ID tags can help the police in the fight against theft of designer furniture using IoT technology

6 March 2023
Photo: Martin Gravgaard

Photo: Martin Gravgaard
Camilla Homstoel Andreasen, an Associate Consultant at Delegate, has developed an ID tag and software system in collaboration with her two fellow students, Emil Garder Kær Poulsen and Anders Kallesøe Pedersen, to combat the theft of designer furniture.
Initially, the three engineering students at Aarhus University focused on digitizing the analogue warehouses found at many furniture manufacturers. However, after a conversation with the East Jutland Police, they honed in on how they could utilize the digital identity assigned to each piece of furniture in their evidence-gathering work when they come across stolen goods.

Camilla says, "We interviewed the police and gained insight into their work processes and what would be most useful to them. It became clear that there is a lot of investigative work involved in finding the rightful owner, and if they don't succeed, they have to return the furniture, which means a lot of work hours are wasted." 

Furniture theft is a big problem, and it is rare to find the rightful owner even when stolen furniture is located. To solve this problem, Camilla and her two fellow students have developed an ID tag using standard RFID NFC tags that are integrated into the furniture. This way, the furniture is assigned a digital identity that makes it easy to document ownership and prevent the sale of counterfeit goods.  

When a consumer purchases a piece of designer furniture, they register as the owner. This way, it can always be traced back to them, even if it is stolen. 

"My work at Delegate has given me a broad understanding of Microsoft and integrations. That was an advantage because the manufacturers we visited use Microsoft, and it's not that our system should replace anything, but it should be integrated into Microsoft's solutions."

Camilla Homstoel Andreasen
Associate Consultant at Delegate

In her work on the project, Camilla has drawn on her knowledge of Microsoft integrations gained through her work at Delegate as a Student Worker. She has also been able to use her understanding of the full picture of a development process in the development of the ID tag and software system.

"My work at Delegate has given me a broad understanding of Microsoft and integrations. That was an advantage because the manufacturers we visited use Microsoft, and it's not that our system should replace anything, but it should be integrated into Microsoft's solutions. And I have an overview of the full picture of how to integrate the solution - for example, into a manufacturer's existing Dynamics solution," says Camilla, adding, "And when we encountered some problems with Azure, it was easy for me to get help from my colleagues who are experts in it." 

 

Personally, working on the project has given Camilla a much better insight into the use and development of use cases. 

"I have gained a lot from working through use cases because we have had so many different ones, from manufacturers to the police and private consumers. But it's like having to explore what the actual need is and how I can solve it, Camilla explains. 

Together, Emil Garder Kær Poulsen, Anders Kallesøe Pedersen and Camilla Homstoel Andreasen have founded the startup InTag'd based on the bachelor project, with the aim of deploying the ID tag and associated software system to help consumers, furniture manufacturers, and the police. 

The bachelor's project has the title "Product Digitalization & Ownership - an IoT Perspective" 

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