Smuggling reduction of gas cylinders through the implementation of radio frequency identification technology

Abstract

Ecuador subsidizes fuels, the problem with this benefit is that, many citizens are dedicated to illegally market these resources in border cities,

among these fuels there are the cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas; the existing fragile control greatly benefits smuggling, representing a loss of resources for Ecuador.

There is no subsidy in neighboring countries such as Peru and Colombia, and unfortunately some citizens have chosen to engage in illegal fuel marketing, generating economic losses for the country. The actual cost of a 15 kilo gas cylinder is 12.00 dollars, however, it is sold at 1.60 dollar. It means that the government subsidizes 89% of the price of gas, with barely 11% being paid by consumers. (Diario el Comercio, 2013)

People who take advantage of the poor control of illegal marketing, reduce the number of cylinders in border areas of Ecuador and therefore increase the price, this situation has generated inconveniences for Ecuadorian citizens when they can not acquire gas cylinders. Currently, given the advance of technology in particular of microelectronics, it is very common to use portable electronic devices such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) tags, for this project the active labels of 2.4 GHz allow the unique identification of each gas cylinder, as well as the portability of the information and the relation of belonging between gas cylinders and citizens, facilitating their monitoring and control.