
Birnie notes, since the displayed material in that area changes frequently, making it more difficult to analyze the popularity of a
particular piece of art or artifact. That section represents approximately 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of the museum's total 7,000
square meters (75,350 square feet). Readers are installed throughout the remaining 6,000 square meters (64,600 square feet), in
order to create a mesh network.

Since the museum installed antennas close together, the system can often capture RFID reads from several antennas, thereby
enabling greater granularity of location information. Initially, 14 readers and 45 antennas were installed, while the facility's
children's section has four readers and about 15 antennas. As an individual walks throughout the museum, the software can
track where that person's card travels, and how long it lingers in front of specific exhibits. The software is still collecting that data
from each card, and is storing it to be reviewed in November of this year, once the software has accumulated two years' worth of
tag data. The lengthy trial period, Birnie explains, is necessary in order to weed through the many visits and screen out unusable
data that can occur in certain instances, such as when a visitor leaves a ticket in the pocket of a coat he or she checked at the
entrance. And if a family member were to carry the tickets of other members of his or her party, that event would also render the
data unusable. The software will determine which ticket reads are of value and which are not, Birnie says.

Approximately 15 kiosks produced by media content and software companies Di Colore and Jowerd Vooruit were also installed
throughout the museum. Each kiosk contains a touch screen and an MTI USB RFID reader. A visitor can use the touch screen
to select a subject of interest, such as pottery, and view details about the pottery displayed within the museum. To gain
additional information to read later at his or her leisure, the patron would place the ticket in front of the built-in reader, as
instructed by kiosk, and the device would then forward the ID number to the software, to be linked to data related to pottery,
which the ticket-holder could later access via the Web site.

By the end of this year, the museum plans to begin trialing a new RFID application within another new section, where visitors will
have a choice of objects they could pick up, while entering, that reflects their interests. For example, the same guest with an
interest in pottery could pick up a piece of pottery, while one interested in fabric might pick up a wool sock. Attached to each
item will be a Ferm RFID tag encoded with a unique ID number linked to data about that particular subject area. While walking
through the room, the individual will be able to visit the kiosks, place the item in front of the reader and learn more about that
object specific to the exhibit areasuch as the Middle Ages (the guest could then view data regarding pottery or fabrics from
that specified era).

Eventually, Birnie says, the museum hopes to enable this functionality throughout the facility, with just the RFID tickets. In that
case, visitors would input their interests at a kiosk upon entrance, and use the same ticket to learn more throughout the
museum, in the same way representative items will be utilized within the soon-to-be-opened new portion of the museum.

In the future, the system may also be used to enhance a user's experience, by storing that visitor's interests on his or her RFID
ticket, based on the locations where that person pauses (for example, in front of pottery exhibits), and personalize the video data
displayed at kiosks according to the visitor's interests. For example, if a patron spends a large amount of time viewing medieval
weapons, the video may describe war history. If another guest spent more time looking at medieval households, that individual
may then be presented with video content pertinent to kitchens or household items.

The challenge for the museum, Birnie says, has been the preparation of vast amounts of text, pictures and video that will be
presented to users of the system as RFID tickets are increasingly employed to personalize the data visitors view. Birnie expects
there will be about 30 different subject offerings for visitors based on their interests. Installing the readers in such a way that they

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would not be overly visible was also challenging within the sections of the museum dating back to the mid-19th century.
Therefore, she says, readers were installed on walls and ceilings in a manner that they could be seen but would not be perceived
as unattractive.

Since the wing's opening in November 2011, as many as 300,000 RFID-enabled tickets have been issued to visitors.

In the future, the system could also provide the museum with data regarding visitors' locations in the event of a fire or other
emergency.

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