Active RFID enables the military supply chain

In addition to passive RFID tags on cartons and pallets, the armed services are using active RFID tags to enable new solutions.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/28/2006

When it comes to RFID, the Department of Defense and the armed services have learned a thing or two from private industry.

The DoD, for instance, is adding passive RFID tags to cartons and pallets like Wal-Mart. And, rather than reinvent the wheel, the DoD is working with established industry technologies.

Similarly, the armed services are implementing active RFID solutions to track mobile assets, like containers in the field, and work-in-process.

The Tobyhanna Army Depot, for instance, is using a real-time locating system (RTLS) from WhereNet to streamline the repair and overhaul of defense electronic systems.

The Army maintains, repairs and overhauls command, control, communications, intelligence and reconnaissance systems at the 1.9-million-square-foot refurbishment center in Pennsylvania, including the Army’s Firefinder radar system, which detects and tracks enemy mortar and artillery shells in Afghanistan and Iraq.

These systems are shipped from the field to Tobyhanna. There, each system is disassembled, overhauled and tested before being shipped out into the field again. The RTLS allows Tobyhanna to track hundreds of components during the process that might otherwise get misplaced in the massive facility.

Being able to find the right part when it’s needed will result in an estimated annual savings of nearly $8 million and the elimination of 837 repair cycle days per year. The Army expects to obtain a complete return on its initial investment in just more than 11 months.

More importantly, the system will expedite the refurbishment process, enabling the Army to return systems to the field up to 35 days sooner than in the past.